His face was unreadable, but when he noticed her watching, he turned off the light and walked out without a word. That silence hurt more than anything he could have said. Still, she tried to stay hopeful. She went through every treatment, every suggestion the doctors made. She prayed until it felt like pleading with a wall.
And then, one morning, the line appeared. Faint, but there. She stood in the bathroom holding the test, her hands shaking so badly she almost dropped it. For a full minute, she couldn’t breathe. Then she laughed, one sharp, stunned sound that startled her.