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he small plastic stick. Two pink line
test, frozen. Then she slow
gna
de the smile on her lips. After two years of marriag
imagined the surprise on his face when
her phone. Haskell's name appeared on the sc
d barely been home. When he retu
She would tell him tonight. In person
ssa walked into the kit
ification slid into view from the New York Daily P
y Weekend with Mystery Mother and
clenched around Julissa's he
the link. The few seconds it took for th
n, the
-resolution photo, the Central Park
, maybe four or five years old, with an expression of such unguarded tenderness
n candy, patiently offering it to the litt
rm linked intimately with his. Her head rested lightly o
knew tha
asia
d neighbor and frie
e of them made. It mentioned Anastasia was a widow with a young daught
kell looked at that little girl with such tenderness. It f
had the flu, a fever of 102. Sh
said, his tone clipped with impa
stumbled back into the bathroom, doubling over the
ess. It was the physica
, tears finally breaking free, blurrin
back at the glowing screen of her phone, a
und the pregnancy test. The hard plastic edg
dn't let
iate her. A target for the mockery of that woman
sink, splashing cold water on her face again an
d broken. Her face was pale,
ancy test in layers of tissue and buried it in the
. She didn't delete the news.
and the last ember of warmth she held for him wa
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