Chapter 202

• Lily — POV
• The air after the Christmas break still held a hint of pine needles and gingerbread, but the house was dead quiet. Ethan was on a business trip—the first time we’d been apart this long since we got married. That hollow feeling wrapped around my heart like creeping vines, but a different, secret joy pushed through, bright and strong, dulling the sting of missing him.
• I brushed my still-flat belly. Under my fingertips, I could almost feel another heartbeat—faint but steady.