“I do know that. And that includes Aimee.”

“I’ll hold off for now, but we’ve got to get on the same page.”

Eden kisses me, but I’m not feeling it. Something has soured. The confrontation with Margot earlier might have set me on edge more than I’d like to admit. At the first sign of strife, I’m fending off intrusive visions of a sad divorce and a sister-coparent rather than a sister-wife.

“Adam?” As if summoned, Margot’s stage whisper hisses through the dark house. I push Eden away as a reflex. She slips off the stair ledge, but I catch her before she falls.

“I should go see what she wants,” I say, relieved to escape the pressure of Eden’s change of heart.

“Fine,” she says, though I know by her tone that it’s anything but fine. She frowns as I slip away.

MARGOT

After my reading with Rini, I steer Ted upstairs and away from the game room with Rick to tell him the good news.

“She said she sees a birth. In nine or ten months,” I say. I rub my wrist while I tap open the Ava app on my phone. All my data points are normal. “This thing really should tell you when you’re pregnant, not just peak fertility.”

“What? Who?” Ted asks, confused that I’ve launched into a conversation without context. He takes a seat on the bed while I close the app, slide off the gold bangle I wore to dinner, and place it on the desk.

“Rini. She did my reading by the firepit. She basically said I’m pregnant.”

“Wait, I thought you got your period earlier?”

“Remember how I’ve told you that spotting is normal with implantation?”

“Yeah, but you also told me that never happens to you.”

“Well, I’ve never actually experienced implantation before. But it could be next month too. Why are you fighting with me about this? I thought you’d be more excited.”

“I just don’t want you to get your hopes up because of what some witch lady pointed out in the stars.”

And there’s the real issue. When I booked this trip, Ted had focused on the luxury, the golf, and the time to recharge. He didn’t care about the astrologer. But over the weekend he’s grown more agitated with the chaos she’s creating.

“Why won’t you let me have a little hope? Is it hurting anyone?” I cross my arms. “Why do you seem so on edge?”

Ted drops his head into his hands. “I’ve done something terrible. I’ve kept something from you,” he says.

Affair, affair, affair is the drumbeat in my head. Not because I’d ever suspect Ted, but because I’ve already been blindsided by an affair today. I lean against the back of the desk chair for support. I almost stop Ted and say, Whatever it is, I don’t want to know.

“It’s about getting pregnant,” he adds. “I know we’ve both been getting tested and they can’t find anything wrong with either of us. There’s no clear medical reason why we haven’t gotten pregnant.”

“Right,” I say.

“And I know the doctor asked if you’d even been pregnant before, but she didn’t ask me. No one asked me. That’s not an excuse for me not telling you.”

“I’m confused. I said no and that’s right. I would know if I was pregnant before.”

“I’m trying to say that I have.”

“You’ve gotten someone else pregnant?”

My heart sinks when Ted hangs his head and nods.

“How? When?” I ask.

“At Yale. It was almost twenty years ago. I’m sure it has no bearing on what’s happening now.”

“Do you have a child somewhere out there?”

“No, no, we went to a clinic.”

I’m both relieved and disappointed, and the latter surprises me.

“Was that what you wanted?” I ask.

“Oh yeah. We were too young to raise a child. It would have been a disaster for so many reasons. I don’t regret it; this isn’t some big confession. But I am sorry I didn’t say something sooner.”

“Why are you telling me now?”

“Something that stupid astrologer said last night about intimacy and how I work things out.”

“That makes you a bit of a hypocrite. Telling me not to believe Rini’s pregnancy prediction but acting on what she said to you.”

“This isn’t about the astrologer, or my old girlfriend; this is about us. I have a new perspective, to consider whether me withholding this information might be holding us back.”

“Karmically? You don’t believe in that stuff.”

“But you seem to. And I believe in you. More than anything else.”

Ted hooks his hand on the back of my neck and kisses me on the forehead. He leans down to catch my eye, but I keep my gaze trained on the floor. He kisses me on the nose, the cheek, the other cheek.

“Ted.” I pull away before he makes it to my lips and I forget about being upset.

“You’re mad,” he says.

“I’m upset.”

Something about this information is really bothering me, but I don’t know if it’s the abortion itself, the fact that he withheld it, or something else. It’s a lot to take in at one time.

I walk out and Ted stays. He knows I need my space. I search for Adam.

“Can we go for a ride?” I ask when I find my brother.

“Where are we going?”

“Anywhere. 7-Eleven? You can get cigarettes.”

“I quit.”