Chapter 7

Claire was dying. James had told her she had only a few months left.

After she was gone, Nathan would grow old with Emily and maybe even have more children. None of it would have anything to do with Claire. And yet, her heart ached uncontrollably, a pain she couldn't suppress.

On her twentieth birthday, Nathan had handed her two plush toys he'd won from a game. "Someday," he'd said, "we'll have two kids. One will look like me, and the other will look like you."

The next day, when she went to the company to pack her things, her…