He caught me in time, just before I hit the floor. I remembered that… And the look on his face as I went down…

"You're okay, sweetheart. You're fine… we're both going to be just fine." I felt his hand against the side of my face. I squinted, looking up from the bed. He was there, right there beside me. Warm…, safe… I struggled to sit up. "You fainted, Libby." His eyes were so kind. He smiled.

"And you don't strike me as the fainting kind… How about laying back down now, and hearing what I have to say?" He stroked my cheek as I eased myself back. It was so good, just to have him with me, even if it was only for a little while longer…

"I heard what you said," he started gently. "I just wish you'd come to me. I can't imagine how you must have been feeling, keeping all that bottled up… and with me gone." His fingers kept moving, caressing. "But how I feel about you… it's not about the baby… any baby. If it didn't happen this time, it always can the next. Hell, sweetheart, it doesn't matter if it never happens. It's you that I want." He leaned down and kissed me. "A baby would be wonderful, but only if it's what we both want. Together, as a family. You and me, Libby. That's the only thing I can't live without."

I squeezed my eyes shut, biting down on my lip. "But I do want it. I want it so much." I opened my eyes, the tears streaming down my temples, into my hair. "I… I talked to her… I named her, Jack. When I thought she was really there… she was my Little Speck…"

He held me until I was finally quiet, all cried out. "My darling girl," he crooned softly, stroking my hair, my face. "We have all the time in the world now, as long as we're together. We'll try again one day, if you're ready. But right now, I just want you all to myself. If you'll have me."

"I don't know how to do this, Jack. Relationships… let alone being anyone's mother… What if I just… can't…?

What if loving me means you never get to have a baby at all?"

He reached down to take my hand, uncurling my fist with his fingers. He took the emerald ring from my palm… I'd been holding it tight ever since I'd tried to give it back to him. There was a smile in his eyes as he gave it a kiss and slipped it back onto my finger.

"I already have what I want, right here in my arms. Here, now. This is what I need, Libby." He kissed me deeply, proving his point. "But I think we should find out for sure…

We could fly back home today. Have Dr. Tiller do the test herself. If it's still negative… well, at least we'll know… And we could try again someday, if you want to. Or never. It's you I want. This, that's real. I love you, Libby."

I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying myself in the feel of him, the comfort of his scent. ‘I love you too, Jack. I've never felt it… never said it to anyone before. But I love you, with all my heart…"

He kissed me again, holding me to him, his hands warm on my body. He pulled me in, holding me tight, kissing me like he didn't dare let go… Then he paused, still so close, searching my face. He sat up beside me.

"There's something I have to tell you too… something you have a right to know." He took both my hands in his and the look on his face made me struggle to sit up beside him. For a moment, the room seemed to swim. "What…? Tell me…" I felt my stomach tighten.

"It was early in the process when I asked my lawyers to look into it… they only finished it after we were married… I never read it, Libby. I wanted to… but I didn't."

"What, Jack? You never read what?"

He got up, rummaging in his bag before he came back to me. He held out a thin yellow envelope.

"This belongs to you," he said quietly. "I'm sorry if I had no right…" I took it and turned it over in my hands.

"I'd thought maybe knowing who she was might help…," he said. "You can read it, or just burn it if you want." He sat back down beside me. "It's all the information that could be found… about your mother, sweetheart. Who she was. And maybe… why she left."

I read the name typed on the envelope. Dorothy Jones. I fingered the locket at my throat. The only thing I had of her, the initials D.J. engraved on its back. Her name had been Dorothy.

"Why, Jack… why… did you do this…?" My heart was pounding, my stomach in my throat.

"Because I wanted you to have the choice," he held the side of my face tenderly. "Because I love you…

And because sometimes the truth has more than a single face."