The second test sat on the bathroom counter three days after the first.

Elena had timed it carefully. The apps all agreed she was in the early part of the fertile window. Marcus had filled her every day since the negative result—sometimes twice, once three times when Victoria’s schedule gave them the afternoon. She had logged every load. The chart on her phone was a neat, obsessive record of dates, times, and the quiet instruction he repeated each time: Keep it in.

Victoria had left for a full day of meetings. The house was theirs until evening. Elena stood in the master bathroom in only the soft shirt she had...