The envelope arrived on a Tuesday,
Thin and clinical,
Stamped with the Fertility Clinic's logo.
Lauren found it in the mailbox and held it like a live wire,
Her hands trembling.
She already knew what was inside,
But seeing it written would make it real.
She looked at the positive pregnancy results.
What was she going to do?
How could she have blown up her entire life this way?
She knew this baby couldn't be Nathan's,
Not after everything the fertility specialist had told them.
Lauren lay down that night with the secret still tucked tight inside of her.
She had folded it into herself like a letter that stays hidden,
But the contents of it came with her into sleep.
She committed to this secret like it was a vow.
She assured herself as she drifted off into sleep.
In her dream,
She let Nathan believe in fertility miracles,
That all the appointments,
Hormones,
And the years of hope had finally paid off.
Snapshots flashed in moments,
Like dreams sometimes do,
Of the baby's tiny toes,
Her smile,
Her little rolled fingers around her finger.
Nathan suggested her name,
Mira,
The miracle.
As the dream unfolded,
It was clear that Nico knew.
He always knew.
He kept his distance because that's what a good man does when the truth is too dangerous.
She watched at a distance.
Well,
He dated women who were friends of friends.
Beautiful women.
Some were kind.
Some lived interesting lives.
But none of them lit him up the way Lauren did.
None of them drew him in the way she'd always done.
Within the dream,
Years layered.
The cottage summers,
Pizza Fridays,
Sunday trails,
A bicycle helmet on a shelf,
A library card in a back pocket.
We are happy,
Say the photographs.
She has her father's eyes,
Says a stranger at the market,
While Lauren tucked the sting of those words away and simply smiled in return.
The dream fast forwarded,
As dreams do,
Until Mira was 14.
In the dream,
Mira is being rushed through hospital hallways on a stretcher,
White coats,
Blood tests,
A transplant team asking questions that only the truth could answer.
Even in Lauren's dream,
The words sounded like they were spoken underwater.
Mr.
Salazar,
You are not biologically related to Mira.
The room stood still.
Nathan's face collapsed.
Lauren's chest seized.
She tried to hold it all together with trembling hands,
But with the secret revealed,
It felt as if they were being pulled underwater.
Nico suddenly appeared in her dream,
Strong,
Present,
Holding her gaze.
It would be Nico who saves Mira,
With his blood,
His kidney,
His DNA match,
The weight of 14 years of silence carved out of him.
Thankfully,
Mira lived.
In her hospital room,
Lauren felt something in herself slip quietly away.
She watched her daughter's chest rise and fall beneath the sheet,
And understood that the life she'd so carefully tended was already in pieces around her.
What would she tell Mira when she woke up?
How would she look Nathan in the eyes when he returned to the hospital?
The questions circled her like restless birds,
Refusing to land.
She understood with a clarity that chilled her that love cannot keep a secret forever.
One day,
The truth always rises.
In that moment when Lauren woke up,
Shaking,
Trembling,
In a cold sweat,
It took a moment for the walls to come back into focus,
For her to remember where she was,
To remember what was real.
She couldn't go back to sleep afterwards.
She could hear Nathan downstairs,
The sounds and the flicker of the TV,
The only thing distracting her from her ragged breath and pounding heart.
Staring up at the ceiling,
She knew this was a secret too big to keep.
She'd have to find the courage to share the truth.
