“Why did you carry this alone?” I asked.

He set his keys down slowly. His shoulders dropped as though something invisible had finally released him.

“Because I thought one of us had to stay standing,” he said. “You stopped eating for a month, Maren. You stopped sleeping. I watched you disappear, and I swore to myself I would not add my weight to yours.”

His voice broke on the final word. And then, for the first time in our marriage, he sobbed.

I crossed the kitchen and pulled him into my arms. He folded against my shoulder like a man who had been holding his breath for two years.

“I lost him too,” I whispered. “I just hid it behind you.”

“I know.”

“I resented you for being okay,” I said. “You were never okay. I just needed you to be, so I didn’t have to feel it.”

He nodded against my neck. I held him tighter.

When the crying eased, I asked him, “Why did Ivy think Rachel was paying you to cry?”

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Nolan sighed heavily. “She came into the garage one day while I was having a session via video call. She overheard us talking about payment, and crying, and I guess she got confused.”

I chuckled then. I could not help it. “Typical kid, huh?”

Nolan nodded.

The next morning, I called Rachel’s office and asked if she took couples.

Weeks later, the three of us planted a small maple tree in the backyard for Eli.

Afterward, Nolan knelt in the dirt and cried without covering his face