“We picked names for our children. For a girl, Charlotte or Sophie. For a boy, Lincoln or Everett. Things are different now,” I tell my grandmother-in-law, Mirabelle. “He seems so distant. He wants a child. I don’t know if I can give that to him.”
“You always wanted children before. What has changed?”
I looked down at the floor, focusing on the pattern on the carpet. “I still do. I want a family. I just don’t know if I can. We’ve been trying for so long.” My voice got quiet as I said this, falling into a whisper at the end.
I looked back up at her. “I’m twenty-nine. We should have a family by now. I don’t know what to do.”
Mira got up and sat next to me. “You came to me to see if I could help you.”
I nodded. Mirabelle had inherited medicinal abilities from her Irish ancestors, the leigheas. If she couldn’t save me, no one could.
She looked at me sadly. “I can tell you if you are able to bear children, my dear, but I cannot change what I find. Are you sure you want this?”
“I need answers,” I pleaded. “I can’t stand not knowing.”
She looked at me sadly, and I felt my stomach tighten.
“I need to know,” I whisper, but I think I already do.
She shook her head at me, her eyes watering, and all of the tears I’d been holding in flooded out. I sobbed as my tears soaked my dress, and I distantly noticed Mira pulling me into her arms. I clutched her like a lifeline. I knew she would stay with me until all the tears were gone, even though it felt like that time might never come.
Books by Brooke-Lynn 