Additional context

Perfect, I thought, as I stared down at the test in my shaking hand. I’d broken two rules now: Don’t fall in love with a client. Don’t get pregnant from one. The two pink lines didn’t care which rule I’d broken first. I sat down hard on the edge of the bathtub. There was no version of this where I went crawling back to him. He’d made himself clear the last time I’d seen him, when he’d done nothing as his family tore me to shreds on that beach. Like I was a vacation he’d taken and enjoyed but was finished with. Fine. They might have a last name people used like a title, but they would never know this child’s name at all. Not if I could help it. I cupped a hand on my still flat stomach. “Don’t worry, little one. I promise I’ll keep you safe.”