My hand flew to my mouth. He was talking about me.
I pressed closer, my heart thudding.
“But I didn’t adopt the boys because of this,” Joshua said, on the verge of tears.
There was a pause, then a rough sob.
“I can’t keep lying to her.”
I froze, caught between running and needing to know more. I heard him again, softer.
“I can’t do this, Dr. Samson. I can’t watch her figure it out after I’m gone. She deserves more than that. But if I tell her… she’ll fall apart. She gave up her whole life for this. I just, I just wanted to know she wouldn’t be alone.”
My legs went numb. My hands shook so hard I had to grab the doorframe.
Joshua was crying now. “How long did you say, Doc?”
There was a pause.
“A year? That’s all I have left?”
The silence on the other side of the door stretched, and Joshua started to cry again.
“I can’t do this, Dr. Samson.”
I stepped back, stumbling. The world felt tilted and unreal. I clung to the banister, trying to catch my breath.
He’d been planning his exit. He had let me quit my job, become a mother, and build my whole life around a future he already knew he might not be in.
He didn’t trust me to face the truth with him, so he made the choice for both of us.
I wanted to scream. Instead, I walked straight into our bedroom, packed a bag for myself and the twins, and called my sister, Caroline.
