LOGINGRACE'S POV We got married on a Saturday in my backyard with thirty people watching. Small and intimate and nothing like our first wedding that had been all performance. This time everything was real. August and James were ring bearers, five years old and serious about their responsibilities. Li
CARTER'S POV Hope went to the NICU for observation because she was early. Standard protocol for thirty-five weekers the doctors said. Grace was exhausted but stable and I sat with her while nurses worked on our daughter in the next room. "I want to see her." Grace was trying to sit up. "Carter,
GRACE'S POV I called Carter Sunday morning with my conditions. "I read your letter five times. I believe you know me. But Carter, knowing someone and staying with someone are different things." I was sitting on my porch while the twins played inside with my mom. "I need you to prove you'll stay
CARTER'S POV I spent three days writing the letter. Not because I couldn't think of things to say but because I kept deleting what I wrote. Kept falling into old patterns of what sounded good instead of what was true. Dr. Chen told me to stop performing and just write honestly about why I loved Gr
CARTER'S POV The full reality hit me about thirty seconds after Grace told me. I was going to be a father again. Was going to have another chance at the beginning I'd missed with August and James. Was going to be there from the first moment if Grace let me. I sat down hard in her office chair be
GRACE'S POV I'd been nauseous for a week. Blamed it on stress from the press conferences and therapy and trying to figure out if Carter and I were actually doing this. My mom noticed first. "Grace, you look green. When did you last eat?" She was watching me push food around my plate at Sunday di
"Available? Desperate enough? Stupid enough to believe you?" I laughed and it hurt my throat. "I closed my design studio for you. I gave up my career because you said you wanted me to focus on us, on building our family. Was that part of the bet too? Isolating me so I'd be completely dependent on yo
Did I? I tried to separate the pregnancy from everything else, tried to imagine a baby—my baby—without thinking about Carter or the bet or the fact that this child would be the product of the most manipulative relationship I'd ever had. Tried to access that part of me that had spent two years hoping
"I still can't believe you pulled it off," James said, signaling for another round. "Three years with the same woman. Three years of pretending to care about feelings and anniversaries and all that relationship crap. I would've lost my mind." "It wasn't that hard." The lie came easily after three y
"We need to move fast," Danny said when we met him back at his car. "Once that contract is public, once the other wives find out, this is going to explode. You need to be prepared for that." "I don't care." My voice sounded far away, like it belonged to someone else. "I want everyone to know. I wan







