"Surprise!"
The whole room shouted it at once.
Harry Henson stood in the center, a ring in his hand, and dropped to one knee.
"Sarah. Marry me."
Everyone around me was clapping, cheering, but inside my skull there was only a long, white ringing.
It was all happening exactly the way Andy had said it would.
Harry's affair was real. Leonora causing my three miscarriages was real. The severe depression, the lifetime of infertility, all of it real.
I stood where I was, nailed in place, my arms and legs gone cold.
My friends started egging me on.
"Sarah's so happy she short-circuited—look at her face, hahaha!"
"Come on, snap out of it."
Out of nowhere Leonora came toward me holding a glass of wine.
"Have a sip. Clear your head."
Then my phone began buzzing wildly in my bag.
I looked down. A message from Andy.
"Sarah, I just remembered!"
"Three years ago today was your first miscarriage. Whatever you do, don't drink!"
I looked at the glass, and without a second of hesitation, I drank it down in one go.
The instant the wine slid down my throat, a vicious cramp twisted through my belly.
A moment later something warm ran down the inside of my thigh.
My vision blurred, and all I could hear was a roar of screaming.
"Sarah's bleeding—she's bleeding so much."
In the last second before I went under, I heard Harry's voice.
"Sarah, what's wrong? Call 911, somebody call 911!"
I think I dreamed.
In the dream I saw the Sarah James of three years from now.
Eyes red, she was screaming the question at Harry.
"Why would you do this to me?"
Harry had his arm around Leonora's shoulders. He gave a small scoff.
"Sarah, all men are like this. Be a good girl, do as you're told, and your place as Mrs. Henson is still yours."
The same face I knew so well. But that smile on it was so foreign it set me shaking.
Then I heard Harry's voice again, sounding completely different.
"Sarah, wake up, please. Don't scare me. This is my fault... I'm sorry..."
And right after it, Leonora's voice.
"What? Feeling sorry for her now?"
"Didn't I tell you not to touch Sarah?"
My eyes flew open, and Harry and Leonora were standing face to face, both of them looking grim.
They noticed I was awake almost at the same instant.
Leonora was the quickest.
The moment our eyes met, hers went red.
"I'm so sorry, Sarah, this is all my fault, all of it.
"If I'd known you were pregnant, I never would have handed you that wine."
I looked at her for a long moment before I spoke.
"It's fine."
After all, it had been my own choice.
I drank that glass to cut every tie between Harry and me.
But even braced for it, even knowing all of it was my own choice, it still hurt as if someone had carved a living piece out of me.
I turned my head away. I didn't want them to see the red rimming my eyes.
The room went quiet for a few seconds.
Leonora seemed to want to say something, hesitated, and finally spoke.
"Sarah, there's something. I know now isn't the time to tell you, but we're best friends, so I decided you should hear it."
"It's... I'm pregnant. You're going to be a godmother."
Before I could get a word out, Harry's head snapped around, his voice shooting up.
