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“I gathered.”

“But I’m here.”

I nod once. That’s all I can manage.

Nate stays for the rest of the afternoon. I feel better with his company, but I know I have to leave soon. He offers to drop me at the doctor’s, asking if everything is okay.

“Everything is fine, I’m just picking up results from a test they ran.” I don’t feel like lying to my brother anymore. He just nods.

The receptionist looks up when I walk in and says, “Dr. Acharya isn’t ready for you yet.”

“That’s okay,” I say. “I can wait.”

I sit for maybe five minutes before deciding I can’t. The waiting area is too bright, too polite, too full of magazines no one reads and chairs designed by people who clearly hate the human spine. Every second feels louder than it should.

Finally I stand and go back to the desk. “Can you ask if he has the result?” I say. “Please.”

The nurse studies my face for one second, then nods and disappears down the hall. When she comes back, she says, “You can go in.”

Dr. Acharya looks up as I enter. He actually seems a little surprised to see me. “You’re early,” he says.

“Yes.”

He closes the file in front of him. “I was about to call you.”

“Do you have it?”

He looks at me for a moment, then nods. “Yes.”

“Have you seen it?”

He hesitates. That makes my stomach turn.

“No,” he says. “Not yet.”

I blink. “You haven’t?”

“I was going to review it before calling you in.”

I don’t sit right away. I just stand there, staring at the closed file between us.

Then I hear myself say, “Can we look at it together?”

He studies me carefully. Maybe he expects me to break. Maybe he’s deciding whether that would be irresponsible.

Finally he says, “Yes.”

I sit. He opens the file. The sound of the paper turning is somehow the loudest thing in the room.

He reads. His face changes.

My whole body goes cold. “What?” I ask.

He looks up. “Maggie⁠—”

“No. Please don’t do that. Just tell me.”

He glances back down once, like he’s making sure the words haven’t changed. Then he closes the file halfway. “We were wrong about the marker. The fetus doesn’t show any signs of carrying any genetic disorders as of now.”