Ava's POV
When Ethan handed me the sonogram, I didn't expect to feel like my lungs had been yanked out of my chest.
It was just a photo, grainy, black and white, barely shaped like anything human, but to me, it felt like the world folded in on itself. For months I had tiptoed around the idea of motherhood. It had always been a distant flicker, something I couldn't trust myself to reach for.
But now, standing barefoot in the kitchen in Ethan's oversized sweater, I felt it, the undeniable truth.
This baby was real.
This love was real.
And despite the chaos that circled our lives like sharks in bloodied waters, we still had a choice.
I clutched the photo close to my chest.
"I want to keep this somewhere safe," I murmured.
Ethan smiled faintly. "You can frame it, if you want."
I looked up at him. "I want to protect it. Not just display it."
