But that scene at the hospital planted a seed of doubt I couldn't ignore.
"Charles, this one's on me."
"I had no idea Elaine was pregnant. If I'd known, I never would've let her sit at the table."
To show his remorse, Henry Gray handed Elaine a check for ten thousand dollars on the spot.
I pressed my lips together and said nothing.
"Charles, I'm sorry."
"I really didn't know this would happen."
I lifted my head, perfectly calm, and asked her one question. "Elaine, can you stop drinking?"
Her face was chalk white. She tugged at the hem of my sleeve and said, "Charles, I promise I'll be more careful from now on."
She said she'd be more careful. Not that she'd stop.
After that, the baby became a topic neither of us dared to bring up.
"Charles, you think I don't want a child?"
"If I didn't want one, why would I have agreed to do IVF with you?"
That one actually made me laugh.
"Elaine, when did you ever show up?"
"Every single time, you either said something came up and you couldn't make it, or you'd check in and then leave before anything started."
IVF had been Elaine's idea. She said she wanted an efficient path to pregnancy.