Her face flushes in the pale light, all the way to her hairline. Her eyes suddenly glimmer at the lower lids, though they do not well just yet. She sees the moment it clicks, hears the lightness in his voice, that ray of hope like a lifeline for her. It has occurred to her more than once that she is having a baby no matter what, and that he can choose not to. She knows he would never abandon her, but in the margins she glimpses the terror and loneliness that many unexpected mothers endure.

She nods, and then her pinned-up nervousness trickles out through a crack in her stoicism, a stream of babble. "Yes. I-I...I've known for a while. But I couldn't tell you till now. I couldn't put you through that, not till I knew I'd come back to you alive. It was bad enough for you to have me to worry about--"

She stops herself and sheds the calm facade, curling against his chest and pulling him close.

"I was so afraid..." that she was going to die, and take her first child with her. "Say something."