WHEN LIZ PULLED back the curtain at the entrance to Jane’s small room, she saw her sister in a bed whose mattress was set at a semi-reclined angle. Jane wore a hospital gown (Liz hadn’t expected the change of clothes, which somehow made Jane’s status as a patient official), and a tube inserted into a vein at her left inner elbow delivered clear liquid. Quietly, almost silently, Jane was crying. The sisters’ eyes met, and Jane brought a tissue to her nose. “Oh, Lizzy,” she said. “What have I done?”

Liz climbed onto the bed beside Jane and set an arm around her. “I stink,” Liz said. “Just to warn you.”

Briefly, Jane appeared to forget her distress. “Did you go to CrossFit?”

“I ran here,” Liz said. “There were no cars at home. Are you okay?”

Jane’s lower lip quivered.

“Not to put you on the spot, but is it Chip’s or from IUI?”

A few seconds passed, then Jane shook her head, unable to speak. After another interval of silence followed by an enormous sniff, Jane said, “Everything was so chaotic with Dad’s surgery. I kept meaning to buy a test, to see if the last round at the clinic had worked. Then I met Chip, and we were having such a good time that suddenly it seemed like maybe it’d be better if I wasn’t pregnant.”

“So it’s not Chip’s?” Liz said.

“They’re going to do an ultrasound to figure out how far along I am. Anything is possible, I guess, but we’ve been using condoms.”

“Does he know you’re pregnant?”

Jane sighed. “At the restaurant, the EMT asked if I could be, and I said maybe, but I didn’t mention the donor stuff. Of course, Caroline heard, and she told Chip before I had a chance. I think she called him from her car as I was riding in the ambulance. So he found me, and he was very sweet and worried. I wasn’t even sure I was pregnant at that point because they hadn’t done the blood test. But I felt like I had to explain to him about the IUI, and he was a little shocked, and then he got called away for a stab wound before we could finish the conversation. That was an hour ago.”

“Wow,” Liz said.

Jane wiped her nose with the back of her hand, and Liz stood to pluck a tissue from a box on the nearby counter. “At least I wasn’t just stabbed,” Jane said. “It could be worse.”

“True,” Liz said. “But you’re still allowed to be upset.”

“It was so strange at the restaurant, Lizzy. I thought—I never think this—I thought, ‘Maybe instead of sushi, I’ll order teriyaki.’ Raw fish seemed disgusting. But Caroline suggested splitting a few rolls, and I said okay. When the food came, I looked at it and just the smell—I was sure I would throw up. Instead, the next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor with a bunch of waiters staring at me.”

After procuring the tissue, Liz had perched at the foot of Jane’s bed. “So—” Liz hesitated. “Do you want to be pregnant?”

“I did.” Jane’s voice quavered. “Before meeting Chip, I wanted it a lot.”