Page 43 of Thin Lives

She knew, without a doubt, that the headstone would only lead to more questions for Calisto that would likely go unanswered. She was sick and tired of lying to him and hiding things from him for fear Affonso might find out and hurt Calisto, or even her and their child.

But she didn’t know what else to do.

“Taking a walk in a graveyard?” Calisto asked, raising a single brow.

He didn’t believe her.

She could see it in his face.

“I needed a moment after the burial,” Emma said, hoping to wave all his concerns away. “Affonso is waiting for me in the car—he said something about a meeting. Do you want to walk me?”

It was playing with fire.

Affonso wouldn’t like seeing Emma and Calisto together, not alone.

She was willing to risk it on the offset chance she wouldn’t have to explain the headstone, the baby buried beneath it, or Calisto’s involvement in the birth.

Wasn’t going through it once enough?

“Sure,” Calisto said, smiling.

He offered her an arm, and she took it.

But just as they turned toward the path again, Calisto glanced back at the headstone. She tried not to react to his curiosity, but when his entire body seized as he read the name and date marked on the grave, she let out a ragged breath. Maybe the name and date, or even the baby angel could be overlooked, but the child’s parents’ names listed beneath certainly couldn’t.

It was coming …

Calisto’s questions.

Emma waited for them, but kept her gaze on the ground, especially when Calisto turned back and his hand covered hers that was tucked into his elbow.

Somehow, he managed to surprise her.

“I’m sorry,” he finally said. “I didn’t know that … well, that you had lost a child.”

“We don’t really talk about it, Cal.”

“I guess I can understand that. Is that part of the reason why Affonso keeps everyone away from you with this pregnancy? He’s always going on about how high-risk it is, and things.”

“Mostly,” Emma admitted. “Early labor is a very real possibility with any of my pregnancies. I have to be careful.”

“Come on,” Calisto said, tugging Emma forward with him. Once they were walking down the path, he slowed them a bit as they came up behind other people. “Are you even supposed to be walking around like you are?”

“Not as much as I did today, but everything looked good in my appointment yesterday. Besides, I wanted to be here.”

Calisto patted her hand. “I still think you should be resting.”

Emma laughed. “I plan to, no worries.”

The closer they came to the row of cars parked along a private road that was adjacent to the main road, the slower Calisto began to walk. Given that Emma’s arm was tucked along his, she was forced to walk slower, too.

She didn’t know what was up with him, but he’d grown quiet.

“Was that what happened to that baby?” Calisto asked. “He was born early?”

“Too early to live outside of my body,” Emma replied quietly. “But he did live for a short while, and I was able to love him for that time as much as I possibly could. That’s the one and only thing that got me through handing him over to y—”

Emma stopped speaking abruptly, well aware what she almost divulged. A secret about that day that no one knew except her, the doctor, and the one nurse who had stayed in the room after little Affonso had stopped breathing. Calisto would know, too … if he could remember.