He was a corporate attorney, brilliant but humble, the kind of man who remembered the names of waitstaff and asked genuine questions about their lives. Eight months after we met, he proposed on the harbor with the actual skyline mirroring the painting that brought us together.
We bought our Victorian home in Beacon Hill shortly after our first anniversary. It was a stretch financially at $800,000, but Adam had just made partner at his firm, and I was building a solid reputation as an interior designer. The house needed work, but it had good bones: high ceilings and a small garden out back where I envisioned future children playing.
Those children never came. Not for lack of trying. For years we charted, planned, and hoped. Then came the doctors, the tests, the procedures.
Four rounds of IVF drained our savings and our spirits. I still remember the last failed attempt: the quiet drive home from the clinic, Adam reaching across the console to hold my hand, neither of us speaking because we both knew. That was the end of that road.
«We can still have a beautiful life,» Adam said that night as we sat on our porch swing. «You and me. That is enough.»
And he meant it. We slowly rebuilt our dreams. We traveled. We poured ourselves into our careers.
We renovated the house room by room until it was the showcase home I had always imagined. Adam supported my business when I decided to launch my own interior design firm. Our life was full, if different than what we had first planned.
My younger sister Cassandra was always in the periphery of our happiness. Four years younger than me at 30, she had always been the wild child of the family. While I was studying design and building a business, she was bouncing between jobs and relationships. Our parents constantly worried about her, which translated to them making excuses for her behavior and bailing her out of financial troubles repeatedly.
Cassandra and I had a complicated relationship from childhood. She was undeniably beautiful, with the kind of effortless charm that drew people to her. But there was always an undercurrent of competition from her side.
If I achieved something, she needed to one-up me. When I started dating Adam, she suddenly became interested in law students. When we bought our house, she complained for months about her apartment, fishing for our parents to help her upgrade.
It was exhausting, but Adam encouraged me to maintain the relationship. «She is your only sister,» he would remind me. «Family is important.»
Two years ago, Cassandra started dating Tyler, a bartender she met while out with friends. He was handsome in a rugged way, with tattoos covering his arms and a motorcycle that our parents disapproved of. Their relationship seemed volatile from the outside, with dramatic breakups and passionate reconciliations.
Then came the pregnancy announcement at Thanksgiving dinner
