Justin's POV
Five Months Later
There are moments in a man's life that divide everything into before and after.
Before Elena's pregnancy, I thought I understood happiness. I thought it looked like achievement, stability, control, the quiet satisfaction of building a life brick by brick until nothing could threaten it.
I was wrong.
Happiness looked like the woman sleeping beside me, her breathing slow and steady, her hand resting protectively over the gentle curve of her stomach.
Our child.
Even now, the thought sometimes struck me with such force that I had to pause just to feel it.
Morning sunlight spilled through the curtains, painting the bedroom in soft gold. I woke before Elena, as I often did these days. Sleep had become lighter for me, not restless, but alert, like some instinct inside me had shifted into watchfulness.
My gaze moved to her belly again.
Five months.
