Silence.
“You carried hope.”
A tear rolled down the young woman’s cheek.
“You imagined birthdays.”
Another tear followed.
“You dreamed about first steps, first words, first hugs.”
The woman began crying openly now.
“And every bit of that love existed.”
Eleanor’s voice remained calm.
“The person may not have been real.”
She placed a hand over her heart.
“But the love was.”
For several seconds nobody spoke.
Then something remarkable happened.
The young woman nodded.
Just once.
A tiny movement.
But it was enough.
Because for the first time since receiving her diagnosis, someone had given her permission to mourn.
Not the body.
Not the pregnancy.
But the love.
After the meeting ended, Eleanor stepped outside into the cool evening air.
The sky glowed with the colors of sunset.
Orange.
Gold.
Purple.
She sat alone on a bench beneath an old oak tree.
A familiar ritual.
A familiar peace.
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