"You'll never guess what just happened with Jessica," Marcia told Jan and Cindy. The three sisters had gotten together for lunch at the food court at the mall one day after school had started back.

"What?" asked Jan.

"I just found out she's been staying in school only until after roll call and then sneaking out to spend the morning with her boyfriend!" Marcia exclaimed.

Jan and Cindy gasped.

"Oh, no!" Cindy exclaimed. "What are you going to do?"

"She's grounded indefinitely, of course, and forbidden from associating with her boyfriend at all," Marcia replied. "She's very angry and threatening to run away. I told her that if she tries, I'll get the juvenile authorities involved. I'm also making her go to a counselor. I drive her there, wait in the waiting room, and drive her back to make sure she stays the whole time."

"I hope the counseling helps her," Cindy said. "How's your pregnancy coming along, Jan?"

"I'm ready for it to be over with." All three women laughed. "I feel like I've been pregnant forever!"

After giving birth to Peyton and adopting Patty and Preston, Jan had considered her family complete when, to her great shock and delight, she'd become pregnant again eight months previously.

"You see your OB again soon, don't you?" asked Marcia.

"Tomorrow," Jan told her. "I go once a week now."

"So, how did lunch go?" Gary asked Cindy that evening.

"It went all right," Cindy told him. "Marcia's been having a truancy problem with Jessica. She's been spending time with her boyfriend instead of going to school. Marcia has her in counseling now. Jan has another doctor's appointment tomorrow. She goes once a week now."

"Is everything still going OK?"

"I guess so. She didn't mention anything being wrong."

Cindy didn't give much thought to Jan or her pregnancy the next day, so she was genuinely surprised to receive an unexpected phone call from her sister at about nine thirty that night.

"The baby's g-gone, Cindy," Jan sobbed.

"What!" Cindy exclaimed, so loudly that Gary looked at her curiously.

"I didn't feel the baby move all morning," Jan told her. "When I got to my doctor's appointment, the doctor couldn't find a heartbeat, so he did an ultrasound. That's when he told me the baby's d-dead." Jan began sobbing loudly again.

"Oh, no!" Cindy groaned. "What happened?"

"He thinks it was a problem with the umbilical cord," Jan said.

"So is he going to induce labor?"

"N-no. He said it would be better to let labor start on its own, as long as it's within a couple of days."

Cindy was numb with shock as she hung up. Her heart ached for Jan. She couldn't imagine the pain her sister must be feeling.

"The baby's dead," she said in response to Gary's unspoken inquiry. "She found out at her doctor's appointment yesterday. The doctor thinks there was a problem with the umbilical cord. They're going to wait for her to go into labor on her own."

"I'm so very sorry." Gary took both Cindy's hands into his own and gazed tenderly into her eyes.

"So am I," Cindy said. "I just can't believe it. Nothing like this has ever happened in my family before."

She clung to Gary extra tightly that night.

Jan's labor started two days later. Marcia and Cindy sat with Mike and Carol in the waiting room at the hospital. Carol sobbed inconsolably. Marcia and Cindy sat staring with glazed eyes.

At last Philip emerged from the room with a somber expression on his face. "It's over," he said quietly.

"Is she all right?" Carol asked anxiously. Philip nodded curtly.

"Can we go in and see her now?" asked Marcia. Philip nodded again.

The three women entered to find Jan lying perfectly still in bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Oh, Jan." Carol reached to hug her daughter, and the two women sobbed together.

"He was perfect," Jan told her mother and sisters. "They asked me if I wanted to see him. At first I said no because I was afraid it would be really bad. But then Philip said that I really should so I said all right. He was beautiful, Mom. Perfect in every way, just like Peyton was when she was born. The cord was wrapped around his neck three times. That was what killed him."

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart," said Carol. She and Marcia and Cindy stayed and comforted Jan and Philip for most of that day.

That evening Gary silently came to Cindy and put his arms around her and held her for a long time. She gratefully rested her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you," she said after awhile. "I feel so much better now."

"What's wrong, Mommy?" asked Rebecca.

"Something very sad happened today," Cindy told her. "You know how your Aunt Jan had a baby inside her that was going to come out soon? Well, the baby came out today, but it went to heaven."

"What's so sad about that? Heaven's a nice place!"

"Well, your Aunt Jan and Uncle Philip are very sad because they wanted the baby to stay and live with them instead of going to heaven."

"Why?"

Cindy sighed and looked helplessly at her husband.

"Do you remember when your friend Savannah moved to Georgia?" Gary asked his daughter. Rebecca nodded.

"Do you remember how sad you felt because you couldn't go to visit her and play with her anymore?" Rebecca nodded again.

"Well, that's what it's like when someone goes to heaven," Gary said. "Even though we know they're in a nice place, we still feel sad because we miss them and wish that they were still here with us."

"Oh," said Rebecca, but she looked like she still didn't understand.

The funeral was several days later. Cindy's next-door neighbor generously offered to keep the twins so that both Gary and Cindy could go.

It was one of the saddest events Cindy had ever attended. She sat staring at the tiny white casket and thinking that there shouldn't even be a need for caskets that small to exist. After it was over, everyone went to Philip and Jan's house, where the table was laden with food. Cindy was pleased to see her cousin Rhonda, whom she hadn't seen in a long time.

"We should get together more often," Rhonda said.

"We really should," Cindy agreed. "How are your sons?"

"They're fine! Brandon's a senior this year. Hopes to get a football scholarship to college. Tyler's a freshman. He had a little trouble adjusting to high school, but he's fine now. How are yours?"

"They're doing fine as well. Carly's a music teacher and part-time cantor in Oregon. She got married this past June. Jake's in college in Miami. The twins are in first grade this year. How's Chris?"

"We got divorced two years ago. We share custody of the boys."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Cindy told her.

"That's all right." Cindy and Rhonda chatted for a few more minutes, and then Rhonda left.

"I need to get back to the twins," Cindy told Jan shortly afterwards. "Are you going to be all right?"

"I'll be fine." Jan smiled bravely. Cindy gave her a quick hug and then left with Gary.

When they stopped by the neighbor's house to pick the twins up, Cindy thought she'd never been so happy to see them.