"Sharon," Andy said, holding up his hand to potentially stop her from talking about more than she wanted, to stop her from feeling embarrassed and that she owed him something, "you don't need to explain anything." He said that and let the air sit. He reached across and squeezed her hand, felt her there trembling, and he watched as she pulled a napkin from her console to wipe her tears. She shook her head, disagreeing with him, but he continued, "Whatever you did with some guy, when we weren't anything, while you were out of state, while your dad was dying, while your mom was driving you crazy, while you were a grown woman who could do whatever she wanted," he said, his eyes locking with hers, "you don't owe me. Thank you for telling me, but please do not feel you have to go further. It helps knowing why you put the breaks on when you came back, but really," he squeezed her hand again, "it's okay, whatever it was or is or whatever you felt you needed to tell me. I apologize for asking about it anything more, but don't sit there in agony thinking you owe me anything."

"I was pregnant!" Sharon blurted out as she started to sob again, her shoulders now shaking. "I think I owe you that. I was pregnant."

He dropped his hand, the one he'd been using to squeeze hers. She broke into a full sob, putting her hands to her face while he tried to digest what she'd been saying, "Wait, what? Sharon?"

Between sobs, she started to explain it all, the story she'd been holding onto for months, "I found out the day after I got to Florida I was pregnant," she said, now trying to take a deep breath long enough to explain everything. She took off her glasses to wipe her face and put them down on the console. She glanced at him, but she couldn't look him in the eye. "Believe me, it wasn't anything I was expecting, especially since when you and I started this," she gestured at him, "you told me you'd had a vasectomy. I found out I was pregnant and I'm sorry to admit that I was not happy about it. Here, I could barely take care of myself, two kids, and I'm finding out I'm pregnant, nothing at all planned. It was worse too, as far as I saw it. I was pregnant with a man whom I wasn't married-had thought we were preventing any sort of pregnancy, was fooling around with, and had no intention of getting more involved. I was terrified and so upset with myself."

"Sharon," Andy shook his head, the sympathetic glance on his face, briefly catching her gaze. He shook his head again.

"The kids and I had flown all night. We landed early in the morning and went right to the hospital. The kids were tired from the flight and not sure what was going on. I knew I couldn't keep them there all day, but we were able to stop by, check on my dad, speak to my mom, and after that, my mom suggested the kids and I go home and get settled in. We did," she said, now, her voice almost normal. That evening, I got the kids to bed and just wasn't feeling right, but I also knew I'd barely slept the last two days. My dad was in the hospital; nothing was right. I went to bed and slept like I haven't slept in a long time. Looking back, I was seven or eight weeks pregnant, just didn't know it yet. That's always been the start of my extreme exhaustion. Anyway, I slept all night. My mom was upset I hadn't called more that evening to check on my dad. I explained it-as I knew it then-that the kids and I were just exhausted from traveling. The next morning, I had planned to take the kids over to one of their neighbor's homes for a couple hours so I could go see my dad and spell my mom. I made the kids breakfast. Eggs have never bothered me, just when I was pregnant. I was making the kids eggs, something I hadn't done in a few weeks I too realized, and I ran to the bathroom. As I was in there, I started thinking and calculating. In all the mess, I realized I might be pregnant; I hadn't thought about it at all. Things had just been so busy at work and with Emily starting school, and as I said, you and I had said it wasn't possible. So," she said, taking a deep breath, "I took the kids to the neighbor, and my first stop was the drugstore. I took the test there at the hospital," she said, wiping her nose. It was there, in this ridiculous bathroom, I found out I was going to bring another child into the world, and I got angry. I got angry that I had started giving into my desires, that I had allowed myself to be so careless, that I'd believed you, that I'd slipped into this cycle of self-destruction, a mother of three kids-no dad, no marriage, two different fathers, divorced, a supposed devout Catholic-that I'd done all of this. I realized I was a broke, stupid woman who was ruining her life. Truthfully," she glanced to Andy, "I resented being pregnant and knew you weren't in any better shape to be a parent."

"Sharon-" Andy said, but she held up her hand.

"Let me finish," she said. "The next couple of days were a blur. I was trying to come to grips with my new reality, mind you, feeling completely exhausted and awful. I swear, pregnancy hit my like a ton of bricks. I wasn't eating; I wasn't sleeping, some of that due to Dad as well. Finally, after my mom had stayed at the hospital for days on end, I made her go home, and that night, I stayed with my dad all night. I didn't sleep a wink. I tried to come up with a plan for three small children that would keep me sane and afloat. Then, that next morning, that's the morning I slept with Josh. I was done caring about anything, and truthfully," she let out her first little grunt or chuckle, "my hormones were out of control at that moment, at least I told myself that. I didn't care about anything in that moment. I knew I couldn't get pregnant, something that I'd thought I'd been careful about in the past, but obviously, I'd been too stupid to get that right. In the moment, I just needed a release, a break from my horribly pitiful reality, a moment to feel like a beautiful, desired woman, not a broken, divorced, newly pregnant Catholic divorcee with two kids, a sick parent, and in a place I didn't want to be. I just went for it. After," she said, taking a deep breath and a moment to collect herself, "I got up, got dressed, and I sent him on his way, telling him that it was just what I needed, but that would be the end of it. I went about my day, at least as best I could. I ended up at the hospital again with my dad, and over the next day or so, he started to get worse." Sharon started to cry again. This time, Andy reached up and wiped the side of her face with his hand. She shook her head, "My dad got worse, and then, I lost the baby."

Andy's eyes widened, and he glanced down, not that her statement was a shock. They were sitting here, months later, and she clearly wasn't pregnant. She was thin; he'd been noting she didn't look well over the last few months. She'd been pale and thinner than he'd remembered. Now, it was starting to make sense to him, if that was possible. His mind was going in a thousand directions, and while he was confused at all he was being told, he quickly realized Sharon had been living it.

"I lost the baby!" Sharon said, now loudly as she was trying to grasp her emotions. She wiped her face with the napkin she had. "It's like I got what I wished for, and I'm a horrible, horrible person. I can't stop thinking about it. I sat there with my dad, day after day, thinking about how I would ever take care of another person, how I would be viewed as a mother to a baby-from someone not my husband, and I lost it. Gone. I wasn't feeling well. I'd been sitting there with my dad most of the day. I know I hadn't eaten, but nothing had tasted good. I'd thrown up just once that morning because I smelled eggs down the hall. I had some discomfort, but again, I told myself that I was in an extremely stressful situation. My mom was doing better with the kids. They were taking her mind off Dad. I decided to get up and walk down to get a cup of coffee. I doubled over in pain by the door, and my suspicions were confirmed a short while later. I ended up going downstairs to the ER and having them check out everything. Sadly, all of that was done, and my mom didn't notice; she was with the kids at home the whole time. I was supposed to be sitting with my sick father, but instead, I was having a miscarriage for a baby I didn't even want, but the moment the baby was taken from me, I hated myself for ever thinking anything badly about it. I was in shock. The doctor offered to call someone, anyone, but I just got dressed and went back upstairs. My dad died the next morning, and I can't help but think that I am just as horrible of a daughter as a mother. My baby and my father were taken from me in less than 24 hours. When I told you my mom knows, she only knows that I had a miscarriage. I mean, the rest, she can figure out. She's never asked. I know she's ashamed of me. It took me days to tell her, but I finally did, only saying that my grief was more than she could ever understand, that I'd lost a baby and Dad at the same time. The looks she gave me, still gives me-she knows. She doesn't know it's you, but she knows I've been doing whatever I want to do out here, and I think that's one of the reasons she wants me home. She still sees me as a teenager she needs to watch, a grown adult who has made bad decisions and needs to be supervised."

Sharon was sobbing now, and Andy, with as much as he could, pulled her toward him to wrap her in his arms. The angles they were sitting in the car made it difficult, but she cried and cried, getting out everything she had. Andy fumbled for some napkins and tissues, and the two sat there like that for a long time. Finally, he felt like Sharon was collecting herself, and he squeezed her tighter before he pulled back to look at her. She was a mess, but that was obviously expected. She tried to brush the hair from her face. He helped, but she was really a mess too. He brushed more hair away and wiped tears from her face with his hand.

"Sharon, I don't even know what to say other than I am so sorry and had no idea. I promise you," he locked eyes with her, "I did have a vasectomy, and if that's something that has failed, I cannot tell you how sorry I am. Obviously, I'll check on that. I can't even begin to imagine the pain and the suffering you had then and have continued to suffer," he said, now himself getting choked up too. Sharon pulled back and wiped her face with her hands. She turned toward the window and now dark sky. The two were quiet, both processing things. Finally, she cleared her throat, still looking out the window.

"I'm sorry I unloaded like that. I wasn't sure I was ever going to tell you. I guess I just fell apart," she said quietly.

"Are you kidding?" Andy asked. "Sharon, you've been keeping this all bottled up with no one to tell. I mean, have you told anyone this?"

She didn't say anything, but he finally saw her shake her head. He sighed; she'd kept this all to herself.

"There was nothing to say. My dad was gone. This baby I'd told myself would ruin my life was gone. What more could I say? My mom didn't want to hear it, not that I wanted to tell her everything. Now, I just feel like she stares through me, trying to figure out things, wondering where I went wrong. I had half a mind to tell her it was Jack's just to end any of her thoughts, to maybe get her to believe that I'd even tried again to take him back, but I'm not going to go there. She hasn't asked, won't ask, and it's in the past now anyway. I have to deal with it."

"Sharon," Andy said as he lightly touched her shoulder, hoping she would turn back, "I'm glad you told me. This is something WE should deal with. Look, I can't fix anything that has happened. I can't go back and be there for you. I can't shoulder the burden and loss you have felt, but I can be a friend and be here now to listen and go with it alongside you."

"There's really nothing more to say, Andy," Sharon said, letting out her breath. Her voice was steady now, and he could tell she was starting to regain control of things. "What's done is done. I will deal with this. You don't need to worry about it-me or any sort of unplanned pregnancy. That won't be happening, and I need to figure out how to move forward from here. Part of the reason I even entertain moving is that I'm not happy with my life right now, but I know moving toward my mom will only make things worse. I need to dig myself out of this and do my best to put it behind me. It just hurts," she said, her voice shaking again as she said that. "It hurts to look at my two beautiful kids, to think I didn't want another, and now I just mourn for what I don't have. There's no way you could understand."

"Why?" Andy finally snapped back at her, almost surprising her as she looked quickly to him. "Because I'm a guy-is that why? Because you just told me? Because you think I can't be upset or mourn about something too? I'm sorry I didn't know, but don't treat me like I don't care or I wouldn't have cared. I care! I would do anything to fix this mess, and I am sitting here feeling helpless."

"I didn't tell you to make you feel badly. Look, I just, I just," she shook her head. "I'm not sure why I finally told you. I guess on some level I knew I owed you an explanation for not wanting to what we'd started. It's not you; it's just all of this is too much. I am being punished for wanting to be happy, to enjoy life."

"Sharon," Andy said, his hand now squeezing her shoulder as he tried to look her in the eye, "You are not being punished. Things like this happen. Look, I cannot begin to imagine a miscarriage, what that must be like. I can't. I would have been the best parent you would have allowed me to be, even with these ridiculous circumstances. I get everything you are saying about the guilt, about the stigma, about all of it. I get your thoughts and feelings. I get it. I can't understand the pain you, the woman, went through with that, but I will tell you that I am 100% glad you told me. It helps me to understand what is going on with you and hopefully, with time, to help you get through it. I am a bit shell-shocked, trying to grasp it myself, so forgive me if I'm not saying the right things. I adore my two kids, and yeah," he nodded and let out his breath, "the idea there could have been another-speechless. It wasn't in the cards and you're right-we talked about how that wasn't a problem to consider. On the other hand," he tilted his head, "I love my kids and would have adored any kid that came into this world and was mine, no matter what. So, yeah, I am trying to grasp it all and trying to understand the scope of your pain."

Sharon just nodded, unable to say anything more. The car grew silent again, only the sounds of the distant waves could be heard. Finally, she cleared her voice again, "It's late. I think this disastrous evening needs to end. We should both be getting home."

"I'm not letting you go home in the condition you're in," Andy said, a firm tone to his voice. "Look," he started talking again quickly before she could protest, "you've had a long night, a lot of stress on you. Come back to my place just to freshen up, please. As much as you've said your mom is on your case, you know she'll smell the stress and see that you've been crying. If you want to pull off that you were at work, you need to look and act the part. It would be just your luck that as much as you want her to be asleep, she'd be up waiting for you, so please, at least let me help. Come with me to my place, freshen up, wash your face, whatever-before you go home. I couldn't be there for you in September, but I can do something now, at least something to start here. Please, Sharon."

Andy could tell that she was completely exhausted-mentally, physically, and emotionally-because she didn't argue. She put her hands up to her face to wipe any remaining tears, and she just nodded in agreement. She'd do what he suggested.