would have been true. She was sorry. She hadn’t meant to.
But why should I apologize? another part of her thought. I haven’t done anything wrong.
And she couldn’t. She couldn’t apologize for the existence of the three babies she was carrying. She wasn’t sorry about them. She was overjoyed. She was sorry it hadn’t yet happened for her sister, of course. But she wasn’t sorry that it had happened for her.
“You’re pregnant?” Janette repeated.
She nodded. “I just came from the doctor’s office. I’m… I’m having triplets.”
“You’re pregnant with triplets?”
“I know this is… shocking. I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“I’ve been trying for months,” Janette whispered.
“I know.”
“And you got pregnant by accident?”
“It’s not fair,” Annalise said, her eyes filling with tears. “It’s not fair at all, Janette. I know that.”
Janette shook her head, wiping her own tears away. “I’m happy for you, Annalise,” she said. “I’m so happy for you. You have to know that.”
But she was choking on a sob.
Annalise reached out and pulled her sister into a hug. “It’s okay,” she said. “You can be upset. It sucks.”
“I don’t understand,” Janette sobbed. “I’ve been trying so hard. I’ve been doing everything right. And you weren’t even supposed to be able to get pregnant. That’s what the tests said.”
“The tests were wrong,” Annalise said. “That’s what my new doctor said. They’ve been wrong all along.”
“But how could they have been?” Janette asked. “Unless…” She gasped, clapping a hand over her mouth. “Oh—oh no.”
“What is it?” Annalise asked, alarmed.
“Do you remember the doctor’s appointment when we were first diagnosed?” Janette asked her.
“You mean, back when we were seventeen?” Annalise asked. “Sure, I remember.”
“Did your doctor—” Janette swallowed hard. “Was there a moment when your doctor left the room to get the results of the fertility tests?”
“Yes.”
“And when he came back… was it a different doctor?”
Annalise thought back. That day had been so long ago. But come to think of it… “I think so,” she said. “I assumed my case had just been handed off to a specialist or something.”
“So did I,” Janette whispered. “When that happened to me, I assumed the same thing. But… but that wasn’t it at all.”
The truth of what her sister was suggesting sunk in at last.
“They switched us,” Annalise said, her voice hoarse with emotion. “They switched our results.”
Janette nodded, an expression of horror on her face.
Annalise’s emotions were in turmoil. “So all this time, the results I was given that day…”
“They were really mine,” Janette said quietly, her voice breaking. “I’m the one who’s infertile. I always have been.”
“Oh, Janette…”
The two sisters fell into each other’s arms, both of them crying. Annalise grieved deeply for what her sister was losing in this moment. Janette had spent her life planning to have a family. And now she was being forced to accept what Annalise had struggled with for years.
It’s not going to happen for her. She’s never going to get pregnant. She’s never going to have a child.
Janette pulled back from Annalise and wiped her eyes. Annalise handed her a glass of water, and Janette took a long drink. Annalise waited while her sister steadied herself.
“I really am happy for you,” Janette said. “This… this is wonderful news, Annalise.” She reached out and took Annalise’s hand. “I don’t want it to be colored by what’s going on with me, okay? These are two separate pieces of news.”
Annalise nodded, feeling a huge burst of love for her sister. Janette had always been like this—so selfless, so caring.
“Triplets,” Janette said. “I can’t believe it. I always thought that it would be fun to have twins—” her voice broke a little. “—but triplets will be that much more special.”
“And difficult,” Annalise said. “At the moment, it looks like I’m doing this on my own.”
“They’re Curt’s, right?”
Annalise nodded.
“And is this why you’re taking a break?” Janette asked. “He couldn’t deal with the whole fatherhood thing?”
Annalise nodded again. “I told him a few days ago,” she said. “He completely freaked out. He thought…” she shook her head, still unable to believe his accusations. “He thought I’d lied to him when I told him I couldn’t conceive. He thought the whole thing might be a trick to get him into bed so that I could get pregnant with a famous actor’s baby.”
Janette’s eyes widened. “That’s sick.”
“Apparently there are people like that out there,” Annalise said. “Which I guess I don’t find that hard to believe. But I never would have thought that Curt could think I was like that. I thought he