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For my dad

Thanks for always being there for me and

teaching me the importance of always

putting family first

CHAPTER ONE

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, I’nant?”

Piper Starling felt like she’d stepped outside her body Her stomach rolled The walls of the exaan to close in This could not be happening

“Miss Starling—” The doctor took a seat on the stool beside the exam table

“You must be mistaken” Piper tried to control the shakiness of her voice and hang on to the single shred of hope froled “I’ for an X-ray, not a pregnancy test”

She had bu up for rehearsal and twisted it High heels and poor balance did not mix well

The doctor scratched at his closely cropped gray beard and gave her a sympathetic smile “I knohy you came in, Piper I think perhaps nancy test is part of the routine bloode perform here in the ER”

Piper crinkled the paper covering the exanant ThisShe could barely absorb what the doctor was saying as he went on about soft-tissue dae and the necessity of prenatal vita forward

A sharp knock on the door et to his feet, her father pushed it open Piper’s heart flew into overdrive She rooman, but her father’s opinion of her was still thein her life