If you had asked me this last year I would have said it was the news Abby gave me that she was pregnant. I admit, neither of us knew for sure what it meant for our relationship, and as much as I might want another child, I couldn't force her into carrying one if she didn't. I knew about her fears of being a mother, her fear of carrying the illness that her mother and brother shared into her child even though it had spared her, can I blame her? I never wanted Abby to think I only wanted a child as a replacement for those I had lost, and it seemed important that these and all of our other concerns be worked out between us, so there was never any question as to why we wanted the life that she carried within her.
We made it through those months, and whatever lingering doubts we had vanished as soon as we saw his face, in that moment I knew it didn't matter if there were no more children between us, he was all we needed to be complete as a family. As fate would have it, complications with Joe's birth will keep Abby from carrying anymore children. Those early months of his life were so difficult for all of us, and there were times when I was afraid he wouldn't survive, but, he beat the odds, and today he's healthy, and happy,
So, if you were to ask me that same question now, I would say it was Joe himself, for in giving me my son, Abby found a way to give me back a part of life I thought I would never know again, and I can't think of a greater gift than that.
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