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“You know how families sometimes get bigger?” I ask.

Ivy nods slowly. “Like when people adopt dogs.”

I smile. “Exactly like that.”

She considers this seriously, one hand stroking Winston’s ear. “Okay.”

“There’s a baby growin’ in my tummy.”

Silence fills the sunroom.

Ivy blinks several times. “A real baby?”

I nod, keeping my voice calm. “A real baby.”

She stares at my stomach, then stares some more. Beside us, Daisy inches even closer and rests her head in my lap. Ivy finally places both hands over her mouth.

“A baby,” she whispers.

“Yep,” I say, my own throat tightening.

A long pause follows, and I prepare myself for tears, confusion, or any one of a thousand perfectly normal reactions. Instead, Ivy looks up at me with a question that breaks my heart wide open.

“Will you still stay with me?”

I pull her into my lap before remembering halfway through that Alexei would absolutely object. Too late. Ivy wraps both arms around me, and Daisy climbs across both of us, apparently deciding this family moment requires her participation, too.

“Always,” I whisper into Ivy's hair while scratching Daisy behind the ears. “You hear me? Always. A baby doesn’t change that.”

Ivy relaxes against me as if those are the only words she needed.

“Okay,” she says.

“That's very generous,” Alexei says from the other end of the sofa.

She nods solemnly. “I can teach the baby how to draw.”

“I think the baby would like that,” I tell her.

“And share crayons,” she continues.

“Sounds like a plan,” I say.

“And Winston,” she adds, looking at the dog.

Winston nudges Ivy's knee with his nose as if volunteering himself for the job.

“And Daisy too,” Ivy says, wrapping one arm around her. “The baby has to love Daisy.”

“That seems like a very reasonable rule.”

Daisy gives a happy wag as if she agrees.

Ivy twists around to look at Alexei. “Papa?”

“Yes, solnyshko?”

“Are you happy?”