The Whispers

Rebecca recalls her answer to Whitney’s question about her childlessness: that there is nothing in the world Rebecca wants more than a child. She felt “expos[ed]” by the words. She has a hard time keeping her mind off Xavier, though she usually thrives in the ER’s fast pace. Another patient, a two-year-old girl, prompts Rebecca to recall an ultrasound she had and the nursery Ben painted. She was pregnant with a girl who would be two now, had she lived.

At the boutique where she works part-time, Blair recalls meeting Aiden. He was handsome, gregarious, and magnetic. He wanted to make her happy, and now he doesn’t seem to care. She remembers her mother’s disappointing response to Blair’s relationship news, but her mother hadn’t always been so cold. She was fun when Blair was small but “seemed to reduce herself, quietly and slowly” over the years (43). As Blair wonders if she and Aiden have basically become her own parents, Aiden walks into the shop.

Blair considers her “unseen value” in the marriage—all the work she does that Aiden doesn’t see. His days seem easy to her; he sells software to banks and earns commissions, though this means some years are richer than others.