Nora smiled at Adam, and squeezed his hand, an affectionate gesture they often exchanged, but this time, it meant so much more. Adam winked and smiled back, gallantly holding the door open for his new wife. The door to their very own home.

The newlyweds stepped inside, and Nora let go of Adam's hand and skipped playfully into the middle of the large, empty room.

"It's ours! It's all ours!" she said gleefully, spinning around in a circle.

"It sure is, darling," said Adam, catching his wife around the waist and kissing her forehead.

That night, after a long day of moving in their furniture, Nora climbed into bed beside her husband for the first time in their new house.

"I love you," she whispered, but he didn't respond. He was already sound asleep, exhausted from their busy day.

They thought their lives would be perfect together. Adam had just finished law school, and Nora would be teaching seventh grade at the public school in the fall. It all was perfect… except for one thing.

Nora lay awake beside Adam, who was snoring softly. She stared at the ceiling thinking about the thing that had been keeping her awake all these past few weeks.

She ran her fingers over her stomach, knowing how angry Adam would be when he found out about the life growing inside her. Adam never wanted kids. She took a deep breath and thought about how even madder Adam would be when he found out that he wasn't going to be a father anyways; that the baby wasn't his.

There was no way she could deal with this. She loved Adam too much to upset him so much.

Silently, she crawled out of her bed. Making sure that Adam faced away from her, she pulled the pistol she had always kept beside her bed for protection out of its drawer and walked out onto the balcony.

The warm summer breeze blew across her bare legs and brought the smell of jasmine to her nose. She closed her eyes, imagining the summers to come that they would not spend together. She took one last look at her husband through the balcony's open doors. She smiled, took one deep breath, and shot Adam right through his heart.