Chapter 156 : Fertility Clinic

*Shelby*

We sat in a cream-colored lobby. Decorating each of the walls were life-size pictures of women with swollen bellies or cradling a newborn in their arms. I knew it was meant to be aspirational or perhaps hopeful, but to me, it just felt mocking. I had to sit there in that waiting room surrounded by pictures of all those women who had the one thing that I didn't.

I obviously wasn’t the only woman who felt that way, either. So many other couples dotted the waiting room, some crying and almost all averting their eyes away from the massive pictures.

Another month had gone by with another negative pregnancy test. Michael kept telling me that everything would be okay, that it would happen when it was supposed to happen. Which happened to be the last thing that I wanted to hear, even though I knew it was the truth.

I must’ve looked anxious because Michael reached over and squeezed my hand.

"Are you doing okay?" he asked me softly, so no one else could overhear.