Of course, word got out.
First through the staff rumor mill, then through a parent who saw Ainsley pick up prenatal vitamins at the store.
This time, the judgment wasn't quiet.
"Do you think they planned it?" a teacher whispered in the lounge.
"She hasn't even been divorced a full year," someone muttered.
Calvin noticed the shift in tone. The subtle exclusions from team meetings. The forced smiles.
"You don't have to defend me," Ainsley said one night as they walked out to their cars, the stars just blinking into the sky.
"I'm not defending you," Calvin said. "I'm defending us. We've done nothing wrong."
"Then why does it still feel like I have to apologize for being happy?"
He cupped her face. "Because people only understand love when it fits inside the lines they're used to."
She leaned into his touch. "This baby... it changes everything."
"It only changes what we thought the timeline would be," he said knowingly. "Not the ending."