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The entire appointment, I kept glancing over to her, checking in, and asking the doctor all the questions I knew she would want answers to later.

Elsie’s expression never changed from the emptiness that had settled over her features when she found out the news.

Now I’m sitting on a leather couch of a fancy office, after she insisted we go straight to the lawyer after her doctor’s appointment, waiting for Elsie to finish up with the woman who called her earlier.

“Marshall!” I hear my name snapped, and I look up to find a furious and very pregnant Elsie storming towards me. “We’re leaving.”

“Please, Ms. Snow.” The lawyer says, trotting behind her.

As Elsie nears, I stand up and navigate my way out from the cluster of couches to get to her.

“Elsie,” I say, stopping her with a hand on her shoulder.

I look between Elsie, who’s avoiding my glance, and the lawyer, who looks distressed.

“What’s going on?” I ask, leaning down to look Elsie in the eye.

Elsie turns to avoid my gaze, but thankfully, she doesn’t ice me out. “We’re done here, that’s all.”

“Okay?” I say questioningly.

“Sir. Please.” The lawyer pleads, thrusting an envelope in my direction. “Take this and just ask her to reconsider.”

I take the paper from her and look back at Elsie, who’s frozen under my hand.

“Let’s go.” She says quietly.

“Okay.” I stuff the envelope into the back pocket of my jeans and grab my keys out of my front pocket. “Let’s go.”

Elsie is quiet the whole way out of the lawyer’s office. She doesn’t even question me when I turn to head home instead of taking her to the office like I’m sure she would want under other circumstances.

When we make it home and are safely ensconced in her apartment, I finally risk poking the bear.

“Elsie, what happened back there,” I ask as she goes rummaging through the freezer, reminding me of the day she told me she was pregnant.

She comes out with a gallon of toffee Bluebell ice cream and grabs two spoons from the silverware drawer.

“What happened is that my dad is trying to get the last word.” She huffs. “That fucking lawyer brings me into her office, has me sign all this paperwork for his estate, and then tries to get me to take that fucking envelope which she says is a letter from dear old dad.”

I reach into my back pocket to pull out the envelope, which is now a little creased from being folded into my jeans.

“I can only imagine what he says in there. I don’t want to read it.” She says, waddling over to the couch and plopping down with the ice cream propped up on her swollen belly, putting her legs up to help with the swelling.

I look down at the envelope, one that could hold any number of things within it.

Something tells me this envelope contains something that will change everything for Elsie.

I know what she’s afraid of. She’s afraid of falling.

Ever since I met Elsie, I’ve known that she shields herself from the world with her icy armor. She’s a master at looking the part, just like her father seemed to in my one interaction with him.

But just like him, no one is free from gravity.

Everyone falls at some point.

What she doesn’t seem to realize yet is that I’m here to catch her.

I’ll always be here to catch her.

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