Rocky flashes back to the fall when Jamie was four and Willa was not yet one. At the gynecologist's office, she received a prescription for a medication to terminate the pregnancy, and the doctor required her to swallow the first pill in front of him, treating her with paternalistic distrust.

That evening, Rocky lied to Nick when he came home from work, telling him tearfully that she was going to miscarry, possibly already in the process. Nick responded with tender sympathy, calling her 'honey' and apologizing. His compassion enraged her because they weren't truly sharing the experience—he didn't know the truth, and she felt isolated by her secret.

While tucking Jamie into bed, the four-year-old looked at her with worried eyebrows and asked if she was just tired, echoing back what she had evidently been telling him too often. Rocky climbed onto the futon beside him. Willa, who had been asleep, suddenly sat up shouting 'Ice geem!' after hearing about the upcoming Cape Cod trip. The startled scream turned into shared laughter as Willa tackled them, and Rocky drifted off with both children piled on her body, grounding her.