The unfamiliar name belonged to Dominic's mother, Elaine. She answered on the first ring and sounded as surprised as I was. Dominic had added her months earlier when I had outpatient surgery, then never removed her. I expected her to defend him. Instead, she asked whether I wanted her name deleted and apologized for being placed inside a private decision. I said yes to the first question and did not know what to do with the second.

Elaine told me Dominic had arrived at her house claiming I had excluded him from a joint choice. She had asked whether he had listened before being excluded. He left again. I did not ask where he went. I changed my passwords, moved half the joint savings into an account requiring both signatures for withdrawal, and sent him a written proposal for rent and utilities. Saira helped me apply for a full-time studio coordinator opening I had assumed was beyond me.

At the obstetric appointment, the doctor found a concern in my family history that required screening. It was not a prediction, she emphasized, only a reason for more information. I scheduled the test. For the first time, my uncertainty came from something other than Dominic. I considered every choice again, now with medical risk included, and realized autonomy did not feel like certainty. It felt like being allowed to change my mind for my own reasons.

I decided to continue the pregnancy after two more counseling sessions and a long weekend at Saira's apartment. The choice brought relief, grief, and terror in equal measure. I informed Dominic by email and asked that future communication concern finances and possible co-parenting, not persuasion. His reply arrived nine minutes later. He said he would contest any claim that he had abandoned me. Attached was a document stating we had mutually agreed he should move out. My name appeared beneath his, in a signature I had never written.