My 18-year-old son moved into an apartment with his childhood best friend. I thought they were prepared to handle life independently. But only two days later, Wyatt returned home in tears. He locked the door and whispered, “Mom, there’s something I need to tell you. Please don’t call Austin.” Then he gave me a document he’d discovered at Austin’s house, and what I read nearly made me collapse.

“Our baby could look just like me, and nobody outside this house would ever have to know,” Dan said softly.

That was the fatal moment when both of us agreed to keep the secret forever.

Part 5: Megan

I became pregnant on our second clinic procedure, which brought an overwhelming wave of happiness into our marriage.

Dan wept with joy in the clinic parking lot, immediately buying a tiny plush football on the drive home before spending every evening building an oak crib out in the garage.

When I reached my fourth month of pregnancy, the clinic social worker invited me to a monthly support group for women using donor conception.

That was where I met Megan Murphy, an emergency room nurse from Sioux City who was expecting her first child as an independent single mother.Megan possessed a loud, infectious laugh, bright auburn hair, and an outgoing energy that filled the entire conference room.