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"Mom, I'm home!" Andre shouted as he slammed the door behind him.
"Andre, what did I tell you about slamming doors in the house?" Hannah looked down at her six-year-old son with a disapproving glance.
"I know, I know. Don't slam doors." He looked down guiltily and shuffled his feet. "But Mom, I was just so excited! Billy's older brother promised to teach us how to throw fastballs in an hour! Can I go? Can I?" By this time, Andre was jumping up and down.
"Only if you finish your homework," Hannah told him. She smiled at his fervor.
"Yay! Thanks, Mom! I wish I had an older brother as cool as Billy's!" Andre said. He raced up the stairs before he could see the pained expression on Hannah's face.
Hannah made her way into the den where she pulled out Andre's baby photo album and sat on the couch, flipping through the pages. She smiled at how adorable he had looked, then thought back to when she had discovered she was pregnant for the first time. She had only been seventeen and scared of what would happen to her life. When she broke the news to her boyfriend, the man who had sworn to be at her side forever, he left. She then made one of the most difficult decisions of her life. A few years later, she married a wonderful man.
A tear fell on one of the photos, and Hannah hurriedly wiped it off. She smiled again at the photo of Andre and inwardly mourned the child she had never had--his older sibling.