The Noise of the World by Adriana Spadoni

For a week the tension between Roger and Anne lasted, pulling a little weaker each day under the pressure of proximity, little Rogie, and the habit of agreement. Anne did not mention Merle again and tried not to think of the staring, embryonic eyes of what might have been Merle's child. She knew such thought was morbid and unhealthy. As Merle had said, one million women a year, in the United States alone, recognized this as their right of escape. To Belle it was perhaps a very ordinary occurrence. Anne herself would have hesitated to call it "wicked. " She called it "horrible" instead. But she was glad when Merle stopped coming and never asked about her.

Autumn passed and the holiday season came with early rain. Hilda spoke tentatively of another Christmas dinner, although Belle was in Europe now with a rich patient. But Anne evaded these suggestions and did not even mention them to Roger.