The Kane family had learned to brace for the unexpected.

It was a routine Tuesday in early spring when the call came.

Sofia Rivera—Clara and Alex’s daughter, thirty-two now, pro analyst turned coach, married to Ryan Caldwell, a quiet high school physics teacher she’d met at a charity science fair—was pregnant with their first child.

Eight weeks along.

She and Ryan had announced it at the family Christmas gathering—tears, hugs, joy overflowing.

Clara ...