An eight-year-old girl sleeps alone, but every morning she complains that her bed feels “too small.” When her mother checks the security camera at 2 a.m., she breaks down in silent tears….

My name is Sarah Collins. My family lives in a quiet two-story home in the suburbs of Palo Alto, California—a house filled with sunlight during the day, yet so still at night that the ticking clock in the living room feels louder than it should.

My husband and I have one child, an eight-year-old daughter named Lily.

From the start, we agreed we would only have one child.

Not out of selfishness. Not out of fear. But because we wanted to give her everything we had.