When Aubrey and Kyle fell in love in 2009, she was a freshman on the high-school cheer squad and he was a junior on the football team. Kyle showered Aubrey with attention, writing her notes and surprising her with gifts . Some nights, he showed up outside her bedroom window, like a scene from a ’ 90s rom-com . “He was very much into me and very romantic,” says Aubrey.

Soon after they began dating, he started talking about having a baby together. Kyle’s home life was unhappy, and he wanted a family of his own. “That was like, his thing,” says Aubrey. “He never talked about a career. He never talked about what he wanted to do as a job. He didn’t have very big dreams, except the family part.”

She lived with her mom and grandma — Aubrey never knew her dad — but they each worked t

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