chapterone

Chapter 15 - The Call at Midnight

Three years after Daniel died, my phone rang after midnight.

For one terrible second, I was back in the hospital.

Then I saw Maya's name.

I answered immediately.

“What's wrong?”

She was crying.

“My sister's in labor. Something's wrong.”

“Where?”

“St. Catherine's.”

I was dressed in five minutes.

At the hospital, Maya paced the same kind of fluorescent corridor where my own life had broken apart.

I sat beside her.

Hours passed.

At 4:17 a.m., a doctor emerged.

Mother safe.

Baby safe.

Maya collapsed against me.

I cried too.

Not every hospital story ended like mine.

I needed to learn that.

Before leaving, I passed the maternity wing.

For years, I had avoided it.

That morning, I stopped.

Somewhere behind those doors, a newborn cried.

I closed my eyes.

May you like

And instead of breaking, I smiled.

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