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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