« Send him in. »
She placed Lily back in the bassinet to give me a rest and stepped out.
A moment later, the door swung open, and there was Ethan.
My husband’s hair was a mess, his shirt wrinkled from a night in a waiting room chair. He was holding the biggest bouquet of white roses I had ever seen! But it was his face I couldn’t stop looking at. He looked at me as if I’d just handed him the world!
« This is the happiest day of my life, » he said, a wide smile on his face as he crossed the room in three long strides.
He kissed my forehead, then turned to the bassinet, still smiling wide enough to break my heart.
Then he bent over our daughter with that wide smile still on his face, and something in him just stopped.
I watched his eyes move slowly across Lily’s tiny face, lingering on a spot just behind her ear. The bouquet in his hand tilted. The flowers slid free and scattered across the floor.
« Ethan? » I whispered. « What’s wrong? »
My husband looked up at me, and it was as if he were seeing a stranger sitting in my bed.
