Chapter 14: Arrival
Our daughter was born on a clear morning in early spring.
Labor was long but uncomplicated. My mother stayed with me the entire time. My father waited in the hallway and held his first granddaughter within an hour of her arrival, tears cutting clean paths down his tired face.
Aaron came to the hospital the next day during designated hours. He held the baby carefully, his expression unreadable, then returned her to me without asking to stay longer. The visit was brief and civil. When he left, the room felt larger and calmer.
We named her Elise.
Two days later we brought her home to the house my parents had bought with twenty years of careful, uncomplaining work. My father carried the hospital bag. My mother unlocked the door. I stepped over the threshold with Elise in my arms and felt the full weight of everything it had taken to reach that moment.
The nursery was ready. The house was quiet. No one stood in the foyer assigning rooms or demanding keys.
May you like
I sat in the glider and looked down at my daughter’s sleeping face.
“Welcome home,” I whispered.
