Evan asked again, his voice breaking.
I adjusted the blanket around my son.
“This is not the place,” I said.
He closed his eyes.
Before he could answer, the delivery room door opened once more.
Marlene entered wearing pearl earrings, a simple church dress, and the confident expression of a woman accustomed to being welcomed wherever her son was.
She stopped when she saw the newborn on my chest.
Her eyes moved to Evan and then back to the baby’s face.
The smile she had carried into the room disappeared.
One hand tightened around her handbag strap.
“What is this?” she asked.
I pulled the blanket higher around my son.
Evan stood beside my bed in rumpled scrubs, still wearing the gloves he had used to deliver the child he had never known existed.
Marlene took another step forward.
Dana moved between her and the bed.
She reminded Marlene that I had just given birth and that this was not her moment.
