The unanswered question settled over all of us.
For the rest of the afternoon, everything practical happened around a mystery none of us could touch. Nurses taught Evelyn and Richard how to help me safely hold Noah. Richard arranged for my car seat to be retrieved from the wrecked vehicle. Maren called twice, each time with short updates and more questions. Daniel left to speak with his mother and promised to return anything he learned.
By evening, I was discharged into Uncle Richard’s care.
The ride to his house was quiet. Evelyn sat beside Noah in the back, one hand near his car seat though he slept peacefully the entire way. Richard drove through wet streets washed clean by the rain. The city lights blurred past like distant candles.
I expected to feel defeated leaving the hospital.
Instead, I felt frightened and held at the same time.
Richard and Evelyn lived in a white farmhouse at the end of a long gravel drive, surrounded by winter fields and old trees. Warm light glowed in the windows. On the porch, someone had placed a small wooden cradle with a folded quilt inside it.
