Chapter 12 - THE FIRST CRY
The trip down the driveway felt longer than the three months Nora had spent in the house.
The SUV crawled between high banks of snow.
The doctor sat beside her.
Lorenzo rode in front, turning every time she made a sound.
“Stop doing that,” Nora gasped.
“Doing what?”
“Looking like you’re about to fight the weather.”
The doctor laughed.
Lorenzo faced forward.
For one strange second, Nora felt almost normal.
Then another contraction came.
At the ambulance, trained hands took over.
Questions.
Monitors.
A warm blanket tucked around her legs.
The hospital lights blurred above her as they wheeled her through the entrance.
An obstetric nurse leaned close.
“I’m with you, Nora.
Tell me what you’re feeling.”
“Everything.”
“Fair answer.”
Hours passed in pieces.
Pain.
Rest.
Ice chips.
A clock she hated.
A nurse who never sounded annoyed when Nora asked the same question twice.
Lorenzo waited outside because Nora hadn’t asked him to stay.
When a nurse stepped out for her bag, he handed it over.
Inside were the three baby outfits, the folded blanket, and Nora’s phone.
Nothing else.
He sat down again.
At the estate, Giovanni waited beside a phone the butler had placed where he could hear it.
No television.
No reports.
Just the open possibility of news.
At the hospital, Nora reached the moment she believed she couldn’t do anymore.
“I can’t.”
Her nurse met her eyes.
“You don’t have to do the whole night.
Just this next part.”
Nora thought of the cold room.
Of the old man swallowing one careful spoonful at a time.
Of every day she had survived by doing only what came next.
Then she pushed.
A cry cut through the room.
Thin.
Furious.
Alive.
Nora made a sound she had never heard from herself before.
They placed Lily against her chest.
Her daughter’s tiny mouth opened.
One hand pressed against Nora’s skin.
“Hi,” Nora whispered.
“Hi, baby.”
For a while, that was all she could say.
Later, Lorenzo stood at the doorway with permission to enter.
He looked at Lily, then at Nora.
“She’s beautiful.”
“She’s loud.”
“That, too.”
He held out his phone.
“My father’s listening.”
Nora brought it close.
“She’s here, John.
She’s okay.”
Lily cried again.
On the other end, someone drew a broken breath.
Then Nora’s own phone lit up on the bed.
May you like
A message from Brody.
He had finally decided to come back.
