“Are these my famous triplets?”
Grace hid behind Emily.
Lily said, “I’m Lily.”
Faith announced, “I have sparkly shoes.”
“Yes, you do,” Dr. Patel said solemnly.
Mark stood a few feet away.
Then he saw the chair.
The same kind of visitor chair that had once stood empty beside Emily’s hospital bed.
His expression changed.
Emily noticed.
“You okay?”
He nodded.
Then shook his head.
“I hate thinking about who I was that day.”
Emily took his hand.
“I don’t.”
He looked at her in surprise.
She glanced at their daughters.
“I hate what happened.”
Her voice softened.
“But I don’t spend much time thinking about that version of you anymore.”
Mark swallowed.
Emily continued.
“You’re here.”
Three simple words.
Nothing could change the day he had turned off his phone.
Nothing could return the first breaths he had missed.
Nothing could erase the loneliness Emily had felt while signing her name beneath surgical consent forms.
