Madison said nothing.
Mark surprised himself by continuing.
“Three babies. Money. Emily needing me. Everyone saying how lucky we were. And all I could think about was whether I was capable of being the person they thought I was.”
“And you thought I was the answer?”
“No.”
His voice lowered.
“I think you were somewhere I could go and pretend the question didn’t exist.”
Madison was quiet for a long time.
When she spoke again, she sounded less angry.
“That isn’t fair to either of us.”
“No.”
“No, it isn’t.”
They ended the call without promises.
Mark remained in the nursery until after midnight.
He listened to every voicemail he had missed.
Some lasted ten seconds.
Some lasted nearly a minute.
Claire’s first message was frantic.
Mark, call us now. Emily is being taken into surgery.
The second was quieter.
They delivered the babies. We don’t know anything else yet.
His mother’s voice trembled in the third.
Please call me.
Then came one from Emily.
Mark almost didn’t press play.
When he did, there was only hospital noise at first.
Then her voice.
Weak.
Unsteady.
But unmistakably hers.
“Mark, I don’t know if you’ll get this before they take me in.”
A breath.
“The doctor says they have to deliver them now.”
Another pause.
“I’m scared.”
Mark lowered his head.
“I wish you were here.”
The message ended.
He sat completely still.
Then another voicemail appeared beneath it.
One he had not noticed before.
It had been left almost two hours later from Claire’s phone.
Emily’s voice again.
This time she sounded exhausted.
“Mark…”
A faint sound behind her.
Not crying.
A tiny newborn squeak.
“They’re here.”
Mark pressed the phone against his ear.
“Grace and Lily are doing well. Faith needs some help breathing, but they said she’s fighting.”
Another faint sound.
Emily laughed softly.
A tired, astonished little laugh.
“You’re a father.”
Then the recording ended.
Mark covered his face with both hands.
For the first time since entering the hospital, he did not think about how to find Emily.
