That’s when I heard footsteps racing up behind me.
It was the nurse.
She was in tears.
She reached me just before I got away and murmured:
— Wait… there’s something about what your husband told us to do that you need to hear first.
An hour later, she made her way slowly down the maternity ward, the empty carrier swinging from her arm. Without her baby inside it, it somehow felt even heavier.
Then she heard someone rushing up from behind.
It was the nurse again.
Her eyes were red and puffy, her voice unsteady.
— Please… before you go, you need to know what your husband asked of us.
Brian tried to cut in, but the nurse paid him no attention. She kept her eyes on the young mother and pressed a document into her hands.