That is what a flat cushion means.

My husband had not sat down in that room once.

And I lay there with a baby in each arm and a pillow under one elbow and a towel wedged against my hip, physically unable to move either of my arms, looking at an empty chair with a flat cushion, and the first thing I felt was not fear.

It was embarrassment.

Because Pilar was standing right there, and she had just put two children into my arms, and now she was going to look at that chair as well.