Chapter 5 — Delivery Day

And then delivery day came, and for the first few minutes, it was everything we had dreamed.

After hours of labor, spent and shaking and emptied out, I was lying back against the delivery bed when the nurse leaned over and laid a tiny, wrinkled, furious baby girl against my chest.

And the instant I saw her, I began to laugh and cry at the same time, both at once, helplessly, because she was here, she was real, she was perfect, and I had helped bring her into the world for the two people I loved.

Lauren stood at the foot of the bed with tears pouring down her face, saying the same thing over and over, as though she could not stop, as though saying it might make it stay true.