I Had Barely Finished Holding My Son’s Newborn Baby When a Nurse Pulled Me Aside and Whispered, “That Isn’t the Child He Left With”

My happiness was real.

My understanding was incomplete.

An incomplete context does not make every emotion inside it false.

That helped.

I stopped trying to retroactively replace joy with grief.

Both belonged to that day.

PART 60 — FIVE YEARS

At five, Oliver knew more.

Marissa carried him.

Mommy carried Lily and Leo.