Chapter 24 — Lavender

I woke to the smell of lavender and the soft rhythm of a heart monitor.

I was not in a chaotic city emergency room.

I was in a wide, sunlit suite with floor-to-ceiling windows over the skyline, in sheets that felt like water.

And beside the bed, in a bassinet, was a small, perfect, entirely new human being, wrapped in a soft blue blanket.

I pushed myself up, wincing, but the pain was distant and manageable, and the fear I braced for did not come.