I also did not allow it to erase the request she had received.

Across the room, Daniel looked at Leo sleeping in his bassinet.

“I thought Mom wanted to cook,” he said.

Karen put her phone down.

“I think we all wanted that to be the answer.”

The nurse brought lunch and asked whether I had managed to drink my water.

She checked my pain and helped me reposition without making the paperwork the center of every minute.

For a short while, I watched Luna open one hand against her blanket.