His left leg had begun to cramp; I could see it, the small helpless bounce of the heel against the linoleum, and I watched him refuse to ease it, refuse to shift his weight even an inch, rather than risk waking her.

Everything was quiet. Everything, for those few hours, was as close to perfect as this room ever gets.

And then the heavy double doors of the NICU swung open.

Chapter 9 — Liability

Mr. Sterling was the hospital’s Director of Risk Management, and he came onto my floor at nine-thirty at night with a tablet in his hand, a scowl on his face, and the attending physician trailing a step behind him.

His eyes swept the unit once and landed on the giant in the corner, and his whole face set into a mask of bureaucratic outrage.

“Nurse Sarah.” He did not lower his voice.