Two Weeks After Our Baby Died, My 8-Year-Old Whispered, “Mom, She Isn’t Gone—I Saw What Daddy Did at the Hospital”

Toby held the blue puppy.

I held Melanie’s footprint card.

For once, none of us tried making grief productive.

No donation boxes.

No memorial plans.

Just us.

PART 40 — MELANIE’S FULL NAME

We had named her:

Melanie Rose.

Rose after my grandmother.