He looked at Lily in my arms and asked, “Did she wake up?”

That question was worse than sobbing. It told me he’d been listening. It told me he’d been waiting. It told me he already knew more than any child should know.

“Yes,” I said. “She woke up. I’ve got her.”

Only then did his face break.

The ambulance lights flashed through the front window, washing red across the hallway wall. The paramedics knocked hard enough to rattle the doorframe.

I called out for them to come in.