It did not.
34 Weeks
The pregnancy was difficult almost from the beginning.
Gracie experienced complication after complication.
Noah attended every appointment.
He memorized every medication.
He kept notebooks filled with questions for her doctors.
Then, at thirty-four weeks, Gracie was rushed to Rosehaven Medical Center.
By the time I arrived, she had already been taken into surgery.
The waiting-room clock crawled past midnight.
I stared at the double doors, willing someone to come through with good news.
Noah sat beside me.
His knee bounced uncontrollably.
“She’s going to be okay,” I whispered.
I was speaking more to myself than to him.
“Gracie is strong.”
Noah covered his face with both hands.
A sound escaped him somewhere between a sob and a prayer.
Then a doctor appeared.
Noah stood so quickly his chair struck the wall.
The doctor’s expression told us something was wrong before he spoke.
“Grace has lost a dangerous amount of blood.”
