Chapter 4 - The Baby in His Arms
Labor continued through the night.
The baby’s heart rate dropped twice.
Doctors prepared for an emergency cesarean section, but she recovered after they repositioned me and administered medication.
Graham remained outside the room unless I asked him in.
He did not behave like a man purchasing his way into a family.
He brought coffee for the nurses.
He called my studio manager and arranged emergency coverage because I had left Tide & Glow unlocked.
He found a replacement infant car seat and had it delivered without placing his name on the receipt.
At dawn, after thirteen hours of labor, my daughter was born.
She cried immediately.
The sound filled every empty place inside me.
I named her Rose Evelyn Holloway.
Evelyn was my mother’s name.
Not Vance’s.
Graham stood near the window while the nurse placed Rose against my chest.
He kept his distance.
“Would you like to hold her?” I asked.
His face changed.
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
He almost smiled.
“But I’m asking.”
He sat beside me and held his granddaughter with the careful terror of a man touching something he had wanted too late in one life and had been unexpectedly given in another.
Two days later, Vance finally arrived.
Eleanor came with him.
They entered the private suite angry, exhausted, and ready to explain why my emergency had inconvenienced them.
Then Vance saw Rose asleep in Graham Caldwell’s arms.
He stopped walking.
Eleanor’s handbag slipped from her fingers.
Vance whispered:
“What is he doing here?”
Graham looked up.
“My daughter asked me to come.”
May you like
The room tilted beneath Vance.
Then he fainted.
