The nurse placed him in my arms.
The moment I touched him, he opened his eyes.
Then his tiny hand closed around my finger.
My whole body went still.
Something inside me was screaming not to let him go.
But Michael was standing by the door.
“Please,” he whispered. “We agreed.”
I didn’t remember agreeing to anything.
I remembered being terrified.
Somehow, a few minutes later, my signature was on the papers.
When I left the hospital, I was carrying the empty baby carrier Michael had brought with him.
He walked several steps ahead of me.
I couldn’t stop staring at that empty carrier.
We were almost at the parking lot when someone suddenly called my name.
“Emily!”
I turned around.
It was the nurse who had brought my baby to me earlier.
She was running toward us, breathing hard, holding a folded sheet of paper in one hand.
