His job had always been demanding.
So I believed him.
Then, during the last prenatal appointment, I noticed something.
The technician spent extra time looking at the baby’s spine.
Not enough to trigger immediate panic.
But enough that I remembered it.
Afterward, the doctor said they wanted one additional follow-up image after birth because positioning had made part of the lower spine difficult to evaluate completely.
Vanessa accepted that.
Ethan went silent.
I thought he was scared.
Now, sitting in Willowcrest Medical Center while his wife cried beside the bassinet and my brother had vanished, I wondered what else I had missed.
Ethan returned almost five hours later.
Vanessa was asleep in a chair beside the baby.
I was still admitted.
He stopped in my doorway.
“Claire.”
I stared at him.
“Get out.”
His face crumpled.
“Please.”
“You left.”
“I know.”
“Your daughter was being examined and you left.”
“I know.”
“Vanessa thought you had abandoned both of them.”
