Maybe that was naive.
But when Kendra called us crying after the transfer worked, I cried too. When the heartbeat appeared on the screen during the first ultrasound, Daniel had to sit down.
At each appointment, we watched our daughter grow inside another woman’s body and tried not to think about how fragile happiness had always been for us.
The pregnancy had gone well.
No problems, no warnings, and no sign that anything was waiting for us on the other side.
Daniel gently turned Sophia over to rinse her back.
Then he froze.
At first, I thought he was just being careful, but then the glass in his hand tilted and spilled water in the tub. He didn’t even seem to notice.
“Dan?”
He didn’t answer.
“Dan! What’s wrong?”
His eyes were fixed on a point on her upper back, wide and unmoving in a way that chilled me to the bone.
Then he whispered:
“This can’t be happening…”
My stomach dropped. “What can’t be happening?”
He looked up at me, panic on his face. “Call Kendra right now!”
I looked at him. “Why? Daniel, what happened?”
His voice cracked, sharp and sharp in the small bathroom. “We can’t leave her like this. We can’t. Look at her back.”
The words made no sense.
I went over and leaned in.
When I saw the mark Dan was so focused on, my eyes filled with tears.
“No… Oh my God, no. Not this!” I screamed, my voice echoing off the walls. “You poor thing, what did they do to you?”
I remembered the birth in fragments.
We weren’t in the delivery room when it happened. The call came too late.
Kendra had already been at the hospital and in the delivery room for hours when a nurse called to tell us our baby was about to be born.
We rushed to the hospital, only to be told we had to wait.
“I don’t like this,” I had said. “I wanted to be there when our baby came into the world. Don’t you think…?”
Daniel knew exactly what I was afraid of. He shook his head.
“The contract is airtight. There’s no way I can claim the baby. Relax… sometimes life throws you curveballs. I’m sure everything is fine.”
It felt like we waited an eternity in that hospital corridor.
Late into the night, a nurse finally called us in.
Kendra was asleep.
So was Sophia. They had wrapped her up and placed her in a bassinet.
