Chapter 11 - Isabel
Nathan entered the operating room dressed in surgical clothing.
Emma was already behind the drape.
Her eyes found him immediately.
He sat beside her head.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
She was trembling.
Nathan took her hand.
“You’re doing great.”
“Don’t lie.”
“I have no idea what I’m doing.”
That made her laugh weakly.
Then everything happened quickly.
Pressure.
Voices.
Metal instruments.
A doctor saying one more minute.
Nathan kept his eyes on Emma.
Then a cry filled the room.
Small.
Angry.
Perfect.
Emma stopped breathing.
Nathan did too.
Another cry.
Louder.
The doctor smiled.
“You have a daughter.”
Emma burst into tears.
Nathan covered his face.
For a few seconds, neither could speak.
The baby was taken to the warmer.
Nathan remembered Emma’s request.
“Can I go with her?”
The nurse nodded.
“Stay close.”
Nathan kissed Emma’s hand without thinking.
Then stopped.
Emma looked at him.
“It’s okay.”
He pressed his lips gently against her knuckles.
“I’ll stay with her.”
The baby weighed five pounds, thirteen ounces.
Tiny but strong.
A nurse wrapped her in a striped blanket.
Nathan stared down at his daughter.
She had dark hair.
Emma’s nose.
A furious little mouth.
“Would Dad like to hold her?”
Nathan’s entire body froze.
“Yes.”
He took his daughter like she was made of glass.
She immediately stopped crying.
Nathan began instead.
Emma watched from across the room.
Something inside her softened.
Not toward the husband who had failed her.
Toward the father who had arrived.
The nurse brought the baby to Emma.
Nathan moved beside the bed.
For the first time, the three of them occupied the same small circle of space.
“What are we calling her?” Nathan whispered.
Emma smiled through tears.
“I had a list.”
“Of course you did.”
“Isabel was first.”
Nathan looked at the baby.
“Isabel.”
The child yawned.
Emma laughed.
“Strong opinion.”
“Definitely yours.”
Emma raised an eyebrow.
Nathan corrected himself.
“Ours.”
Several hours later, Eleanor arrived.
She cried before reaching the bed.
Then she stopped at the doorway.
Emma held Isabel against her chest.
Nathan slept crookedly in a chair beside them, one hand resting near the bassinet.
Eleanor whispered, “May I?”
Emma smiled.
“Come meet your granddaughter.”
Eleanor approached.
Her eyes fell on Nathan.
“He stayed?”
“The entire time.”
Eleanor looked at Emma.
Emma understood the unspoken question.
“No.”
She spoke gently.
“We’re not suddenly fixed.”
Eleanor nodded.
“I know.”
Emma looked at Nathan again.
“But something is different.”
Before Eleanor could answer, Nathan’s phone began vibrating on the table.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Eleanor glanced at the screen.
Douglas Mercer.
Then another message appeared.
Emergency board session. 72 hours. Press situation escalating.
Nathan opened his eyes.
He read the message.
May you like
Then looked at Emma and Isabel.
For the first time in his adult life, Nathan turned his phone completely off.
