I rested my hand beside the folder.
“Concern does not require my signature.”
Vivian smiled at Daniel.
Not at me.
Daniel had one hand on the car seat buckle when the nurse came in with the morning checklist.
“Only the approved visitors,” I said. “Please.”
The nurse glanced at Daniel, then back at me. “We have that noted.”
Daniel picked up his phone from the counter. “I will make sure.”
“You said that yesterday.”
“I know.”
He looked at the two empty car seats waiting near the door. One had a folded blanket tucked inside it. The other held a package of newborn diapers that had slipped sideways during the night.
“I should have taken those home,” he said.“Leave them.”
He nodded and checked his messages again.
I watched his thumb stop over the screen.
“Who is it?”
“Mom.”
I did not ask what she wanted. I adjusted the hospital blanket over my knees while the nurse checked the identification band on my wrist.
Daniel put the phone face down.
“What did she say?”
“She asked what time the babies would be here.”
“She knows.”
“I know.”
The nurse finished her check and placed the clipboard at the foot of the bed. “Seven thirty is still the scheduled time.”
Daniel looked at me.
“You ready?”
“No.”
He smiled.
“That was the wrong answer.”
“It was the honest one.”
He slipped his wedding ring beneath his thumb and then stopped himself.
The nurse rolled the bed toward the operating area.
Daniel walked beside me until the doors.
“I will be right here.”
“You will let the nurses decide whocomes in.”
“I will.”
“And Daniel?”
He leaned closer.
“Nobody gets to make decisions for me while I am in there.”
He looked at the two car seats a
