Laura
Emily didn’t cry when she was born.
That was the first thing I noticed.
I’d given birth twice before. I knew that moment when the entire room seemed to hold its breath until a baby’s angry scream finally filled it. Evan had screamed. Austin had screamed so loudly Stephen had joked that everyone on the maternity floor knew another Case had arrived.
But when Emily came into the world, there was silence.
“Why isn’t she crying?”
Nobody answered me.
The room moved around me in a blur of blue scrubs and urgent voices. Someone carried my daughter toward a warmer, and suddenly there were too many people between us.
“Stephen.”
His hand tightened around mine.
“I’m here.”
“Why isn’t she crying?”
His face was white.
I had never seen my husband look like that.
“She’s so small,” he w
