Ronan
The night had been endless. Her screams, blood, the rasp of her breath as it threatened to stop for good.
I’d braced myself for the worst, forced my body into steadiness while my insides churned with panic. But when the last contraction tore through her and the midwife leaned close, something in the air changed.
A sound split the silence. Thin, wailing, and desperate.
The baby’s first cry.
It was small, but gods, it was powerful. My knees nearly buckled beneath me. The weight of hours, days, months of fear crashed down all at once, and for the first time in longer than I could remember, relief stole the air from my chest.
I staggered back a step, pressing a hand to the wall to steady myself. My vision blurred, not from exhaustion but from the sting behind my eyes.
The cries f
