James looked genuinely horrified.

“What?”

“Don’t make me ask twice.”

“No.”

His answer came immediately.

“No. God, no.”

I stared at him.

“Then whose is she?”

He rubbed both hands across his face.

“Do you remember I told you about Anna?”

The name was familiar.

Barely.

He had mentioned her once or twice years ago.

Before me.

Before us.

His first love.

They had been twenty-two and talked about marriage, children, and all the things people that age think they have already planned.

Then life happened.

They broke up.

Anna married someone else.

James eventually met me.

That was everything I knew.

“I remember.”

“I haven’t spoken to her in 11 years.”

I said nothing.

“Eleven years,” he repeated. “Not a call, not a message, nothing. I want you to know that before I say anything else.”

My heart beat faster.

“Why is she here?”

James looked toward the room.

“She was.”

Was.

I heard it immediately.

“Was?”

He nodded.

Then he told me everything badly and out of order, the way people do when a story still doesn’t feel real.

Anna had been seven months pregnant when her husband left.

No warning.

No reconciliation.

He simply moved several states away.

Her mother had died the year before.

Her father had been gone since she was a teenager.

No siblings.

No close relatives nearby.

She went into labor around four that morning.

She tried driving herself to the hospital until the contractions became too strong, then called an ambulance from a gas station.

She gave birth that morning.

A little girl.

Six pounds and something.

The baby was healthy.

Anna wasn’t.

Something went wrong after delivery.

Bleeding.

Then more bleeding.

Then medical terms James had heard but couldn’t properly repeat.

She deteriorated quickly.

“How did they call you?” I asked.

That was the part I couldn’t understand.

James swallowed.

“They didn’t at first.”

A nurse stepped out while we were talking.

She held a clipboard against her chest and looked between us.

“Are you his wife?”

“I am.”

She nodded gently.

“Ma’am, I think this may help.”

I waited.

“When she was going, we asked her whether there was anyone we could call.”

My chest tightened.

“She wasn’t fully conscious by then,” the nurse continued. “Not really. But she kept saying one name.”

She looked toward James.

“His.”

I stared at him.

James stared at the floor.

“Over and over,” the nurse said. “Nothing else.”

Eleven years.

Anna had married another man.

Built another life.

Been abandoned inside it.

And at the end, the only name she could still reach was a boy she had once trusted with her future.

My first emotion probably should have been jealousy.

It wasn’t.

I thought about fear.

A woman dying alone.

A newborn daughter only a few rooms away.

No mother.

No husband.

No family waiting nearby.

And one old name still surviving through the fog.

“How did they find him?”

The nurse answered.

“She managed enough of his last name before she lost consciousness. Social services checked her records and belongings. There was an old emergency contact entry with his full name.”

James nodded.

“They called me about an hour ago.”

“You came immediately?”

“Yes.”

“Did you see her?”

He shook his head.

“She was already gone.”

That sentence flattened everything.

The baby made a tiny noise from the room behind us.

All three of us turned.

The nurse softened.

“She’s doing well.”

I looked back at James.

He was terrified.

Not of the hospital.

Of me.

That was when I finally understood.

Whatever he was about to ask wasn’t about Anna wanting him back.

Anna was gone.

This was about the baby.

James took a breath.

“She has no one.”

I didn’t move.

“Her father’s not coming. Social services reached him. He signed something saying he isn’t seeking custody.”

My mouth went dry.

“Already?”

“He left months ago. Apparently he doesn’t want involvement.”

Anger flashed through me.

James continued.

“The hospital social worker explained what happens next.”

“What happens?”

“Temporary placement while they search for relatives and determine guardianship.”

He looked through the glass.

“They don’t think there are any relatives.”

I already knew what was coming.

Still, hearing it felt enormous.

“I want us to ask to be considered.”

I stared at him.

“For what?”

He looked directly at me.

“For her.”

My eyes filled.

“James.”

“I know.”

His voice broke.

“I know how this sounds.”

“No, you don’t.”

“I probably do.”

He reached toward me, then stopped.

“I already told the social worker I’m married. That I would never make any decision without you. That this isn’t something I get to promise on my own.”

I looked through the glass again.

The bassinet had been moved closer.

Tiny face.

Dark hair.

Closed eyes.

“I want to apply for her,” James said. “Whatever that process means. Foster placement, guardianship, adoption later if that’s possible. I want to bring her home.”

He swallowed.

“If this is too much, tell me, and I’ll never mention it again.”

I laughed through my tears.

Not because anything was funny.

Because I finally understood what he had been expecting.

“You think I’m jealous?”

He said nothing.

“You thought I’d hear Anna’s name and think this was about her?”

“I didn’t know what you’d think.”

I wiped my face.

“I thought she might be your baby.”

His eyes widened.

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