And on her head, plastered down wet against her scalp, was a full head of hair.
Copper red hair. The color of a new penny.
I didn’t even think about it. Why would I? I just reached for her. “Give her to me,” I said. “Please, give her to me.”
They put her on my chest. She was so warm. She was heavier than I expected, and she smelled like something I had no word for, something old and new at the same time.
“Hi,” I whispered to her. “Hi, Evie. Hi, baby. It’s me. It’s Mama.”
Ben was crying. I heard him laughing and crying beside me.
“We did it, Claire,” he said. “We actually did it.”
He leaned down to look at her face.
He saw her hair.
And that’s when his smile disappeared.
You already know what he said. I’ve told you. I can still hear it when the house is quiet.
