Part 1: The Question That Changed Everything

I thought the hardest part of becoming a mother would be the exhaustion.

The sleepless nights. The constant feedings. The way time seems to disappear when you’re caring for a newborn. I was prepared for all of that. What I wasn’t prepared for was the moment my entire understanding of my marriage collapsed—right there in my hospital room.

My daughter had just been born.

She lay sleeping against my chest, warm and impossibly small, when the door opened and my grandfather, Edward, walked in. He carried a bouquet of flowers and wore the same gentle smile that had comforted me my entire life.

He leaned down, kissed my forehead, and then said something that made my heart stop.