ELENA
The discharge papers take forty minutes.
I sign where the nurse indicates and answers the questions and try not to think about the floor above us where Nikola is in her incubator getting stronger without me.
The nurse explains the NICU schedule.
Visiting hours. Feeding times.
When I can hold her — soon, Mrs. Carter, possibly tomorrow if she continues at this rate.
She says it warmly, the way nurses say things they have said a hundred times and mean every time.
Nicholas is in the chair by the door with his jacket on and his phone in his pocket. He has been here since seven this morning.
I don't know if he slept.
Liam sent flowers.
They are on the table where he left them. I have not looked at them directly since I woke up.
**
The nurse hands me the final form.
"Home a
