Chapter 22C
onnie lies on her side in the hospital bed watching the silhouette of Vincent cradling Gabrielle. Vince is singing softly, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.” Connie thinks he’s burning this memory into his brain and into Gabrielle’s as well, a perpetual loop of adoration. Narcissus stares at his reflection as she escapes into the arms of Morpheus.
She dreams of fields of poppies: tall as lilies, red as blood. She is Lilliputian running through the stalks, trying to escape their spell but is overcome with lethargy. Wrapping her arms around a flower, she pulls its belled petals over her head and drops into oblivion.
The first time she nurses Gabrielle, Connie imagines that the baby struggles to make sense of the eviction from her mother’s womb. She’s the only child with th
