The baby came on the eighth of May, which was a Tuesday, at four in the afternoon, which was a civilized hour that nobody had planned for but everyone appreciated.
I had been in labor since the night before, a slow and deliberate process that my body managed with what felt like professional experience. This labor was different from Ava's in its patience. Ava had arrived with urgency. This baby seemed to be considering the matter thoroughly before committing.
Marcus was present in the way he had learned to be present, which was completely and without performing it. He sat beside me through the long night and the morning and he did not try to fill the silences and he did not require reassurance and when I needed something he found it and when I needed nothing he held my hand without commen
