She stayed the whole afternoon, plastic chair and all, leaving only twice, once to get food from the hospital canteen that I ate without tasting and once to take a phone call in the corridor that she came back from looking deliberately unbothered, which meant it had been something she did not want to worry me with. I did not ask. We had an agreement about that, Sophia and I, unspoken but solid, she was allowed to manage what she managed and I was allowed to not notice when she did it.
The doctor came back at five and said my pressure had come down enough and the baby’s heartbeat was strong and even and I could go home in the morning as long as I rested properly tonight. I said I would. I meant it more than I had meant anything in weeks.
Sophia left at six.
After Sophia left the ward wen
