“Leave them.”
He nodded and checked his messages again.
I watched his thumb stop over the screen.
“Who is it?”
“Mom.”
I did not ask what she wanted. I adjusted the hospital blanket over my knees while the nurse checked the identification band on my wrist.
Daniel put the phone face down.
“What did she say?”
“She asked what time the babies would be here.”
“She knows.”
“I know.”
The nurse finished her check and placed the clipboard at the foot of the bed. “Seven thirty is still the scheduled time.”
Daniel looked at me.
“You ready?”
“No.”
He smiled.
“That was the wrong answer.”
“It was the honest one.”
He slipped his wedding ring beneath his thumb and then stopped himself.
The nurse rolled the bed toward the operating area.
Daniel walked beside me until the doors.
“I will be right here.”
“You will let the nurses decide who
