The First Morning
By 7:00 AM, the autumn sun rose over the city, spilling clean, golden light through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the private pediatric suite.
Alexander sat on the edge of Sophia’s bed. The little girl had eaten half a bowl of oatmeal and was looking curiously at a plush brown teddy bear a nurse had brought in.
"Daddy?" Sophia asked softly, her small fingers stroking the bear's ear.
"Yes, my love?"
"Is Mommy going to go to heaven?"
Alexander’s heart seized in his chest. He took her small, frail hands between both of his, warming them with his breath. "No, Sophia. Mommy is going to get better. The doctors gave her medicine, and she is sleeping in the room right next door."
"Will we have to go back to the mold cellar when she wakes up?"
"Never," Alexander said, his voice ringing with absolute certainty. "Never again. Daddy bought a house by the lake with big windows, green grass, and a garden where you can plant real flowers. You will have your own room with a bed as soft as clouds, and all the warm bread you could ever want."
Sophia looked at him for a long, silent moment, her big blue eyes searching his face to see if this was another game or another lie.
Slowly, her small lip stopped trembling. She leaned forward, resting her head against Alexander’s chest, listening to the steady, deep thump of his heartbeat.
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"I missed you, Daddy," she whispered.
Alexander wrapped his arms around her tiny body, burying his face in her clean hair, letting his tears soak into the flannel fabric. "I'm sorry, Sophia. Daddy was lost in the dark, but I’m home now. I’m never leaving again."
