The Midwife’s Mistake by Anya Mora

Author:Anya Mora [Mora, Anya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-01-08T16:00:00+00:00

8

The following day, I feel like I will lose my mind if I keep spinning in circles all on my own, without any more information about the night of the birth.

I need answers, some concrete evidence I can walk forward with, because this path I'm treading, it's one of madness. If this baby boy, Park, isn't my child, which I know in my gut he is not, that means my baby's somewhere else, and that someone has to have seen something.

While Melody rocks Park to sleep in the living room, I take a moment to dry my hair, then put on clean leggings and a pair of galoshes. The fields outside my house are wet, so I need waterproof shoes for this hike.

In the living room, Ivan looks up from the floor. He's in a bow pose, legs and arms spread behind him—his eyes to the sky.

"Hey," he says.

On the yoga mat, he looks so vulnerable, so different than he usually is. Always is. In day-to-day life, he's a rock. My rock.

He lets go of his ankles and uses his palms to push himself off the floor.

"Where are you headed?" he asks.

"I'm going to take a walk outside," I say.

“Want company?”

I shake my head. “No, I just want to be alone for a bit.” He watches me but doesn’t comment. In the kitchen, I pour myself a to-go cup of coffee. "Are you okay with the baby? I need some fresh air to clear my head."

"Of course," he says. "Anything you need, everything you need. We got you." He looks over at Melody, and they share a smile. "Right?"

She nods. "Of course, Park isn't that difficult to take care of. Look at this guy. He is so cute."

I smile in agreement. He may not be my baby, but he is adorable.

"I won't be long," I say. "I just want to go down to the end of the street and back."

"Whatever you want," he says.

Outside, I breathe in the fresh air of the island. Even though it's been a windy week, the sky has begun to part and reveal stretches of blue. The late-morning sun hangs in the sky and fills my face with a warmth I didn't realize I needed.

Sleep, while not soundless, has still been pretty easy coming, considering I just gave birth. Would it be easier or more complicated if it were my baby I was rocking to sleep? If it would be harder to let her go, to take a break, a walk. Deciding there's no point in dwelling on the what-ifs, I just put one foot in front of the other, taking a sip of my coffee as I go. I have a destination in mind. I didn't explain that to Ivan. The last thing I wanted was to ring any alarm bells, but I know. I need something to go off of, and my neighbor Rooney is the only one who can give it to me.

His house shares a driveway with mine. When I get

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.