with her future half a lifetime earlier.
My first thought should probably have been jealousy.
It wasn’t.
I thought about fear.
A woman dying alone.
A newborn baby only a few rooms away.
No mother.
No husband.
No family waiting in the hallway.
And one old name still reachable somewhere inside the fog.
“How did they find him?”
The nurse answered.
“She gave enough of his last name before she lost consciousness. Social services looked through her records and belongings. There was an old emergency contact entry buried in previous paperwork with his full name.”
James nodded.
“They called me about an hour ago.”
I stared at him.
“You came immediately?”
“Yes.”
