How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

Jarrod glanced sideways at her. "Are you planning to suffocate yourself? Relax a little."

Elodie swallowed hard. "Who does your daughter take after? She's probably past the awkward phase now, right? I never learned how to hold a baby, Jarrod, my heart is about to jump out of my chest."

She started rambling, as she always did when nervous.

Jarrod watched her, then turned his head and covered his mouth, trying to hide a laugh.

"So if she isn't cute, you'll just send her back?"

Elodie shot him a glare. "What, you think this is like returning groceries at the supermarket?"

He just grinned, taking his time. "You must be out of your mind. With genes like ours—especially mine-how could my daughter not be adorable?"

She wanted to snap back, but words failed her.

He wasn't exactly wrong.

And so they bantered, back and forth, the whole way there.

Half an hour later, Elodie found herself in a secluded neighborhood of upscale villas. The area was deserted, and the roads were tricky to navigate.

it was the cold or her nerves, but her whole body

around her, pulling her

fiction movie, gleaming with high-tech equipment and bustling

them-likely the team in charge here. One of them looked from her to Jarrod. "Mr. Silverstein,

as

And then-

into a vast, spotless room. At the far end, inside a special incubator, Elodie

the months crystallized into reality in that

breathing child-right

registered Jarrod letting go of her as she drifted forward, step by step,

tiny girl

eyelashes long and delicate. Even as an infant, her nose was perfectly

Elodie's forearm-but clearly healthy,

own, pressing gently against the glass, as if

in that single, overwhelming moment, tears broke free,

sense of connection-a bond deeper than words-rooted itself inside her, filling her with an uncontrollable urge to love this child with everything she

Tears kept falling, unstoppable.

she cared about so much, loved so fiercely, was safe and

to stand beside her, bending down so his eyes