Outside the window, clouds drift aimlessly across the night sky and they offer white dreams to those who sleep. Although they seem to have forgotten all about James. The father of a newborn remains awake, and sits quietly by his wife’s bedside. But he is oblivious of the cacophony of sounds that creep stealthily through the cracks in the door and intrude upon his privacy within.
His weary eyes are filled with unshed tears as he stretches his arm across white hospital sheets. His sense of desperation is palpable as he tenderly covers his wife’s cold hand with his and prays for a sign. But he is not greedy. Perhaps a fluttering motion from long eyelashes that brush her pale cheeks, a sudden movement from her fingertips or a tongue that unmercifully teases her dry lips.
James tries not to focus on a mechanical ventilator that now sits idle in a corner of the room. But he’s cognizant of a nasal cannula that drapes over and behind his wife’s delicate ears, and the movement of her chest as it rises and falls with every breath.
Carefully he pulls a blue baby hat out of one of his trouser pockets. He lays the brand new knit by the corner of his wife’s pillow. Leaning over he gently rests his unshaven face against her soft skin. But soon after he feels a tear roll down her cheek and caress the side of his face. He takes a deep breath, savors the moment, and knows that everything will be alright.
His weary eyes are filled with unshed tears as he stretches his arm across white hospital sheets. His sense of desperation is palpable as he tenderly covers his wife’s cold hand with his and prays for a sign. But he is not greedy. Perhaps a fluttering motion from long eyelashes that brush her pale cheeks, a sudden movement from her fingertips or a tongue that unmercifully teases her dry lips.
James tries not to focus on a mechanical ventilator that now sits idle in a corner of the room. But he’s cognizant of a nasal cannula that drapes over and behind his wife’s delicate ears, and the movement of her chest as it rises and falls with every breath.
Carefully he pulls a blue baby hat out of one of his trouser pockets. He lays the brand new knit by the corner of his wife’s pillow. Leaning over he gently rests his unshaven face against her soft skin. But soon after he feels a tear roll down her cheek and caress the side of his face. He takes a deep breath, savors the moment, and knows that everything will be alright.
