I knew what it was. I’d read the pamphlets they sent home. My stomach turned over, and I nearly fainted.
“It’s spina bifida,” I whispered.
Melissa made a sound I hope I never hear again.
I turned the baby gently onto her side.
It wasn’t a word. It was a scream that filled the whole hallway, and I heard footsteps running.
“No. No, no, no,” my SIL kept saying. “The ultrasounds were fine! They said she was fine! They said she was fine, Ryan!”
“Melissa, please,” Ryan said. He still wasn’t looking at anyone.
Nurse Bianca burst back in, another nurse right behind her.
“The ultrasounds were fine!”
“What’s happening in here?! Ma’am, please sit down!”
But Melissa was already crumbling, her hands over her face, and Ryan, the man who once held my hand at our parents’ funeral and promised me we’d always be a family, turned and walked out of the room.
