Chapter 4 - The Unsent Messages
It was 1:15 AM when I finally sat down at the small laminate table in the hospital cafeteria on the basement floor.
The cafeteria was practically empty at this hour. A single janitor was mopping the floor in the far corner, and the fluorescent lights hummed overhead. A cold, untouched paper cup of decaf coffee sat in front of me on the Formica surface.
I pulled my hair out of its tight knot, letting it fall over my shoulders, and leaned my forehead against my cold palms.
My stomach rippled. My daughter was active tonight, kicking against my ribs as if sensing the emotional storm swirling through her mother's body.
"It's okay, sweetie," I whispered, resting my hand over my belly. "We're okay."
My phone sat on the table beside my coffee cup.
It buzzed.
The sharp vibration against the laminate surface made me jump. I pulled my head up, my heart leaping into my throat.
On the screen was a text message from an unlisted number—a number I had deleted six months ago, but knew by heart.
Ethan.
My fingers trembled as I picked up the phone and tapped the notification.
Ethan: "Sophie keeps asking for the pretty doctor with the baby. She won’t sleep."
I stared at the screen, my pulse racing. I began typing a clinical reply—Tell her to take a deep breath, the floor nurse can administer a mild pediatric sedative if the pain is keeping her awake—but before I could hit send, a second message chimed onto the screen.
Ethan: "She just told me something that I think you need to hear."
I paused, my thumb hovering over the screen. My chest tightened.
Before I could type a response, my phone began to ring.
It was an incoming call from his number.
My breath caught in my throat. I stared at the flashing screen for three long rings, my heart warring against my mind.
Finally, I swiped the green icon and held the phone to my ear.
"Ethan?" I said, keeping my voice cautious.
There was silence on the other end of the line for two seconds—just the soft, steady sound of hospital room telemetry monitoring in the background.
Then, a deep, ragged breath sounded through the speaker.
"She's awake, Madison," Ethan's low voice sounded, thick with emotion. "I... I tried to get her to close her eyes, but she insisted I call you. She wants to tell you something."
I heard the faint rustle of bedsheets over the speaker, followed by the soft shuffling of a phone being handed over to a little girl.
"Dr. Madison?"
Sophie's sweet, sleepy voice came through the small speaker, clear and innocent.
"Hi, Sophie," I said, my tone instantly softening despite my emotional exhaustion. "Why aren't you sleeping, sweetie? Does your wrist hurt?"
"A little bit," Sophie whispered into the phone. "But my dad gave me some water. Dr. Madison?"
"Yes, sweetie?"
"My dad was crying," the little girl said softly, her voice carrying the absolute, unfiltered truth that only a seven-year-old could deliver.
My breath hitched in my throat. I looked out across the empty, fluorescent-lit cafeteria. "He was?"
"Yeah," Sophie nodded, I could hear her shifting under the blanket. "After you left our room, he sat in the chair and held my hand, and big tears were coming out of his eyes. He thought I was sleeping, but I wasn't."
I squeezed my eyes shut, holding the phone tightly against my ear. "Sophie, your dad was just worried about your arm—"
"No," Sophie interrupted gently. "I asked him why he was crying. And do you know what he told me?"
"What did he tell you, sweetie?" I whispered, my voice barely audible.
Through the phone speaker, I heard Ethan let out a shaky, strangled breath in the background—a man standing beside his daughter's bed, listening to his deepest secret being laid bare to the woman he loved.
"He told me that he saw an angel today," Sophie whispered sleepy into the phone. "And then he told me that the baby inside your belly is my little sister."
The cafeteria vanished around me. The hum of the lights died.
"He said he was really sorry he was scared for so long," Sophie continued, her voice growing heavier with sleep. "And then I asked him a question..."
"What question, Sophie?" I choked out, tears running freely down my face now.
May you like
"I asked him..." Sophie yawned softly into the receiver, delivering the one sentence that made Ethan go completely silent on the other end of the line.
“Daddy, is Dr. Madison going to be my baby sister’s mommy too?”
