CHAPTER 251 — The Fear That Rises, the Love That Holds It

(Milagros’s Point of View)

The ultrasound video was still playing on the laptop when Ayden rested his head on my shoulder, as if he needed to lean on me too—even though he always tried to look as strong as steel. The babies’ heartbeats filled the room, steady, constant, hypnotic. That sound was no longer just part of a medical file. It was life announcing itself inside me, their first way of existing in our world.

The house was quiet. We