I WENT TO PICK UP MY WIFE AND OUR NEWBORN TWIN GIRLS FROM THE HOSPITAL

The room went completely still.

“You what?” My voice was barely a whisper.

“I was protecting you,” she insisted. “You work hard. You deserve to know—”

“They’re my daughters,” I cut her off. “And even if they weren’t, how dare you?”

She tried to speak again, but I couldn’t hear it. All I could see was Emily’s face in my mind. The exhaustion. The way she’d stared out the window some nights. The way she’d asked me once, “Do you trust me?”