“Good morning, sir, here’s the discharge —”
“Where’s my wife?” I interrupted.
The nurse hesitated, biting her lip.
“She checked out this morning. She said you knew.”
My mind spun.
“She — where did she go?” I asked, holding up the note. “Did she say anything else? Was she upset?”
The nurse frowned slightly.
“She seemed fine. Just… quiet. Are you saying you didn’t know?”
I shook my head slowly.
“She said nothing… just left me this note.”
I left the hospital in a haze, cradling my daughters in my arms while the note remained crumpled tightly in my fist.
Suzie was gone.
My wife.
My partner.
The woman I believed I knew better than anyone.
She had vanished without warning.
For illustrative purposes only
All I had left were two tiny babies, a shattered future I no longer understood, and a message that pointed to my mother.
When I pulled into our driveway, I saw my mom, Mandy, waiting on the porch. She was smiling brightly and holding a casserole dish.
The smell of cheesy potatoes drifted toward me, but it did nothing to calm the storm raging inside my chest.
“Oh, let me see my grandbabies!” she said excitedly, setting the dish down and hurrying toward me. “They’re beautiful, Ben, absolutely beautiful.”
I instinctively stepped back, holding the car seat closer to my body.
“Not yet, Mom.”
Her smile faltered.
Confusion creased her forehead.
