After Four Daughters, My Husband Finally Got the Son He’d Been Begging For – But When He Held Our Newborn Boy for the First Time, His Words

He leaned closer to the bassinet, as if a different angle might undo what he was seeing. His jaw worked. I watched him try to reason with it, watched something behind his eyes lose the argument.

“Rachel.” His voice was flat. “Can you… can you leave us for a minute?”

“What’s wrong with him?”

Rachel glanced between us, her professional smile holding. She snapped the gown closed with practiced hands.

“Of course. I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

The door clicked shut. Aaron didn’t move.

“Honey, you’re scaring me,” I said. “What’s wrong with him? Is he okay?”

“You asked him to help us.”

He turned his head slowly toward me. His eyes were wet, but not the way they had been ten minutes ago. Something in them had gone hard and far away.

“Michael.”

I blinked. “What?”

“Michael,” he repeated. “All those months I was working late. He was at the house. With you.”