The next morning, sunlight slipped through the blinds, cutting golden stripes across the hospital sheets. Nora sat propped against the pillows, the baby asleep in her arms, the blanket tucked close around them both.
The nurse came in with discharge papers and a smile that tried to hide how much she’d been crying earlier. “He’s perfect,” she said. “Healthy, strong heartbeat. You both did beautifully.”
Nora nodded, brushing her thumb across the baby’s forehead. “I think he’s going to have his father’s calm,” she said softly.
“Do you have a name for him?” the nurse asked.
Nora hesitated, then smiled through tears. “Evan,” she said. “His name is Evan.”
The nurse wrote it down without comment, the pen trembling slightly. When she looked up, Nora was still staring at the sunrise outside the window, whispering something the nurse couldn’t quite hear.
But if she could have, she would’ve caught the words: *Thank you for keeping your promise.*
The wind nudged the curtain gently, sunlight shifting just enough to touch the blue stars on the blanket.
And somewhere in that golden silence, a warmth lingered that had nothing to do with the sun at all.
