Knowing her grandmother's skill in medicine, Jessica found it hard to accept that Nora's pregnancy, so closely monitored and free of complications, could have ended in a stillbirth.
"Prolonged labour?" she murmured aloud, then shook her head. "Definitely impossible."
As she wrestled with the thought, Nelly's voice broke the silence beside her.
"I didn't believe it either," the old woman said, drawing in a deep breath. "But then I was handed a lifeless baby boy… they said he was Nora's child."
At that moment, holding the baby tightly wrapped in a brown carton, they had both felt pain, anger, and dismay.
Nora had borne that pregnancy with carefulness and hope. She had exhausted every preparation necessary to welcome the twins.
So many times, she had told Nora, the twins are a testament of the love that was denied.
To Nora, they meant everything.
