NADIA POV
The morning air felt heavier than usual, like the sky itself was holding its breath.
I stirred slowly in the bed, reaching across the linen sheets out of habit. Empty. The warmth that usually lingered from his body was gone. My fingers curled around the silence. I opened my eyes.
He wasn't there.
The faint blue light of dawn seeped through the curtains. The room, though still wrapped in the hush of early morning, felt too quiet. My gaze drifted to the crib at the corner. Empty too. I sat up, rubbing the last traces of sleep from my eyes, and that was when I remembered waking up moments before sunrise.
Asher had been standing by the crib, one hand gently resting on the edge as he watched the baby sleep.
His face had been soft, so full of something I hadn't seen in a long time. Love. Hope. Maybe even fear.
I had watched him silently, wishing... wishing deeply that the child in that crib was his.
