"She's doing well. She's in postpartum confinement right now, fully focused on the baby. That's probably why she hasn't been answering." Something in his voice felt slightly off, but I couldn't pin down what it was.
"Where are you both staying?" I asked.
Faintly, through the phone, I heard a baby crying. The sound reached somewhere deep inside me and squeezed. My eyes filled before I could stop them.
"Still out in the countryside. Once Macy's feeling stronger, we'll come to K City to see you."
That made me smile despite everything. At least they were okay. At least her baby was here and healthy and crying the way babies were supposed to cry. Jackson wrapped up the call not long after, clearly pulled in several directions at once with a newborn in the house.
The temperature had dropped while I was sitting outside. Autumn in K City had a way of catching you off guard, cool one moment and genuinely cold the next. I gathered the documents and stood, ready to head inside.
I stopped.
