I returned home from military service, hoping to see my wife’s smile. Instead, I found a coffin in the middle of the living room. “She d:ied in childbirth…”

my duffel bag and walked toward the coffin. The lid was open. Emily lay inside wearing the blue dress she had chosen for my homecoming, her skin pale, her dark hair arranged too carefully around her face. No hospital bracelet. No flowers from the clinic. No doctor waiting to explain what had happened.

Only my mother, Margaret, and my younger brother,continue reading …