Chapter 5 - The Birth of Liam
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The pregnancy was a grueling test of endurance. Nora received no prenatal care from her husband’s family, no gentle check-ins, no baby showers. She navigated the sickness and the physical toll entirely alone, often walking to the local clinic because Eleanor refused to let the family driver waste gas on “unnecessary errands.”
When Nora’s water broke in the middle of a stormy night, Arthur was away on a desperate business trip, trying to secure capital to save his failing company. Nora had to call a taxi to take her to the hospital. She labored for fourteen agonizing hours in a sterile room, with only the kind words of the nurses to offer her any comfort.
When little Liam finally cried out, filling the room with the sound of new life, Nora pulled him to her chest and made a silent, unbreakable vow.
“I will never let you feel unwanted,” she whispered, kissing his soft, warm head as tears streamed down her exhausted face. “I will be your family. I will be enough.”
Arthur returned three days later. He walked into the nursery, looked at his sleeping son for a brief moment, and sighed heavily.
“He looks… small,” Arthur noted, running a hand through his hair.
“He is perfect,” Nora corrected fiercely.
May you like
“I suppose,” Arthur muttered, checking his phone as it buzzed violently. “Listen, I have to get back to the office. The bank is threatening to call in our loans. Keep him quiet when I’m working at home, alright? The crying sets my nerves on edge.”
He left the room without ever holding his son. Nora sat in the rocking chair, clutching Liam tightly against her chest. The fairy tale was completely dead, replaced by the grim reality that she was trapped in a house with a man who viewed his own child as an auditory nuisance. But looking down at Liam’s innocent face, Nora knew she had to endure it. For him.
