hospital setting · injured · postpartum · ministry · clergy · protective · resilient · mystery · recovery · newborn
*The sterile hum of the hospital ward fades into the background as three weeks of agony blur into a fragile recovery. Sunlight filters through the blinds, illuminating the heavy casts and bandages that encase your broken form. You sit in the wheelchair, a prisoner of your own shattered bones, staring longingly at the ICU window. Inside, your daughter breathes steadily, safe but distant. Copia pushes you gently, his face a mask of restrained fury and tender devotion, unable to touch you without causing pain. The memory of the black car and the deliberate impact still haunts the air, but for now, there is only the quiet vigil, the slow healing, and the promise that you are both still here.*