PART 1

“Where are my wife and sons?” I asked as I unlocked the front door, but the only answer was the faint, weak cry of two newborns echoing from the kitchen.

It was almost 11:30 PM on New Year’s Eve. I was supposed to still be in Stuttgart, Germany, inspecting industrial machinery until the first week of January. But I had swapped my flight, paid a fortune for a last-minute seat, and flown back to New York without telling a soul. I wanted to surprise Joanna, my wife, who had given birth via emergency C-section eleven days prior, and hold our newborn twin sons, Wyatt and Hudson, for the very first time. In my luggage, I had thermal clothes for the babies, recovery lotions for Joanna, chocolates for my mother, and an expensive bottle of perfume for my sister, Bethany. I still foolishly believed they all deserved gifts.

Our apartment in Park Slope, Brooklyn was dark, freezing, and devoid of any sign of a New Year’s Eve celebration. No festive spread, no champagne, not even leftovers. In the living room, I found used diapers, an open tub of cheap formula, and empty glasses scattered around. I walked toward the kitchen, and my heart dropped into my stomach.

Joanna was huddled in a hard plastic folding chair, wearing thin pajamas and an old cardigan. Her face was ash-gray, her lips chapped and bleeding, and one hand pressed tightly against her surgical incision. The fabric was stained with blood. Sitting in front of her was a plastic cup of instant ramen noodles, lukewarm, swollen, and looking like wallpaper paste. Wyatt and Hudson were crying softly inside a wicker bassinet, bundled together beneath a blanket far too thin for a December night.

“Gavin… why are you back?” Joanna stammered, trying to stand up. “Go rest. I’ll… I’ll make you something to eat.”

Her legs buckled beneath her. I caught her before she slammed onto the hardwood floor.