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 died in childbirth…” my mother said in a cold voice that sent shivers down my spine. I approached, trembling, to see her one last time… and then I realized. My wife’s stiff hand was still clutching something. And my mother turned pale when I tried to pry her fingers apart.
The coffin was waiting in my living room before I had even taken off my uniform. My mother stood beside it without a single tear and said, “Your wife died giving birth, Daniel.” For three seconds, the world made no sound. Then I heard the weak crying of a newborn somewhere upstairs. I dropped my…