8th June, 2018
7:15 PM

Grace eyes opened all of a sudden and the first thing she notices is the dull hospital room and the next thing she notices is her mother sitting on the chair next to the hospital bed.

“Mom...” Grace croaked.

Grace's mother leaves a teary smile upon seeing her daughter awake and hugs her softly.

“You did it, Grace. Tanya is here.”

Grace sucks in a large breath and asks, “Where is she?”

“You passed out after giving birth, so you must not remember anything but the nurse took her to do some assessments and other stuff. But I think she is with your father right now.  Your father was crying like a baby, you should've seen, he felt as if baby Grace was born again,” Grace's mother said, running a hand through her daughter's hair.

“Mom?”

“Hm...”

“Levi is not here.”

There is a silence in the room as Grace lays in her hospital bed, her insides still hurting from the pain of the delivery and the pain of losing her husband but she couldn't find in her herself to cry anymore.

It's like her body became numb.

“Can I meet my daughter now?”

Her mother nodded and soon Grace found her father entering the room, smiling down at the newborn.

As her father keeps the baby on her chest, Grace hugs her baby lightly, making sure not to hurt her.

“Alisha...”

“What?” Her mother asked.

“Her name is Alisha. Not Tanya,” Grace spoke, loudly.

“But you wanted to name the kid Tanya—”

“—But Levi wanted to name her Alisha, so her name is Alisha.”

Her Mom nodded, looking down.

Grace held Alisha close to her chest and in that moment she knew God had taken one angel from her but given her another.

And no amount of tears can bring her husband and Alisha's father back.

And even though it hurts more than anything, she had to learn to live with pain, for this is life.

There is no rewind, no pause or fast forward.

There is only play.