We reached the front door and as I fumbled for my keys Maggie said, “Let’s just go to bed, Jim. I just want to lay in bed with you and stay with this, and Mama said that this was going to happen so let’s just be with our baby now.”

“Mama said what was going to happen?” I said.

“That everything in our lives was going to change, and that it was Layla’s love that was going to change us. That when she was born we would already know her and we would understand what we are supposed to do.”

“Supposed to do?” I said.

“Yes, that’s what Mama said, supposed to do.”

“What do you think she meant by that?” I asked.

“I don’t know, baby, I don’t know. But it feels like it’s already happening,” Maggie said softly as she squeezed my hand.

Suddenly, there in the dimly lit stairwell, I felt happier than I ever had, and as I turned to my wife in the darkened landing I could feel the three of us standing there.