I didn’t feel afraid, I didn’t feel anything other than a deep peace. Then suddenly I saw an image in my mind and it was Layla and she was eight or nine and she was standing in a field somewhere out in the country. Her hair was long and blond, she was wearing a little silver heart necklace over an open blouse, she had on jeans. She was thin and tall and the wind was lifting her hair. Standing next to her was Maggie, but Maggie was much older, maybe in her seventies, and there was a soft light around them, like at sunset. They were both radiant and then Layla spoke to me as she reached for Maggie’s hand. She said, “I love you, Daddy.”

Just as Layla said this, I felt this tremendous surge of emotion opening inside my chest and I began to cry, and then to sob, and as the vision of Layla and Maggie faded away I realized that Mama and Maggie were standing beside me. I was back in the little room and they both had their hands on my shoulders, and with Layla still sleeping in her stroller I looked at her and saw that she was the most beautifully radiant human being I had ever seen.

Maggie leaned over and kissed me and said, “It’s okay, baby, it’s okay.”