Halfway to forever by Karen Kingsbury

"I wish I could have seen him."
"So you'd be okay with a boy? One day down the road, I mean?"
"I only want a child, Hannah. Whatever child the Lord gives us." Matt cocked his head. "What happens to
the baby now?" "He's in short-term care until his relatives can be notified. I'm
sure someone in his family will take him."
In the days since then, Hannah had tried to push thoughts of the boy aside. She even wondered if she was
dwelling on him as a way of letting go of Grace. Whatever it was, the feel of him in her arms, cradled
against her chest, was not something that was fading with time.
Now it was Monday morning, and she and Matt had planned to be at the hospital by seven. Instead, she'd
burned the oatmeal, and by the time the two of them had cleaned the mess, they were running late. Hannah
was sitting at the kitchen table putting on lipstick and Matt was washing the breakfast dishes when the
phone rang.
260 He dried his hands on his jeans and grabbed the receiver. "Hello?" He cradled it against his shoulder
as Hannah threw him a dish towel from the table. "Okay" Matt winked at her. "Just a minute."
"Salesman..." He mouthed the word and handed her the
phone.
"Thanks." Hannah pointed to the clock. She kept her hand
over the mouthpiece. "We have a baby to meet."
"Sorry." Matt shrugged and chuckled. "They asked for you."
Hannah brought the phone to her ear and dropped the whisper.
"Hello?"
"Mrs. Bronzan, I'm sorry to call so early This is Edna Parsons
at Social Services."
The floor fell away beneath her. Why on earth was the woman
calling now? To give them an update on a little girl they'd never
see again? To offer more false promises? Hannah clenched her
teeth. It did no good to be bitter now. "Yes, Mrs. Parsons." She
motioned for Matt to join her. "What can we do for you?"
Hannah heard the woman draw a deep breath. "First, I want you to know that what happened with Grace
was... well, it was devastating for me." She hesitated. "It was the first time in my career that anything like
that took place, where a birth mother lied about her existing family members. It's changed the way I handle
cases."
Matt pulled up a chair and sat across from Hannah, his eyebrows
lowered. A streak of regret pierced the walls around
Hannah's heart. Maybe her thoughts about the social worker had
been too harsh. "It was hard for all of us."
"Anyway that's not why I called."
"Okay, what's up?" A part of her didn't want to know, didn't