Those words stayed with me.
But I kept making excuses for her.
Maybe she was worried about us.
Maybe she simply didn’t understand Down syndrome.
Maybe she came from a generation where disability was spoken about differently, often with more fear and less knowledge.
I told myself she needed time.
What I didn’t understand then was that Diane had already made up her mind about what our future would look like.
And she was determined to make Daniel and me see it too.
Part 4 — The Whisper at 2 A.M.
Everything changed the following Thursday.
I woke a little after two in the morning.
At first, I wasn’t sure what had awakened me.
Daniel was asleep beside me.
The house was quiet.
Then I heard something through the baby monitor.
A whisper.
I sat upright.
For a second, I thought Brenda might be fussing.
Then the whisper came again.“Don’t worry.”
