"Has anyone heard from him? Has Father said anything? Does he know where Cooper is?"
Miriam shook her head slowly. "No one has brought him back."
Ethan's fingers tightened around the bedsheet. He wanted to get out of bed, to find his son, to demand that someone tell him where Cooper had been taken. But his body refused to cooperate, and the frustration of being unable to do anything only made his thoughts more frantic.
Miriam reached for his hand.
"Please, Ethan. You need to recover first."
He did not pull away, but neither did he look at her. His attention remained fixed on the empty space beside the bed, where he had imagined Cooper sitting during the countless hours he had spent in the hospital.
Miriam lowered her head, concealing the tears gathering in her eyes. She, too, wanted the boy back. Whatever the truth about his birth, Cooper had been part of their family, and the thought of never seeing him again left an emptiness she did not know how to bear.
