During The Farewell For His Pregnant Wife, A Husband Asked To See Her One Last Time — And Noticed A Movement That Made Everyone Stop And Call Doctors Immediately

The Moment He Asked for One Last Look
The air inside the small crematory outside Spokane felt heavier than it should have been, as if grief itself had settled into the walls and refused to leave, while Andrew Halbrook stood beside the closed casket with his hands resting on the polished wood, steadying himself against the certainty that nothing in his life would ever return to what it had been only days before.

A Life Interrupted Too Quietly
His wife, Lillian Halbrook, lay inside, her features softened by careful preparation, her blonde hair arranged the way she always wore it when she wanted to feel composed, even though the world had failed her in the most unforgiving way imaginable. She had been seven months along, glowing only weeks earlier, laughing at the way the baby reacted to music while Andrew pressed his ear to her belly at night.