Chapter Fifty-eight

Sylvia woke up with a start to see the soft curl of a pink sunrise through the windows. She sat up in bed abruptly, the blanket falling from her naked chest. Had she heard her baby next door?

She listened, and heard nothing except Xavier’s even, steady breathing beside her in the shadowy bedroom. Then she heard Robby’s voice again.

‘Ma…ma…ma!’

Quietly Sylvia rose from the bed and pulled a robe off the bathroom door hook. Leaving Xavier’s room, she went down the hall to her own, where she found her baby son sitting up in his crib. Whispering soft words of love, Sylvia took him in her arms. Holding him tenderly, she fed him, rocking him in the rocking chair. The baby, now yawning with a full belly, swiftly fell back to sleep.

But Sylvia knew she would not.

Putting him back in his crib, she went to the en-suite bathroom, closing the door silently behind her. She turned on the shower and dropped the robe to the floor. As the steam enveloped her body, she climbed into the marble shower. Sh