Sure enough—half an hour earlier, Nancy had posted a photo with a caption: [Hope I’ll always be the one my big brother cherishes most!]
In the picture, Edwin was carefully tending to her hand.
Below, he’d commented: [If I don’t cherish you, who else would I do?]
When they were much younger, Nancy had been Edwin’s neighbor back in his hometown, the daughter of a family friend.
Three months ago, Nancy moved to West Lake to be near him.
He’d placed her in his own department for her internship—and even gave her the single dormitory room assigned to him by the hospital.
Lately, I’d seen that my usually cold, reserved husband also has a gentle and considerate side.
He would drape his coat over Nancy when she nodded off at the nurses’ station. He would pick the cilantro out of her meals without her asking.
Once, she casually mentioned wanting that viral apple tea from Southside and even if he finished surgery late, he’d take a detour across town just to buy it for her.
In contrast, he was far less attentive to me, his wife.
If I stayed up all night working on design drafts and complained about my back aching, he’d tell me to “get used to it.”