The Memory Keeper's Daughter

It starts snowing before Norah goes into labor and David builds a fire. Norah reads and talks about what she believes life is like before birth. David thinks about Norah’s easy pregnancy: “He found himself wanting to protect her” (4) and watches her constantly. He thinks about when he first saw her in a department store and followed her to the lingerie section,where he pretended to buy a robe for his deceased sister to have a pretext to talk to Norah. David remembers being awkward but Norah agreeing to see him again. He learned that she practiced cursive until it was perfect as a child,and she learned that he lied about having a sister. Norah goes to bed, but David stays up reading, reflecting on his love for his work and learning despite growing up poor. David is excited about the promise of tomorrow when he goes to bed. Later, Norah wakes up,but David says that it’s probably just false labor because it’s three weeks too early. Norah says the contractions are coming quickly, and David realizes that she is going to give birth. He is calm, drawing from his medical training to “keep his emotions in check” (9) in emergencies.