The pastor, Stuart, is a young man with amber eyes and hair. Like almost everyone at the church and in the neighborhood, save a few black families, he is white. He plays the guitar. Somehow, he gets the idea that she’s a Catholic considering converting, and she goes with it. She never lies, but she never reveals the truth. She works hard not to let slip that she’s never heard of Saul or Paul or Mary Magdalene or the Ecclesiastes or Psalms.

In early October, she plants bulbs in her front yard. They are plants that don’t yet exist, a dream of orange and yellow daylilies, Purple Dream irises, Lilac Wonder and Spring Green tulips. She plants purple and white hardy mums to brighten the fall. She rakes oak and maple leaves. Among the rummage-sale loot she finds an old Burpee catalog. She takes it home and reads it. In the spring, she’ll plant petunias, purple sage, cherry tomatoes, summer squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, parsley, basil. She wants to plant everything.

When she decides to go through with being baptized, she calls Hannah. Hannah has never been as good as Sadie was at hiding. For six or seven years, she hasn’t wanted to talk to her mother or see her—she says so whenever Sadie finds her. But Hannah lets the phone company list her number. Her Seattle law office website features a photo of her, in a sleek bob and a navy-blue suit. Her husband, Hamza, a Syrian guy, leaves voice messages on Sadie’s answering machine, gently telling her Hannah will call her soon, and though Hannah never does, Sadie believes Hamza would persuade her in an emergency. He tries to be kind. When he intercepts Sadie’s phone calls, he speaks to her in Arabic. She answers in English. He says he’s sorry they’ve never met.

Hannah’s unwillingness to communicate is like a sty that won’t heal, no cure for it but hope. Sadie wishes Hannah had never gone to Jidda; ever since, Hannah has taken Muneer’s side.

Sadie wants her daughter back. The years that have passed since they lived together have not changed that.

A month before her baptism ceremony, which will take place at the start of the Christmas season before things become too hectic, Sadie leaves a well-practiced message on Hannah’s voicemail. She doesn’t know how Hannah and Hamza will take the news that she’s converting. So she says she’s receiving an award at work. She would like them to be there.

A day later, Hamza calls her home phone while she’s at Dillard’s. She plays the answering machine message over and over: Thank you for inviting us, Sadie. We’ll be there.