“Johns Hopkins.” Dr. Liang raised her diminutive fist. “And fellow human-rights fighter.” Solemnly, she extended her other hand to Nola and shook it. “I help you any way I can, but my work not public. I am no good in jail.” On the back of a business card, she scribbled a number. “Cell phone. Call me this evening, and we set time you bring baby for checkup.”

Nola put her arms around the small woman, but a tensing of the shoulders indicated the doctor was not given to physical demonstration.

Leslie had wheeled the crib back into the room. Nola placed Lulu in it, covered her, and kissed her on the head. She wound up a mobile, and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” chimed. Leslie remained standing by the crib, and the tender expression on his face was unlike any Nola had ever seen on him.

“I’m sorry,” Nola whispered to him. “I’ve been too wretched to consider the effect this ordeal has had on you.”

He shrugged, but remained at his post by the crib. She saw Daniel and Dr. Liang out to the foyer. She was eager to get rid of this man who thought her mission to help bridge the cultural differences across the ocean was a fool’s errand on a colossal scale. But Dr. Liang’s cell phone rang and she unhooked it from her belt to answer.

“I’m glad Lulu's back,” Daniel said to Nola. “Are you all right?”

He was just a man doing his diplomatic job; she should have read it all along, Nola thought. Kindness carried no promise, and personal losses didn’t make one a kindred spirit. She had read somewhere that suffering was a traveling migrant worker settling down for the season; it didn’t bond its dispersed employers.

She dared to look up at Daniel's face.

From the domed skylight, a ray of sun made his eyes shine a deeper green. Nola’s mind searched for something witty to say, as though to prove to him that there was more to her than fame, glamour and success. That she wasn’t just a China doll. Nothing came to mind.

“Thanks,” she said. “I must get back to Lulu.”

Dr. Liang flipped her cell phone shut, and Yoram’s deputy escorted them to the elevator.