In the limousine, Nola tried to hold Jenna's hand, but Jenna pulled it away and stared out the window. Suddenly she said, “I had a baby. A boy. A beautiful boy.”

Nola gulped. “Where is he?”

Jenna shrugged. “I gave him up for adoption.”

Cold sweat erupted on Nola's skin.

“Everything’ll be okay,” Wade told Jenna. “We’re glad you’re back.”

When they entered Eddie’s apartment, Nola said to her, “I’ll fix you something to eat,” but Wade suggested he’d take over the task while Nola drew Jenna a bath.

Jenna’s bones protruded everywhere. With the scars from skin grafts on the abdomen, Nola couldn’t detect any stretch marks. To her surprise, Jenna leaned back in the tub and let her bathe her. Nola curbed her desire to ask questions and instead worked the lather all over the long, thin body.

There was a knock on the door. Wade handed Nola a tray with a large sandwich and fresh lemonade. He then produced a bottle of LiceCide. “She needs it,” he whispered.

In between water sprays as Nola shampooed Jenna's hair three times, Jenna took an occasional bite. They didn’t speak, but Nola was euphoric. Except for the baby, whom Wade would surely locate, everything was coming together. She had a loving fiancé and would soon have a family that had already added her birthday to their list of celebrations. Jenna was back, alive. There could now be no question about establishing a home for the two of them—a home they had never had. Nola rinsed Jenna's hair once more, using the hand-held showerhead.

Afterward, Jenna slept for twenty hours.

At breakfast three days later, Jenna was slouching at the table in fresh jeans and a T-shirt, her expression bored. Her magnificent hair was gathered up. The scars on her jaw and the side of her cheek looked like red lint.

“Is there anything you want to do?” Nola asked.

“Where will he go?” Jenna’s head gestured toward Eddie.

“Go? This is his apartment.” Nola swallowed. “But if it’s really important to you, I have kept my place. It’s not great.” She hadn’t anticipated that the old hostility would pop up against Eddie. In her mind’s eye, she suddenly saw the three of them moving into two adjacent apartments, keeping Jenna and Eddie apart, yet near her. Anything to make it work. She went on, “Once we find your baby, we’ll raise him together.”

Jenna, with the tone of someone discussing the breakfast menu, replied, “Right. Like I’d ever leave him with you.”

Eddie’s eyes opened wide. “How can you speak to your sister that way? Do you have any idea how worried she's been?”

Jenna’s arm brushed the dishes off the table. Eddie’s expensive china shattered on the floor. “She owes me!”