Button made a low mewing sound, unhappy to have her slumber interrupted by his gruff voice. He rubbed her back. She lifted one heavy eyelid, saw it was him, and, reassured, closed it again. His chest grew even tighter.

“I told Nealy I worked in a steel mill, but it’s not true. I’m a journalist.”

“Journalist? You write for newspapers?”

“I’ve been doing some other things, but yes, mainly I write for newspapers.”

Lucy, being Lucy, went straight to the point. “Are you going to write about Nell?”

“I have to. That’s why she’s so mad at me. ”

Lucy studied Nealy. “Is it bad that Mat’s a journalist?”

Nealy wouldn’t look at him. “Yes. It’s bad.”

“Why?”

Nealy gazed down at her hands. “This was a private time for me. And I told him some things that I didn’t want anybody else to know.”

Lucy’s expression brightened. “That’s okay, then. He’ll change his mind. Won’t you, Mat?”

Nealy jumped to her feet and turned away from them, clutching her arms across her chest.

Lucy frowned. “Tell her, Mat. Tell her you won’t write about her.”

Nealy turned back, her blue eyes icy. “Yes, Mat, tell me.”

Lucy’s eyes darted between the two of them. “You aren’t going to write about her, are you?”

“Of course he is, Lucy. It’s too big a story for him to ignore.”

Right then, it struck him that it was all coming to an end, and he was going to lose her. Not in the indefinite future, but now, this afternoon.

“Mat?” Lucy’s eyes were imploring.

“I won’t betray her, Luce. I already told her that, but she’s not buying it.”

Nealy took a deep breath, then turned to Lucy as if he weren’t in the room, and gave her a frozen facsimile of a smile. “Don’t worry about it. It has nothing to do with you.”

Lucy’s apprehension had returned. “Then why did you want to talk to me alone? What about?”

Nealy’s chest rose; her arms fell to her sides. “I want to adopt you and Button.”

Chapter 20

20

NEALY HAD PLANNED to approach Lucy privately about this, but since Mat wouldn’t let her, she pretended he didn’t exist. Lucy stared at her as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Nealy smiled and repeated herself.

“I want to adopt the two of you.”

“You . . . you do?” Lucy’s voice squeaked on the last word.

“Don’t you think we should have talked about this first?” Mat uncoiled from the couch vertebra by vertebra.

Lucy hadn’t taken her eyes off her. “You don’t mean both of us. Button and . . . me.”

“Of course I mean both of you.”

Mat swept the sleeping baby into his arms. “Nealy, I want to talk to you.”