“When I’m occupied—which is ninety percent of the time—I’m fine.” Rina’s eyes moistened. “The other ten percent comes and goes in waves—the self-pity, the anger, the depression. Then I spend another ten percent feeling guilty for not feeling grateful.” She paused. “I’m over a hundred percent, aren’t I?”

Decker laughed. “Didn’t you used to be a math teacher?”

“And a bookkeeper. No wonder the company went under.” Rina took her finger and inserted it into Hannah’s mouth, causing the infant to break suction. “Well, we drained that one.” She shifted Hannah to her other breast. “Can’t look lopsided, can we?”

She looked at Peter.

“Why am I talking in the first person plural? I can’t look lopsided.”

“You talk that way because you’re bonding with your baby.”

Rina’s smile was wide. “I’ll say. This has to be the prettiest baby in the world.”

“No argument from this side.”

Decker kissed his wife’s cheek, eyes traveling around what was once his living room. The buckskin chairs were draped with baby blankets, infant T-shirts, and opened packages of diapers. A cradle and a carriage sat side by side on his Navaho rug. At least the fireplace hadn’t been converted into a larder for Pablum.

“Place is a bit of a mess,” Rina said.

“It’s fine.”

“We need another room.”

“When Cindy moves out, we’ll have another room.”

“Be nice to have a guest room.”

“Who wants guests?”

Rina slugged him in his good shoulder—the one without the bullet wound.

“I thought you wanted to move, anyway,” Decker said.

“I thought you didn’t want to move.”

“I never said that. I just said I didn’t want to move into something inferior. All the houses we looked at were twice the price and half the size.”

“So let’s just stay here and add another room. If you’d just let me get a few bids from a couple of contractors—”

“I can build it at half the cost.”

“Peter, when are you going to have time to add a room?”

“Let’s drop the subject. It’s not the right time to talk about it.” Decker waited for a comeback. When Rina didn’t answer, he said, “Our energy should be directed toward getting you on your feet again. Not dissipated by construction.”

“Agreed.”

Decker was amazed—consent with no argument. She must be really tired. He turned to kiss her and caught her staring at him. “What?”

“As exhausted as I feel,” Rina said, “I think I feel worse for you.”

“Me? Nonsense. I’m just doing my job.”

“I’m very proud of you.”

“Thanks.” He touched his infant daughter’s tiny ear. She stopped suckling. “Sorry. Don’t let me interrupt your meal.”

“Just a pause to catch her breath.”

“How’s the baby nurse working out?”