At least Melissa was getting some financial assistance from the pregnancy resource center, but it wasn’t enough for them to live on, and the kind people there could only share provisions for a limited time.

Brian had slowly come to the realization that Melissa wasn’t going to change her mind about having the baby. He’d hoped she would come to her senses and he could drive her back to the clinic. He told her he’d talk with the people and explain. They would understand. But she said no, and the way she said it made Brian believe her.

Why would she want to go through nine months of nausea and pain? Why not make a fresh start? He chalked it up to her emotions and a little motherly instinct. But something troubled him that he couldn’t tell Melissa. Maybe the truth would help her see things differently.

When he walked inside, she was sitting on the floor by the couch with letters and envelopes spread around her. “What’s all this?”

“Jennifer dropped them off,” Melissa said.

“Who’s Jennifer?” Brian said.

She gave him an exasperated look. “From the adoption agency. She’s helping me.”

He picked up one of the letters and saw it was from a prospective adoptive parent. Most were handwritten pleas and this one seemed a little desperate to him. He wondered if they were all like that. Melissa had also taped a few letters on the wall behind the couch. He assumed those had made the first cut.

“It’s like the baby lottery, isn’t it?”

“I don’t look at it that way,” Melissa said. “These are just couples wanting us to know more about them.”

“Well, it’s your choice. You’re the one doing all the work.”

“You could help,” she said, holding out a handful of letters.

He took the pages she handed him, kicked off his shoes, and sat on the couch. Each letter had a picture of the couple paper-clipped to the edge. He looked at the photo before him and wondered how you could say no to people that desperate. How could you choose only one?

“Maybe we flip a coin?” he said. “Or tape all of them up on the wall and throw darts. Might be easier.”

She looked up at him as if trying to see if he was kidding or not. Brian lifted his hands and smirked, and she went back to the page she held.

“Look, before you go through with this, there’s something I need to tell you.”

She put the letter down and turned to him.

He rubbed his hands on his jeans and swallowed hard. “I don’t want this baby to hate us. That happened to somebody I know. She could never forgive . . .”

“Who?” Melissa said.