“I resubmitted our application.”

Susan’s heart pounded. She tried to process what he had just said but she couldn’t. “You did?”

Jimmy held out the phone.

“She’s on the line right now?” Susan said.

He nodded and she took the phone. When she spoke, her voice sounded like a teenager’s, trembling at being asked to prom.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Susan?” someone said on the other end. She sounded young. A little nervous. That made two of them.

“Yes?”

“Hi, um, I was just reading your letter and I just wanted to ask you a question, if that’s okay.”

Susan stared at Jimmy. “Okay.”

“You said in your letter that you like to go fishing. And I just wanted to know how you bait your hook.”

Susan did a double take. The question seemed beyond weird, but she shook off the thought. For some reason this expectant mother had that question in her mind.

The silence on the line made Melissa feel she had overstepped some boundary. But in her heart, she knew the answer would tip her off to the type of woman who would raise her child.

Susan’s voice relaxed. She sounded almost comfortable answering the question. “Uh, when we go fishing, we use the Cocahoe minnow, and you have to put the hook through the eye of the minnow. That’s the way we’ve always baited our hook.”

Melissa glanced at Brian, who had leaned forward to hear the answer. He looked her in the eyes and something passed between them.

Melissa swallowed hard and tried to compose herself. Her voice trembling, she gave a quick laugh and pulled the handset to her mouth.

“That’s really good.” She paused, gathering her thoughts. Should she say what she was thinking? Should she wait? What came out of her mouth came from somewhere deep inside. “Then I want you to be the mother.”

The words hung there, then Melissa hung up the phone.

Brian leaned forward. “Wait. Did you just say what I think you said?”

“Yeah.”

“Because of how she baits a minnow? Melissa?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not that. I could tell. She’s the one, Brian. She’s going to take care of our baby. She didn’t just put the thing about fishing in the letter because it would look good. It’s who she is. Susan is the mother of this baby.”

“I don’t understand how you can make that decision with one little piece of information like that. I mean, look at all these other letters, these other people.”

She stood and walked toward the kitchen and put the phone on the counter. “When the doctor started the procedure, he had his gloves on and moved toward me. I knew right then I had to get up and get out of there. It was the right thing to do. This is the same. Susan is the mother of this baby.”