She closed her eyes and didn’t say anything, waiting for him to work it out. When he finally did, he sighed heavily.

“How did you get there?”

She shook her head. “Don’t you want to know how I am? How our son is?”

“Of course. How are you?”

She pushed the emotion away. “If you want to see him, you’ve got to come now.”

“Did you sign the papers?”

“Brian, when I looked in his eyes, I had this feeling that we could do it, you know? We could raise him. He’s our son. And he’s perfect. You should see his little fingers and toes and—”

“Melissa, you signed the papers, right?”

There was something in his voice, an edge that touched a nerve inside. She decided to probe.

“What if I didn’t? What would you do?”

“I can’t believe it. I knew you would do something stupid like this!”

“Is that what you think of me? I’m stupid?”

“Melissa, you’re not thinking straight. We talked about this. We went over it so many times. You promised those people in Alabama that you’d go through with this.”

“Louisiana.”

“Wherever. This is the same thing that happened that day at the clinic.”

She felt the tears and brushed them away. “At least I know how you really feel.”

“This is not about you, Melissa. This is about us. The future. Don’t you see that?”

“If it was about our future, you’d want to take care of your son.”

A long exhale on the other end of the phone. Hearing the anger in Brian’s voice made her feel hollow, as if she were losing everything good and would never get it back.

Finally, in a whisper, she said, “I signed the papers.”

“What did you say?”

“I signed the papers. The people are on their way. If you want to see your son, you’d better get here.”

“Oh, okay. But I thought . . .”

“Do you want to see him before he goes?”

“Sure. It’s just that Clive and I are the only ones here right now and . . . Let me see if I can get away.”

Melissa kept quiet, hearing voices and banging in the background of the shop. She imagined him with wires and computer keyboards all around him.

“I’m glad you went through with it,” he said. “You did a good thing.”

“Did I?”

The nurse came in holding her son and she hung up the phone without saying goodbye. She didn’t want to miss a second with him. Melissa pushed herself up on the bed as the nurse approached.

“You ready to hold your little one?” The woman smiled and there was a look in her eyes that made Melissa think she knew more than she let on.