“You her baby girl?” Maggie asked, looking Kate up and down. Kate nodded, bracing herself for the usual comments. “You look just like her.”

Kate scanned Maggie’s broad, smooth face for traces of sarcasm and was surprised to find none.

“You’re right. She does look like her momma.” Larry gazed at Kate with avuncular tenderness. “What nature didn’t do, nurture made up for. They hold their heads in the same way, talk in that same voice . . .”

“The hands. They have exactly the same hands.”

Larry patted Kate’s back as if he’d read her anxious mind—it’s all right, we’re all family here. With a Southern gentleman’s bearing, he glided over to Mary-Sue and took her hand in his, pressing it gently to rouse her.

“Good morning, milady . . .” he cooed. “Look who we have here?”

Mary-Sue’s eyes peeled open slowly. She looked around in a disoriented haze until she spotted the unusual new thing in the room—a pregnant brunette standing with her back pressed up against the wall.

“Katie?” Mary-Sue’s voice was hoarse. Larry brought a cup of water to her lips.

“Get closer to her, child, she ain’t gonna bite ya.” Maggie laughed heartily as she watched Kate keep her distance. “Or is she now?”

“Mom,” said Kate. She took tentative steps toward Mary-Sue.

“Baby, what are you doing here?” Mary-Sue said. The control freak in her was waking up. She eyed Larry. “How long has she been here?”

“Only a few minutes.” Larry closed the pink divider curtain between the two beds, and went over to whisper something to Maggie when she objected. Then he tiptoed to the door.

“Larry? Larry!” Mary-Sue croaked. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“I’ll be right outside.”

“Come back and take Kate with you. I don’t want her to see me like this!”

“Now, Mary-Sue . . .” He gave her a be good look and closed the door.

Kate stepped into Mary-Sue’s sightline. “Mom, what happened to you?”

“Wait for me at the house,” Mary-Sue said. “I’ll be back in a couple of days.”

“Will you stop being such a fucking martyr?” Kate pulled a chair close to Mary-Sue so neither of them had to strain their voices. “Why won’t you tell me what happened to you?”

When Kate sat, her swollen belly settled before her mother’s eyes—and Mary-Sue registered the pregnancy for the first time. Her shocked face crinkled with tears.

“How long were you going to keep this from me?” She reached out to touch the mound. “How long has my grandchild been in there?”

“I left you messages. You never called back.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Mary-Sue sighed and looked away. “I fell down in the parking lot and hurt my back, that’s all. It’s nothing.”

“Oh, was that all? And you preferred to have me worried sick, thinking you were attacked or murdered, than return my calls?”