I waited until Keisha left the room before I said, “Momma. I was thinking I should move back home for a while.”

“Not on my account. You should go back to New York. Get on with your own life.” She studied me. “Unless . . . Is there a reason you want to stay?”

I opened my mouth, but my voice had dried up.

My mother sighed. “You never wanted my advice. You’d ask your father sometimes about school stuff. But not me. Even when you got your period, you took care of it yourself.” She smiled a little wistfully. “I didn’t hear about it until Meg complained you’d used up all her supplies.”

“I was embarrassed,” I muttered. But that wasn’t the whole truth. Before puberty hit, I was happy with my body and my life. I didn’t want to change.

“You didn’t want to grow up,” my mother said. “I worried maybe I’d failed you somehow, that you wouldn’t come to me. I thought maybe when you got older . . . Anyway, I’m here now. If you want to talk.”

“I’m pregnant,” I announced baldly.

She took my hand. “How far along?” Pragmatic as always.

“Five weeks, I think. I didn’t plan it.” Obviously.

“Well.” She patted my hand. “Life is what happens while we’re making other plans.”

“What should I do?”

Her gaze sharpened. “Do you want my opinion? Or my sympathy?”

“I want . . .” All my feelings rushed in. Burst out. “I want my mommy.”

My mother’s expression melted. Transformed. “Oh, Jo.” She tightened her grip, and I tumbled from my chair, doing my best to hug her despite the brace and the hospital bed. Even with all the hard edges in the way, it was a good hug. When I finally drew back, my eyes were wet. So were hers.

“My little girl.” She kissed my forehead. Wiped my tears with her thumbs. “You’ll figure it out.”

I sat back, keeping tight hold of her hand. “That’s it? After twenty-eight years, that’s your big maternal advice?”

My mother sniffed. “You’ve never in your whole life listened to what other people had to say. Even your father. I trust you to make the right choice for you. Besides . . . It seems a little late for us to have the birth control talk.”

“We used birth control. Every time.”

“Nothing’s one hundred percent effective.” Her smile took a wry twist. “Your sister Meg proved that.”

I nodded. “When she got pregnant with the twins.”

“When I got pregnant with her.”

I goggled. “You didn’t . . . I never . . . I didn’t know.”

My mother folded her hands. “No one knew, except my mother. Well, Phee guessed when we moved the wedding date up. But she wouldn’t say a word that would reflect poorly on your father.”

I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. “You and Dad had to get married?”

“We didn’t have to get married. We wanted to. I would have liked to finish college first, but I loved Ash so much. And we’d talked about starting a family together.” Another wry smile. “Just not so soon.”