“Please, Mike, get dressed, and let’s go.” She tapped her wristwatch. “We only have ten minutes before we must get on the road.”

“I’m canceling.” He handed her his cell phone. “Call and tell them I’m not coming.”

“I most certainly will not. Listen, Mike, you cancel and it could take weeks to reschedule.”

“I’m not going under the knife. I absolutely will not have anyone cutting at my eye.”

“It’s laser they use, not a knife.”

He stopped circling the couch and stared at her. “Really?”

“Really.” She dumped his clothes on a chair. His shirt slid onto the floor. “You do what you want. Go blind. I’m out of here.”

Before she reached the front door, he grabbed her arm. “No, wait. I’ll get ready. It won’t take a minute. Please, don’t go.”

After his surgery, Mike stayed at the ladies’ home. In a few days, when he felt better, he made light of the surgery and told everyone who visited—the neighbors, Pastor Denny, everyone who came—“It was nothing at all; it went fabulously.”

As the days passed and his eyes healed, the world did indeed grow brighter and more beautiful, and Mike felt as if he had climbed a mountain. Still, he hesitated to go outside or back to work.

“We want you to come to the christening party we’re having for baby Sarah tomorrow.” Grace stood at the foot of his bed where he lay resting. The sound had been turned off the television and the commercial flashed and blinked.

“Oh, I couldn’t,” Mike said. “It’s too soon for me to go anywhere.”

“Too soon for you to walk from this bedroom, this cave you’re living in, to the living room to sit in a chair with your back to the window?” Grace asked. “Nonsense. The party’s at two in the afternoon. You be there, or I’ll come in here and drag you out.”

Prior to Zack’s accident on the mountain, Sarina had asked Pastor Denny to christen Sarah in the little church on Cove Road. When Hannah questioned her decision, Sarina asked, “It’s what you do in this country, isn’t it?”

“Many people do, but you’re Hindu. Why would you want to christen Sarah in a church?”

“Because we live in America, and regardless of what Zachary says, I want her to be like everyone else.”

“Conformity isn’t always the best course of action,” Hannah said, and then she decided to drop the matter. Sarina had enough on her hands with Zachary, who still wore a cast, pouted, and complained all day. Since his accident he was more deeply self-involved and distant, and Hannah was concerned.

“The stairs are too much for me to cope with,” he had said, insisting that he sleep downstairs on the couch. “It’s just for now.”