There was a soup kitchen connected to the Catholic church in her neighborhood. Rose had been a sporadic attendant at Mass in the last few years, but she'd gone often enough to be on a first-name basis with Father Xavier, the parish priest. The next day, the good father seemed a little shocked when she said she wanted to wake up at the crack of dawn to feed the homeless—who, he warned her, didn't always bathe—but she was adamant. Rose began going to the church in the morning to make sandwiches and coffee for the soup kitchen regulars to eat while sitting on the church steps. The best part was, none of Father Xavier's hungry little flock knew who Rose was; even more important, none of them knew about Bobby Manning. They didn't know Rose was the wife of a man who cheated on her and then gave her expensive gifts as if that would make up for it. They didn't know that in the snake pit called show business everyone pitied her. The men and women who showed up to eat on the church steps were just grateful that the coffee was hot and the sandwiches were freshly made. As the weeks and months passed, Rose spent more and more time in the church basement helping Father Xavier and listening to him talk about the homeless shelter he wanted to open if he could raise the funds.

Now Rose winced when Bobby picked up the tab for the entire bar at Sardi's, knowing that the money could have done so much good in the right hands. Her jewels seemed too gaudy and too flashy when she put them on. At the same time, she was feeling something she'd never thought she'd feel again. She realized what it was—she was rediscovering the joy she'd felt so long ago at the St. Mary's rummage sale.

Then, suddenly, she found out she was pregnant. It was an accident, and at first Rose was distraught. She'd wanted to have a baby for years, but Bobby had always said a kid would slow them down, and she'd never had the courage to do anything he didn't want—not with all the Girls lurking around. But then the accident had turned out to be the best thing that had ever happened.

BOBBY HAD BEEN in Toronto in tryouts for his sixth show when Rose had gone into labor. By the time he'd managed to finish up the rewrites on the second act and catch a flight to New York, the baby was already a day and a half old. When he arrived in Rose's hospital room, he hadn't shaved or slept, and he was still worried about the second act finale.