“Too much?” I look up in surprise, and she laughs. “Go ahead—you can say it. It won’t be the first time I’ve been accused of being too much. I know I have the tendency to go overboard, especially when it comes to my family.”

I smile. “I guess I can’t fault you for that. But it is a lot. Does a baby really need all this stuff?”

“Well, no. Of course not. A baby doesn’t need any of this, but that’s the whole point.” She picks up a stuffed lamb, holding it by its fuzzy neck. One eye is shut in a saucy wink, its lashes stitched to the fabric with shiny black thread. “Grandmothers are supposed to spoil their grandchildren, especially the first one. I’m supposed to spend a ridiculous amount of money on stuff they’ll grow out of within a year. That’s part of the bargain.”

She says it without an ounce of malice, and I tell myself it’s not a dig of some kind, not a subtle swipe at my penniless, motherless existence. My mother will not be dropping by with expensive gifts. I will not have to tell her to back off. She can’t be bothered to love her own children, much less a grandchild.

Diana shakes her head. “You know, I had actually given up on the idea that Paul would ever have kids. I’d resigned myself to the fact I’d have to live the rest of my life without knowing what it was like to be a grandmother. If he’d married someone his own age, that window would be closing up about now.” She pauses, looks at me. “I guess I have you to thank, don’t I?”

It’s the closest she’s come to saying she approves of Paul’s choice of wife, and it’s like all those times when my mother told me I was pretty. I find myself liking Diana a little more for the compliment.

“You should know that Paul and I didn’t plan this. We weren’t looking to get pregnant this early on in our relationship, but I guess sometimes life has other ideas.”

“You do want this baby, though, don’t you?”

I pick up a silver teething ring tied with a tulle bow, and it really is beautiful, so beautiful I’d never even consider buying it myself. A blast of longing hits me hard, a physical tug in my chest—for this baby, for things with Paul to go back to the way they were before yet another dead woman’s body washed up in the lake. For Diana to like me, even if only because of my ability to give her a baby Keller.

“Yeah. I do. I want this baby with everything inside of me, and so does Paul.”