“Oh, my!” she whispered, leaning closer. Violet pulled the blanket back so Lizzy could see. The little face was round and pink, the mouth like a rosebud. “Why, it’s a baby!” Lizzy exclaimed. “A beautiful baby!”

Bessie turned around in the front seat as Mr. Clinton put the Ford in gear and they chugged off. “A baby!” she asked. “Why, Violet, wherever did you—”

“She’s my sister’s baby,” Violet said. Her delicate heartshaped face was pale and the freckles stood out on her nose. “Baby Dorothy.” She traced the baby’s cheek with the tip of her finger. “My sister died last week.”

“We know,” Lizzy said, and touched her arm gently. “Myra May told us. But she didn’t tell us you were bringing—”

“That’s because she doesn’t know,” Violet said, her voice breaking. “I couldn’t bring myself to tell her over the telephone—I was afraid she might say she didn’t want us. But I couldn’t just come home and leave Dorothy behind. Her father can’t take care of her, and there’s no family on either side. I’m all the family she has. And she’s all I have left of my sister.” The tears were streaming down her cheeks now, and she pulled the baby tighter against her, as if she were shielding her against harm. “Dorothy’s father wanted to give her to an orphanage.”

“An orphanage?” Bessie asked in a horrified tone. “That precious baby? How could he do such a terrible thing?”

“It’s terrible, yes, but I can’t blame him,” Violet replied. “He’s nearly desperate, you know—losing his wife and having to go to work every day, with no one to take care of the baby. So he had a talk with the social worker and told her to come and get her this morning. He said he never wanted to see her again.”

“Oh, dear,” Lizzy said.

“But I couldn’t let them have her!” Violet exclaimed almost wildly, clutching the baby. “I packed her diapers and the little things I’d bought for her and sneaked out of the apartment before dawn. I walked to the station and caught the first train heading south. That’s why I’m here today, instead of Thursday, which is what I told Myra May. Oh, I do hope she’ll let me keep her!” The words tumbled out almost incoherently, and Lizzy could see that Violet was nearly exhausted.