“You’re talking now?” Edie knew that her parents hadn’t lived together since the fall.

“Of course we’re talking. We never stopped talking. Your father and I are grown-ups, Eden. And we agree that an at-home birth is insane. I’m sorry. You will thank me. I guarantee it. You’re ripped open during childbirth, for God’s sake. One little nick to the wrong place and you’ll bleed out before Nathan can even dial 911.”

Edie cringed.

“Exactly,” continued Michelle. “Everybody romanticizes having a child. But it’s a horror show that first month. You’re leaking everywhere. You can barely walk, and that’s if you’re lucky. What if the baby’s breech and you have to have a C-section? Have you even thought about that?”

“Yes, we’ve thought of that. We see a doctor. I’m not in a cult. If the baby’s breech we’ll go to the hospital.”

“In Poughkeepsie? Please. Why take the chance?”

“It’s not Somalia,” Edie said. “Babies are born there perfectly fine every day. Anyway, you can’t force me to give birth where you want.”

“That’s true,” said Michelle, “but I can make it less comfortable for you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your father and I control your trust until you are thirty-five,” she said.

“No, you don’t. I got it two years ago, when I turned twenty-one.”

“You got access to it when you were twenty-one. There is a limit on what you can withdraw before you have to have one of us approve.”

“What’s the limit?”

“The limit is fifty thousand.”

“Since when?”

“Since always. I’ve tried to take some time to talk to you and Claudia both about all this, but neither of you seemed very interested. And now, I hear through Jim, that you are planning to put cash down on a house in Poughkeepsie?”

“New Paltz.”

“Half a million dollars?”

“It’s my money.”

“And we want to make sure it stays that way.”

“What are you saying?”

“There are a couple things you’re going to have to do before your father and I will even consider allowing you to take that much out.”

“There’s, like, ten times that in there.”

“Exactly. Jim has it in very smart investments. But you start whacking away at assets and the dividends go down. You girls really should learn a little more about your finances.”

Edie looked at her mother. “You’re telling me that I can’t have my money to buy a house for my child, for my family, unless I give birth where you want me to give birth?”

“That, and you and Nathan need to sign a postnuptial agreement. Jim will draw it up.”

“I’m not going to ask him to do that.”

“Then you can keep living on your allowance and whatever you two earn until you turn thirty-five.”