“I hope it does,” she said. “You can’t freeze the bird at one moment in time. I want the photo to say time doesn’t stand still. My mom doesn’t realize that. She’s too old to have another baby. She’s ancient.” I hoped that Natalie refrained from this line of thought when her mother was around.

We walked almost all the way around the block. “My mom said I can stay over with you tonight.”

“I’m so glad.”

Natalie photographed the evergreen magnolia in front of the Straubs’ house. I had to remind myself it was my house too.

“Do you have morning sickness today?” she asked.

“I feel all right.” My morning sickness usually died down around 2 P.M. each day.

“Piper told me her mom had morning sickness when she was pregnant with her little brother. She said if you’re not nauseous every day, it means the baby isn’t healthy.”

I found it hard to swallow. “Piper has a lot of information.”

She put her hand on my abdomen. “I can feel the baby.”

She was right. I’d felt a fluttering sensation over the last few days.

Once inside my apartment, she took off her coat and shoes and left them by the front door, as she’d been trained to do.

I opened a package of chocolate chip cookies, placed several on a plate, and brought them to Natalie. She sat cross-legged on the sofa with the plate in her lap. Slowly and methodically, she took little bites around the edge of a cookie. “You’re going to have a baby and then give it away,” she said. “I don’t get it.”

A strong pressure in my sinuses spread to my ears and throat. I felt faint. “Don’t worry. I will see the baby.” She didn’t understand that our lives were going to be overflowing with light and love.

That evening, Natalie and I sat together on the sofa and looked through the photos she had shot on the viewfinder of her camera. She had a strong point of view. For photographers, that was rare. Of course, she lacked skill, but what she already had was almost impossible to teach.

“‘If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you,’” I said. “‘If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you.’”

“Hmm?”

“It’s something Jesus said about self-expression.”