“Well, no,” Amelia jumped in. “Delta’s an amazing photographer. She has a son too. Jasper. She just babysits because she loves Natalie. That’s not like … what she does.”

“I used to babysit a lot,” Lucia said. “I still do.”

Amelia beamed. “Babysitting is a great thing to do.”

“How old were the children you babysat for?” Natalie asked.

“Babies mostly. Infants.”

“Maybe you should babysit for your baby,” Natalie said, “after someone adopts her.”

A silence fell over the room. Amelia ate several grapes at once.

“I love spending time with Natalie,” I said.

I saw several ways to slow the progress of the adoption, if not prevent it altogether. However, now the whole idea might self-destruct on its own, in which case, no need to risk a perception of meddling.

“May I use your restroom?” Lucia asked.

I jumped up. “I’ll show you where it is.” I walked ahead of Lucia down the hall. As we had both removed our shoes at the door, our socks slid on the reclaimed elm wood floor. Once out of the Straubs’ earshot, I turned back to her. “I really hope it works out.” I placed my hand on her shoulder and smiled warmly. Across the front of her knit sweater, pale blue and silver reversible sequins spelled out the word WONDER, except the O in WONDER was replaced by a heart. “I think Natalie’s terribly lonely. It would be great for her to have a sister. That way, the two girls would have each other. And then it wouldn’t even matter if their parents weren’t…” I paused and counted to three. “A sisterly bond is so important.”

Lucia studied me as though I were a strange animal she had never seen before.

“I’d love to take your photograph.” I patted the camera around my neck. “The light across your face right now is breathtaking.”

She shrugged and smiled.

I snapped thirty shots of her, which took all of ten seconds on my digital camera. One or two of them would be superb.

“If they turn out well, I’d like to use a photo of you on the maternity section of my website. And in return, I’d give you as many prints as you’d like.”

Lucia nodded, which I took to mean yes. I quickly typed her email address into my phone.