Chapters (65)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Part One
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Part Two
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Part Three
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- About the Publisher
“I guess I should get going,” I said, noting it was close to five o’clock. “I have a few errands, and I’ll try to come back tonight.”
Cally’s eyebrows fluttered up and down, but she may have had something in her eye. “Okay,” she said, phone in her lap, waiting.
Then to the baby, I said in my involuntary baby voice, “Bye, little girl!” As I left the room, I heard the phone ring twice before Cally answered. I lingered a bit outside the room, to eavesdrop. Someone—a him—was calling her. I was curious who would be calling her in the hospital.
The nurses saw me standing there. One of them said, “Can we help you?”
“No thanks, I’m just leaving,” I said, pulling my purse up to my shoulder.
“Do you need us to call you a taxi?” she asked.
“No, I have a car,” I said, and suddenly, I couldn’t wait to get out of there. In the parking ramp, I decided to take care of my last remaining errands. The first order of business was finishing the assembly of that car seat I’d left sitting loose in the backseat of my Jetta and buckling it in for good. After I tackled that monster, I hopped behind the wheel and raced to the grocery store to pick up a few days’ worth of food, some ready-to-eat meals for the fridge and a few for the freezer. People had assured me that friends would bring us casseroles after the baby arrived, because everyone knows new parents don’t have time to cook. But I wanted to stock up just in case. After I’d unpacked the groceries, I assembled the hanging mobile and searched the junk drawer for the hardware to install it.
Hal came home around seven-thirty, jolly and tired, and immediately ate one of the meals I had just purchased.
“Hal, come look what I’ve done,” I called out proudly, waiting for him in the nursery.
I heard the squeak of Hal’s recliner, and soon he was trudging over to join me.
“Look,” I said pointing at the crib.
“It’s wonderful, Poppy, but I don’t see any difference.”
“Look at the mobile.” I gave it a spin.
Hal smiled.
“We’re ready,” I said, hugging Hal’s midsection.
“As ready as we can be,” he said.
“Should we go back over there tonight?” I looked up at his face, wondering if the baby’s nose resembled his.
“The hospital? It’s after eight.”
“Is it too late?”
“Well, yeah, I think so. Don’t you?”
“I guess.”
“We’ll be there first thing in the morning. Let’s get some sleep. We’re going to need it, Pop.”