At My Daughter's Baby Shower, My Husband Gave My Place to My Best Friend novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Grandma Chair
Helen arrives at Sophie's baby shower with the restored cradle and finds Mark pinning the Grandma-to-Be corsage on Diane; she takes back the sign she painted and walks out, then finds she was removed from the shower chat three weeks ago.
The first thing I saw at my daughter's baby shower was my husband pinning a corsage to my best friend.
Mark was bent over Diane's chair, working the pin in carefully so it wouldn't snag her sleeve.
Diane tipped her chin up so he could fix it.
The ribbon on the flowers was pink, and the card on it said Grandma-to-Be.
That corsage had been ordered for me.
So had the chair.
It was a white wicker chair with a sage bow tied to the back, and above the bow hung a wooden sign.
GRANDMA-TO-BE.
I had sanded that sign for two nights and painted every letter by hand.
I had handed it to the party planner myself, the evening before.
Now Diane sat under it, and women I had known for years leaned in to hug her.
I stood just inside the doors of the country club room with my arms around a walnut cradle.
"Helen." Mark straightened up and smiled at me."You made it. We just finished the first photos."
I looked at my watch.
It was seven minutes past two.
The invitation on my fridge said the shower started at two.
I had left my last client's cabinet half finished to be on time.
My assistant was putting on the final coat of finish without me.
The cradle wouldn't fit in my trunk, so I had belted it into the back seat.
It had been my mother's.
I had slept in it as a baby, and so had Sophie.
I had spent six weeks tightening the joints and bringing the walnut back to the color of honey.
There was still a small dent in the rail where two-year-old Sophie had hit it with a wooden spoon.
I hadn't fixed that on purpose.
Today I was going to tell her that her daughter would be the third girl in our family to sleep in it.
"Mom." Sophie came across the room from the gift table with one hand under her belly.
She was thirty-six weeks along and walked slowly now.
Diane was out of her chair before I could move.
"Easy, sweetheart. Here, take my arm."
Sophie took her hand without even looking at it.
My own hands were still wrapped around the cradle.
"You brought it," Sophie said.
She didn't sound as happy as I had pictured.
"Dad said you'd probably forget the time. I figured you'd be stuck at the shop."
"I didn't forget anything," I said. "It's for the baby."
"It's lovely, Helen." Diane ran a finger along the rail and stopped at the dent. "But are old cradles even safe now? The rules are so different from when we had ours."
"I checked every joint," I said. "The mattress is new and it meets the current standard."
Diane nodded slowly and said she was sure I had.
Mark had already turned to the photographer.
"Now that Helen's here, let's get one more."
The photographer set Sophie in front of the flower wall with Mark on one side and Diane on the other.
It was the same arrangement they had used before I came in.
I put the cradle down and walked over.
"Mother of the mom-to-be next to her," the photographer said, looking at me. "Grandma, a little closer."
I stepped toward the empty space beside Sophie.
Mark put his hand on Diane's shoulder and kept it there.
"Let Diane stay where she is," he said. "She went to every one of Sophie's appointments."
The women nearest us heard him.
The photographer lowered her camera.
Nobody laughed, and nobody said that was wrong.
Diane touched the corsage on her chest and said nothing at all.
Sophie looked at the floor.
I looked at my husband's hand on my friend's shoulder.
I had been to the first appointment, and then Sophie had asked me to stay home so the room wouldn't feel crowded.
I had believed her.
I walked to the white chair.
Diane leaned back as I came up.
"Helen, don't," she said softly. "It's a day for Sophie."
"Yes," I said. "It is."
I lifted the wooden sign off its hooks.
It was lighter than I remembered.
Diane's eyes went to Mark, and Mark's went to the guests.
"Helen, put that down."
"I made it," I said. "I'll take it home."
I carried it back across the room and picked the cradle up with my other arm.
"Mom," Sophie said. "Don't make this a thing."
"I'm not making it anything," I said.
Then I walked out of the shower with the sign under one arm and the cradle against my chest, and I did not stop.
In the parking lot I set both on the back seat and sat there with my hands on the wheel.
I hadn't looked at my phone since eleven.
There was a text from Diane, sent at 12:10.
Take your time, honey. Photos come after the games, so you won't miss a thing.
While I was reading it, a new message came in from the party planner.
Helen, I'm so sorry. Mark told us to move the photos to 1:30 and said you'd been told. I thought you knew.
She had attached a screenshot of the shower group chat.
The top message was from three weeks ago, and it was Mark's.
Moving photos to 1:30. Keep Helen out of it, she'll fuss.
Under it, in grey, was a line I had never seen.
Helen Wendt was removed from the group.
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