Chapter 14: The Nursery

Cora's POV

The judge's press crew set up in the nursery at ten.

Grady had painted that room yellow three weeks before my last period.

There were two cameras, a photographer and a woman with a clipboard.

She told me to stand by the crib and touch the rail.

I wore the yellow dress.

Grady stood behind me with his hand flat on my back, warm and proud.

My whole spine wanted to leave the room.

The judge stood in the doorway in his charcoal coat, watching me.

"Mrs. Lindemann," the woman with the clipboard said. "Tell us about the room."

I looked into the lens and let my face go soft.

"Grady thought of everything," I said. "He picked the paint and built the crib."

"He even had the room ready before either of us knew."

"He's a very organized man."

Grady laughed, a little too late.

The judge's face didn't move, but the glove in his hand closed.

"Tell the viewers how you feel," the woman said.

"I feel watched," I said, and smiled, and they all laughed.

When they had gone, Grady kissed my forehead and told me I'd been perfect.

Then he left for the donors' planning dinner in Columbus and said he'd be home after midnight.

I stood in the yellow room until his car was out of the street.

I took off the dress, put on jeans and a coat, and drove to Fifth Street.

The landlady had taken Cadence down to her own apartment for the night.

She told me so on the stairs without being asked.

"She snores less than I do," she said, and went back down.

Marshall opened the door before I knocked.

He had his sleeves rolled and no jacket, and he had plainly been standing in the hall for a while.

"You're a client," he said.