Chapter 24: Welcome Baby

I opened my grandmother's letter at the kitchen table the next morning, with the baby on my knee.

The envelope was thin, and the page inside was written in her blue ballpoint, in the hand that had signed my report cards.

Cora, if you are reading this, you used it.

I am not surprised and I am not sorry.

I paid for a clever lawyer so you would never need a clever husband.

Do not feel bad about what you did with it. Feel bad only if you waited another year.

When it is over, throw a party and invite the people who stood next to you, and eat cake.

I read it twice and then held it against my chest.

The baby grabbed a fistful of the paper and tried to eat it.

"Not that," I said, laughing, with my eyes stinging. "That one's hers."

Patrick came in with two mugs, and he read it over my shoulder.

"She was right," he said.

"She's always right. It's one of the most annoying things about her."

"So you're giving a party."

"On Saturday. Here. Sixty people."

He raised his eyebrows.

"Sixty," I said. "Same garden, same lemon cake. I want to see what it looks like with the right people in it."

On Saturday the garden was full by three.

Bea came in a yellow dress, with her hair freshly cut.

The old lawyer wore his bow tie and brought a silver rattle.

The charge nurse from the maternity ward came with her sisters, and one of them brought a huge dish of baked ziti.

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