“To your apartment?” Mom asked.

“Yes.”

“You can’t manage stairs with a newborn.”

“My building has an elevator.”

“What happens if you need someone overnight?”

“I’ll work it out.”

Rebecca spoke cautiously.

“I’m staying at a hotel three blocks from Emily’s apartment.”

Mom looked sharply toward me.

“You invited her?”

“I did.”

“You barely know her.”

“That’s why I invited her.”

Dad’s expression tightened.

“She wants something.”

Rebecca looked almost amused.

“Yes.”

He immediately seized on it.

“You hear that?”

She continued.

“I want to know my daughter.”

Silence filled the room.

“And if she decides after getting to know me that she wants nothing more to do with me, that will be her choice.”

Then she looked directly at Mom.

“Her choice. It’s an interesting concept.”

Claire sat down in the chair beside the window.

She stared at the unopened diaper bag she had brought.

After a moment, she said, “I need to ask you something.”

I waited.

“If Mom and Dad hadn’t pressured you… would you ever have considered me?”

My first reaction was anger.

Then I saw her expression.