what he had been afraid of.
“You think I’m jealous?”
He said nothing.
“You thought I’d hear Anna’s name and think this was about her?”
“I didn’t know what you’d think.”
I wiped my face.
“I thought she might be your baby.”
His eyes widened.
“Okay. That’s worse.”
Despite everything, I laughed again.
Then I cried harder.
James reached for me.
This time, I let him.
I kept thinking about Anna.
Not the woman James had almost married.
Not the ghost of a relationship that existed before mine.
A woman lying alone in a hospital bed.
A woman dying without the people she once believed would be there.
A woman who had one last chance to make sure her daughter wouldn’t disappear into the world without somebody knowing she existed.
She got one name out.
She spent it on her child.
“Can I hold her?” I asked.
James looked stunned.
