***
Sunday lunch at Holly and Nathan’s house felt rehearsed.
Holly hugged me too carefully.
At the table, Christopher pressed his knee against mine. Nathan barely looked up.
Holly lifted her glass of cider. “To new beginnings.”
I didn’t touch mine.
Then I saw the closed door down the hall.
I stood.
“To new beginnings.”
Christopher’s hand caught my wrist under the table.
“Marie.”
I pulled free. “Don’t.”
Holly stood fast. “Wait.”
That was all I needed.
I walked down the hall and opened the door.
A nursery waited inside.
“Marie.”
Pale yellow crib. White rocking chair. Tiny clothes in the closet.
Above the crib hung one framed word.
“Lily.”
Holly came up behind me, already crying. “I was going to tell you.”
I turned. “Tell me what? That you named my daughter before I did?”
“Christopher said you weren’t sure.”
Tiny clothes in the closet.
“Christopher said plenty.”
Nathan appeared in the hall. “What’s going on?”
I pointed into the room. “Ask your wife why she built a nursery for my baby.”
His face went white. “Holly?”
She looked at Christopher.
Nathan followed her eyes. “You told me Marie agreed.”
“What’s going on?”
