“Oh, God.”
“Whose baby was it?”
He looked down.
“Claire’s.”
“Ivy?”
“Yes.”
“Was Ivy there that night?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You’d just come out of surgery. Claire needing money didn’t seem like something you needed to carry too.”
The answer came too quickly.
I stared at him.
“Willie thinks you gave your sister money and she walked away with Claudia.”
Robert dropped into a chair.
“No. No, Mel…”
“He saw you touch the baby.”
Robert covered his mouth.
His shoulders shook.
“Did you hold Ivy?”
He looked up sharply.
“Who told you that?”
“Did you?”
“Willie saw you.”
Robert shut his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Try.”
His mouth twisted.
“I needed to hold a baby.”
He swallowed.
“I needed a moment to put my grief on hold.”
I knew Robert had lost Claudia too.
But something still felt wrong.
“Why couldn’t Claire look at me the next day?”
“Maybe she was embarrassed about the money.”
“She gets to hold her daughter every night.”
My voice broke.
“I don’t.”
“Mel, not today.”
Something inside me hardened.
For two weeks, everyone had decided what I could handle.
He started to speak again.
I stopped him.
“You don’t get to do that anymore.”
His hands tightened around the table.
That told me enough.
I turned toward the stairs.
“Where are you going?”
“To get dressed.”
My body still hurt. I had to sit just to put on my shoes.
Then I grabbed my keys.
I was going to Claire’s.
Claire opened the door with Ivy against her shoulder.
The sight froze me.
