The phrase pregnancy hormones.
The instruction to sit on the floor.
“No.”
Clare smiled.
“I was worried you would feel guilty.”
“I did.”
She looked at me.
“For about twenty minutes.”
That made her laugh.
I walked over and put my hand over hers.
“I didn’t sell the house because my sister threw a shoe.”
“I know.”
“I sold it because everyone in that room showed me exactly what they thought I was worth.”
Clare leaned against me.
“And what are you worth?”
I looked down at her.
“Apparently, more than a free house.”
She laughed again.
Several months later, our daughter was born.
The first time I held her, something inside me shifted.
She was tiny.
Warm.
Perfect.
And suddenly, every argument about the house seemed microscopic.
I thought about the kind of family I wanted her to grow up in.
Not a family where one child was worshiped and another was useful.
