“I hope you and the baby keep doing well, Audrey,” Samuel said, picking up his hat from the side table.

“We’re doing very well,” I said, opening the heavy oak door to let him out into the bright midday sun.

By two o’clock in the afternoon, the spring breeze had turned warm across the front lawn.

Leo sat on the top porch step, his small knees pulled up tight under his chin.

Beside him sat his worn stuffed rabbit, its frayed velvet ears draped carefully over the side rail of a wicker floor cradle we had brought down from the attic.

I sat down on the painted porch bench behind him, wrapping a gray knit shawl around my shoulders against the damp shade of the porch.