Gavin answered: Fine.

Saturday at two.

I wrote the date on the calendar and spent the evening learning how to bathe my daughter with one hand supporting her neck.

PART 9

Saturday arrived with a hard rain that made the windows look gray.

Gavin rang the bell at exactly two, carrying an enormous white teddy bear and a bouquet too large for the vase in the entryway.

For a moment I saw the man who had knelt beside a crib at a furniture store, arguing cheerfully about mattress heights.