I know exactly who you belong to.
And I am so glad you’re here.*
I held her for a few minutes.
Then I looked at Joel.
“Can you get them?” I said.
He went to the door.
A moment later, Penelope came in.
She stopped just inside the room.
Her hands were clasped in front of her.
Her eyes went straight to the baby, and then she looked at me, and she didn’t say anything — she just looked at me with an expression I had no word for, something that contained a decade of grief and hope and shame and gratitude all at once.
“Come here,” I said.
She crossed the room.
I placed the baby in her arms.
Penelope made a sound I had never heard from her before.
Not a word.
Just a sound, low and broken and full, the sound of something long-held finally released.
Marcus was behind her.
