tightened for a second.
Then she smiled again.
“I am only asking you to be practical.”
Daniel picked up his phone.
“I forgot the extra blanket and the bag with the bottles.”
“You do not need to go.”
“I do.”
He looked at me.
“I will be back.”
I nodded.
He walked to the door.
Vivian moved aside for him, but her eyes stayed on Leo.
Daniel paused.
“Mom.”
She looked at him.
“Please do not make this harder.”
Vivian gave him a small nod.
“Of course.”
The door closed behind him.
I adjusted Luna in my arms and checked that Leo’s blanket was tucked beneath his chin.
Vivian pulled the chair closer.
“I thought we could speak privately.”
“We are already private.”
“Daniel is gone.”
“That does not make this private.”
She looked at the door.
Then she looked at Leo.
“Have you reconsidered the family arrangement?”
I kept
one hand beneath Luna’s head.
“No.”
Vivian sat down.
“You have not even heard the whole proposal.”
“I heard enough yesterday.”
“No. You heard me ask you to consider what would be best for everyone.”
“That is not the same thing.”
She opened her purse.
I saw the corner of blue paper before she pulled anything free.
I looked at it.
“Vivian.”
She stopped.
“It is only paperwork.”
I looked back at the two bracelets beside my water cup.
“Then why bring it here?”
She did not answer.
Her hand remained inside the purse.
I reached for Leo’s bassinet and checked the blanket again.
“Do not wake him.”
“I would never.”
She said it softly, almost kindly.
Then her eyes moved to his name on the bracelet.
“Leo needs his family.”
“He has one.”
Vivian looked at me.
“Not the way I mean.”
I heard footsteps in the hallway.
Vivian
closed her purse.
“Daniel will understand.”
The footsteps stopped outside the door.
The handle moved.
Vivian turned toward it before I did.
Vivian laid the blue folder on the tray table and opened it to a page with three lines highlighted in yellow. Luna made a small sound against my shoulder, and I adjusted the blanket before looking at the page.
“These are simple arrangements,” Vivian said. “They make the family part of this easier.”
I looked at the heading, then at the signature line near the bottom.
“Arrangements for what?”
Vivian turned the page toward me.
“For Leo.”
The name sat above a paragraph I had not yet read. I reached for the folder, but Vivian placed her hand over the corner and kept it where it was.
“Please let me read it.”
“You are tired.”
“I can still read.”
Vivian gave the paper a little push with her
