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hours. How wonderful that they truly liked and respected each other, thatthey considered each other family. “Sara is great,” she told Christine, “and the baby! The baby’s a real presence. It’s like we’re Pyramus and Thisbe,” she said excitedly. “I swear we’re talking! I touched one side of Sara’s belly and the baby came rolling toward me!”
    “Did you hear what you said? Pyramus and Thisbe. Sara’s the wall,” Christine said.
    “No, no, she’s not the wall! There’s no wall! We love Sara,” Eva said excitedly. “We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect situation, a more perfect girl.” She looked around the kitchen, imagining where she’d dry the baby bottles, where she’d put a high chair.
    And then, Eva had seen the baby being born, standing there, gripping Sara’s hand so tightly it was as if the experience were being transfused right into Eva’s veins. She had sweated along with Sara. When Sara screamed, Eva screamed and gripped her hand harder.
    And now Anne was here, right in this house. Now people were crowded around them, and now, glory be, they were finally beginning to leave.
    “You call if you need anything,” Nora said. “Remember, I’m right next door.”
    Christine hugged her. “You’re going to be a natural! You must be so thrilled!”
    “Of course she’s thrilled,” someone said. “Look at that smile.”
    “Let me do those dishes,” Nora said, gathering plates.
    “Don’t be silly, you’re here to visit, not to work,” Eva said.
    Nora put the plates down. “They say when you have a newborn, you should go to the doctor so he can give you tranquilizers!” She laughed.
    Eva’s smile began to feel pasted to her face.
    “Are you springing for a baby nurse?” Nora asked.
    “Nah. We want to do it all ourselves. And Sara will be here.”
    “Sara? The birth mom? You’re kidding, right?”
    You sound like Jack and Abby,
Eva thought. “A baby needs all the love possible,” Eva said evenly. “And Sara’s a part of our family.”
    There was a silence. “How nice,” said Nora.
    Lynne Matson, who had six cats and lived down the block, touchedEva’s arm. “Listen, I know exactly what to get the baby. One of those red and black and white mobiles they say stimulates their mind. I just wanted to wait before I bought it. To make sure everything was going to be fine. Who needs to deal with returns, right?” Lynne said.
    Eva’s smile tightened. She bet any gift from Lynne would be covered with cat hair.
    “Best of luck to all of you,” Lynne said, and headed for the door, waving.
    When the house was empty again, Eva peered anxiously into Anne’s bassinet. She couldn’t help feeling that this baby was somehow on loan.
    “Let her snooze,” George said. “She’s had a busy day.”
    George and Eva began to clean up, collecting the dishes, putting the gifts on the table to open the next day, when they weren’t so tired. “I should have let Nora help,” she told George, and he shrugged. “Next time,” he told her.
    Eva stretched. Who could imagine that such a tiny little thing would generate so many diapers, so many wipes? Every five minutes it seemed she was reaching for a drool cloth. Every ten minutes she had to change the baby’s clothes—or her own because Anne had spit up on her. And every two hours, Anne ate, which meant scrubbing and boiling and drying bottles. Already Eva’s whole body ached.
    She wanted to be held. She heard George clattering in the kitchen, and she suddenly thought of all the times he used to surprise her, showing up at her school to take her to lunch and driving her to a fancy hotel instead. They’d make love the whole lunch hour, and she’d come back to school flushed and happy, her hair a little awry, and an hour later she’d be starving because she had never gotten around to eating. Their old life, before Anne, pulsed inside her. They hadn’t made love once since they had brought her home.
    She rubbed her neck, lifted