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Turn here,” she said at the first stoplight. “The quicker we get to your house, the better. We’ll get to the bottom of this faster if we present a united front.”
    Mya and her mother, a united front. Would wonders never cease?
     
    Elle opened her eyes to a wall of legs, two of which were ensconced in red slacks and the other two showcased to the hilt beneath a pink skirt. Both sets belonged to slightly damp but formidable-looking Donahue women.
    Millicent aimed the remote at the television where a DVD movie had been playing. “Jeffrey says those pills Mya saw you taking are chemotherapy. That true?”
    Elle sat up. “That didn’t take long.”
    “That isn’t an answer, missy.”
    Looking up at Millicent, Elle got a glimpse of how Kaylie would be some day. It brought a swell of pain that had nothing to do with her illness.
    Mya said, “Is Kaylie taking a nap?”
    Elle nodded, then didn’t know where to look. Shewound up staring at the two orange cats curled up together in the overstuffed chair across the room. They always did that, leaving the white cat out. Cats weren’t so different than humans. “My stepmother doesn’t want her.”
    Both Millicent and Mya leaned forward in order to hear. “She doesn’t want who?” Millicent said.
    But Mya knew what she was talking about. “Your stepmother doesn’t want Kaylie?”
    Elle nodded. “Brunhilde says Kaylie’s a bad seed. Like me.”
    Mya’s eyes darkened with a dangerous expression. “The woman really is evil.”
    “I told you.”
    Lowering to the edge of the coffee table, Mya said, “She’s wrong, you know. You’re not a bad seed. And neither is your baby. You do know that, don’t you?”
    Elle had to fight the urge to hide from that probing gaze. “You saying you might want her?”
    Millicent gasped.
    Next to her, Mya said, “God, Elle.”
    It wasn’t the response she’d hoped for, but then, when was the last time Elle’s wishes had come true? Not the day her dad told her about her mom’s accident. Not a year later when he’d remarried. Not when she’d told Cody her period was late. It sure as hell hadn’t come true when she’d been waiting for the results of her blood test three months ago. Why should today be any different?
    “I haven’t decided to let you take her,” she told Mya. “I barely know you, right? But if you’re sure you don’t want her, tell me now. I have things to do.”
    “Of course Mya wants her.”
    Elle and Mya both looked at Millicent. And then Millicent and Elle looked to Mya, who was blank and obviously shaken. Awkwardly, Elle cleared her throat. “I don’t have a lot of choices.”
    Mya sat back, duly rebuffed.
    “Eleanor Renee Fletcher,” Millicent said. “What is going on?”
    Millie sounded exactly the way Elle used to imagine a grandmother would sound. She told herself the drugs made her weak, and that was the reason for the sad yearning that kept her huddled on the sofa.
    “I didn’t get my strength back after I had Kaylie. We figured I was anemic, but just to be safe, my doctor ran some tests. When the results came back, they said I had lymphoma. I was terrified Kaylie had it, too, but she doesn’t.” She paused a moment to silently acknowledge that one of her wishes, the most important wish of all, had come true. “We thought the first regimen of chemo would be enough, but my remission didn’t last long. I’m winding down after the second round. I still have my hair this time, so it’s a pretty sure bet the second round hasn’t been successful, either.”
    “What is your doctor doing about it?” Millicent asked.
    Elle uncurled her legs and eased her feet to the floor. “If the cancer is still there, they’ll try more chemo. I could go in and out of remission for years. Unfortunately, all that chemotherapy poses its own risk. If the cancer spreads, my only real hope will be a bone marrow transplant. It would be a long shot even if I had a sibling who was a match.” Looking directly