her father.”
Elizabeth, whose hair is straight as straw, smiles. “Actually, we’re not sure where she gets it from.”
“That’s like me,” the clerk says. “I was born without two adult teeth. My dentist said it’s a congenital thing, usually hereditary. But Mom doesn’t know anyone in the family who’s missing two teeth.”
“So what did you do?” Elizabeth asks.
“About what?”
“The teeth.”
“Oh. Got implants, and they were way expensive. Mom said she’s spent a mint on my mouth.”
“Well, they look nice,” Elizabeth says. “You have a great smile. I would never have known your teeth weren’t real.”
“Thanks.”
Olivia’s teething ring falls on the floor. Elizabeth picks it up and puts it in her purse and pulls out another one from the diaper bag to give her.
“I hope she’s not missing any teeth,” the clerk says.
Elizabeth smiles. “Me, too. I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see. There’s some things I guess you just don’t know.”
“Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Sarah. Happy birthday to you.”
Grandma placed the cake she had baked in front of me. It had vanilla icing and she decorated it with sprinkles and a big candle in the shape of the numeral one. It was just me and Grandma. There were no aunts or uncles or cousins. Grandma had no family. And there was no Matt.
Grandma snapped photos as I dug my baby fingers into the cake.
“Taste the icing, Sarah,” she said. “Mmm, good.”
I started to tear up. Icing dripped from my hands. I didn’t like being messy. Grandma took a swipe of the icing with her index finger and put it up to my mouth. I tasted the sweet icing and realized the stuff on my fingers was good. Real good. I licked the icing off my fingers and dug them back into the cake and licked them clean again and again.
Grandma laughed. “That’s my girl. Get messy. Enjoy it. You’re one.”
I had cake and icing in my hair and all over my face. Grandma waited until I was good and messy and the cake was wrecked before removing it from the tray on my high chair.
“Do you ever think about her mother?” Elizabeth asks Tom.
“I try not to,” Tom says. “I mean, I’m grateful we have Libby, but I don’t understand how her mother could do what she did.”
“Do you worry that we don’t know anything about her mother?”
“Like what?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Like if she was born without two adult teeth.”
Tom tilts his head and scrunches his eyes so his eyebrows almost meet in the middle. “What are you talking about?”
Elizabeth shifts in her seat. “The clerk at the party store told me she was born without two adult teeth. Said it was congenital.”
“So?”
“Well, it just got me thinking. We don’t know the birth mother’s health history. What if Libby’s missing two of her adult teeth or…?”
“Look, Liz. We can’t worry about what we don’t know. If Libby is missing two adult teeth, then we’ll get her two. Simple as that. Whatever Libby faces, we’ll be there to help her. No matter what that might be.”
“I love you,” Elizabeth tells Tom. “Thanks for putting up with my worrying self.”
Tom kisses her. “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t worry. But worry about the things you can control, not the things you can’t. Whatever happens, we’re in this together.”
“You missed your daughter’s first birthday,” Grandma told Matt as he stumbled into the kitchen. He popped a handful of aspirin into his mouth and chased them with a swig of black coffee.
“Sorry. I forgot.”
“That collection department called again,” Grandma said. “You better call them back.”
Matt didn’t answer.
“Have any interviews lined up?”
Matt shook his head.
“You need to find something, Matt. You’ve got bills to pay.”
“Christ, Mom. Can’t I just eat breakfast in peace for once?”
He looked at me in my high chair eating Cheerios.
“Da. Da.” I pinched a Cheerio and offered it to him.
Matt’s eyes became glassy. He held out his palm and I placed the Cheerio in it. His lips mashed into a limp smile, and he slid the Cheerio into his jeans pocket.
He didn’t realize that Grandma was watching. She placed her hand over her heart and a tear slipped from the corner of her wrinkled eye.
Matt grunted goodbye and left, slamming the door behind him. He was gone. Again.
Grandma walked over to me and patted the top of my head. “There’s a man who’s spent so much time being angry that he doesn’t know how to be anything but. Don’t let anger consume you, Sarah. Anger destroys everything that’s good.”
Elizabeth gathers silky strands of hair into a cluster on top of Olivia’s head and clips it with a pink lacey bow. “Such a pretty girl.”
“Da. Da. Da.”
“Yes, Daddy is getting his picture taken, too.”
Tom walks into the nursery, with a beautiful hand-painted mural depicting various nursery rhymes, and Olivia claps her pudgy hands. “Da. Da. Da.”
He picks up Olivia and kisses her and then Elizabeth. “My girls look beautiful.”
“Do you like our matching dresses?” Elizabeth asks.
Tom smiles. “Gorgeous, as always.”
The dresses are a pink floral print. Elizabeth’s is sleeveless and Olivia’s has capped sleeves and a big bow around the waist that ties in the back.
“Found them online at a really neat boutique. Bought two others.”
“Don’t tell me anymore,” Tom says. “I don’t want to know how much this new online boutique is costing me.”
Elizabeth tilts her head and fakes a pout. “You always say your
