“That’s terrible.”
“Probably.”
Claire shook her head, laughing now.
She picked up her coat.
At the doorway, she stopped.
“Margaret?”
“Yes?”
“Do you ever think about what would have happened if they hadn’t moved me?”
Margaret considered it.
“Yes.”
“Would you have adopted me?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
Claire looked down.
“Then Daniel and I would have…”
Margaret’s eyes widened.
Claire burst out laughing.
“Oh, Lord.”
Margaret covered her face.
“That is enough.”
“I’m just saying.”
“You are saying nothing.”
“We definitely would not have married.”
“You are going home now.”
Claire laughed harder.
Margaret opened the front door.
Cold air entered.
Claire stepped onto the porch.
Then she turned.
For years, she had called Margaret by her first name except in front of the grandchildren.
Sometimes “Mrs. Ellison” during the earliest years.
Never anything else.
Now she stood under the porch light with her coat open and her hair lifting in the wind.
“Merry Christmas, Mama.”
Margaret did not answer immediately.
Her face changed.
Claire looked suddenly uncertain.
Then Margaret reached for the front of Claire’s coat and pulled it closed against the cold.
“You’ll freeze standing there.”
Claire smiled.
