to Kate’s bed at eleven o’clock one night in July, while she was looking over some depositions. Her heart always skipped a beat when her phone rang at that hour. With three children out in the world, she was always afraid that something would happen to one of them. She picked it up and answered with an anxious hello. It was Claire, and she didn’t sound as though anything terrible had happened. She sounded happy and in good spirits, and had told her mother only two days before that things were great with Reed. They’d been dating for three months now, and she still hadn’t told the firm, and didn’t see why she should. She disagreed with her mother.
“Are you okay?” It was Kate’s standard opening question.
“Of course,” she said blithely. “Can I come and see you tomorrow after work? Will you be home?”
“Yes, I think so. I don’t have any plans. Why?” She hoped Claire wasn’t coming to tell her that she and Reed were getting engaged. It was much too soon for that.
“I just want to come by for a visit.” She never did that, and Kate was instantly suspicious.
“Nothing’s wrong?” Maybe she was getting fired and Claire wanted to tell her in person. She hoped not. Kate couldn’t guess what it was.
“Everything’s fine.”
“Okay. Do you want to stay for dinner? I’ll pick something up on the way home.”
“No, it’s fine. We’re going to the Hamptons for the weekend. We’ll leave after I see you.”
“All right, see you then.” Kate had a feeling of trepidation. Something was up, but Claire didn’t sound upset, so she hoped it was nothing too bad. But it gnawed at her, and she had trouble falling asleep. Whatever it was, she’d have to wait until the following day to hear it. Claire obviously wanted her advice about something. She finally drifted off to sleep, after realizing that she hadn’t heard from Anthony in a long time. She promised herself she would call him over the weekend. She wondered when one stopped worrying about one’s children. At what age did they really take flight and take off? Whatever age it was, it hadn’t happened yet, and she still worried about all of them most of the time.
When she woke up in the morning, she remembered her appointment with Claire that night after work, and she still couldn’t guess what it was about. Maybe she had decided to break up with Reed after all. His time had come. But they were going away for the weekend, so that didn’t add up. Kate put the depositions she’d been looking at the night before back in her briefcase and headed for the shower. Whatever Claire had to say, it could wait until that night. Her workday had begun.
Chapter 5
Claire showed up at Kate’s apartment at six-thirty, five minutes after Kate got home. It had been a long, stressful day, full of irritating surprises, difficult clients, and a minor argument with the managing partner of the firm. She took a cab home so she wouldn’t be late for Claire, and felt rumpled and tired when she kicked off her shoes, put away her briefcase, and the doorbell rang. The doorman had let Claire come up without announcing her, since he knew her so well.
Claire was wearing white denim shorts and a pink T-shirt and sandals to go to the Hamptons, and she dropped her purse near the front door. It was a big Balenciaga tote.
“How was your day, Mom?” she asked casually.
“Honestly, lousy. I had arguments with everyone. I’m going to fire a client who’s lying to me and I can’t defend him, and don’t want to. And the air-conditioning was broken in my office. I’ve been sitting in a steam bath all day.” The outside temperature had reached a hundred at noon. “How was yours?” She smiled at her daughter, took off her lawyerly suit jacket, and tossed it on a chair, as Claire sat down on the couch and looked at her.
“My day was okay,” Claire said, as Kate sat down across from her, trying to guess what would come next. She figured she was either going to break up with Reed, or having problems at work. “There’s something I want to tell you,” Claire said, without further preamble. “I’m pregnant.” The words hung in the air as Kate wondered if she had heard correctly. She couldn’t have. That had never happened before to either of her girls, nor with any girl Anthony