Blessed with a Lovely Daughter

She laid in bed that night, surrounded by all of the things that made her feel at ease. She had hung her own blue and white wallpaper. Three years ago, she had bought a handmade wedding ring quilt at auction. Her rosewood bombe chest of drawers and imitation four-poster bed. The silver-framed photograph of her parents and two little oil paintings she'd discovered at an estate auction the summer after graduating from nursing school.

She convinced herself that they were proof that she didn't need a man in her life. She'd put a rocking chair in the alcove near the window, where she'd nurse her baby, then a white bassinet next to her bed as her due date approached. She'd change the second bedroom into a nursery after he'd outgrown it. Clouds should be painted on the ceiling. On the walls, stencil unicorns and pixies—oh, and a guardian angel, because every child needed one, even if he couldn't have a father.

A father... Chris...

&nbs