Folded hospital sticker.
***
At home, Sophie took the baby upstairs.
I heated leftovers neither of us touched.
After she fell asleep, I sat across from the diaper bag like it was waiting to be questioned.
I told myself I’d wait until morning to push.
I almost did.
Then I noticed something sticking out of the diaper bag.
“My friend. From the resort.”
Inside the pocket was a folded hospital sticker.
Mia.
The girl from housekeeping.
I looked toward the stairs.
Whatever Sophie had been hiding hadn’t started with that baby.
She was protecting somebody.
I heard my daughter on the stairs and did not have time to hide it.
She stopped in the doorway, her eyes on the sticker in my hand.
“Mom.”
“Who is Mia, sweetheart?”
She sat down slowly across from me. “My friend. From the resort.”
“Her friend — holding her baby in my kitchen.”
“I’m trying to find Mia.”
