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He left his tea and unfastened Noelle fro her up as if he’d done exactly this dozens of tiently stroking Noelle’s back Her head wobbled a little; then she rested it against his shoulder and promptly fell asleep Every once in a while, he met Mary Jo’s eyes and they s on with your brothers?" Grace asked, holding out a plate of oatmeal cookies

Olivia shook her head, while Mary Jo accepted one

She sighed "Oh…they all seem to knohat’s best for et a place of my own I had quite a bit set aside Then I found out I was pregnant After that, with all the stuff I needed for the baby, I didn’t have any choice but to stay withthe need to move out?"

Mary Jo nodded "Oh, yes Theythey’ve done for me, but…it’s tietting a job again"

"It’s too bad you can’t return to the place you worked before," Grace said

"Why not?" Olivia asked "They can’t fire you for having a baby!"

"The insurance coht after the first of the year I got a severance package, but that won’t last forever I have to find a way to support Noelle and h he wasn’t part of the conversation, Mack interjected his opinion "You could always et Sound" He’d probably coer but he couldn’t contain his enthusiasreed

Grace nodded and brushed her hands free of cookie crulanced from one to the other "I’d like that, I really would, but as I said I’d need a job and a place to live, and it all seems impossible at the moment"

"I saw my brother last week," Olivia said "And hefor part-tihtened and then just as quickly di to pay for child care and our living costs Babies are expensive"

Olivia seeallery picked upand office skills?"

"I do," Mary Jo told the department at the insurance cohtedly

"But there’s day care and rent…and who’s to say your brother would find me a suitable employee?"

"I’m sure he will," Olivia said

"As for day care--" Grace juhter toldto their family inco care of Noelle would be perfect for her"

"And I know of a place to live," Mack said "A duplex that’s about to become available The rent’s extreht of this before, butwas obviouslymuch too fast for Mary Jo "I’ll have to think about this"

"That would be wise," Olivia said as Grace nodded "This is a big step"

"But a necessary one," Mary Joup at Mack, who still held Noelle in his arms, she said, "And there’s someone other than ood way," Mack said

"I hope so" Mary Jo spoke hesitantly "I’vedecisions in my life that if I doout beforehand Just to be sure…"

The women talked for another ten or fifteen minutes and then Mack noticed that Olivia seeot up to carry the tea things to the staff kitchen while Mary Jo bundled up Noelle Mack had reluctantly handed over the sleeping infant, hoping he’d have the chance to hold her again

When they left the library, Mack drove them to his apartment It was small, but the view of the cove was unbeatable While he hurried about straightening up the place--he wished he’d done that earlier--Mary Jo stood in the living roolea in the distance

"Do you want to tellon with your brothers?" he asked

Abruptly she turned to face hio after David," she said

Mack frowned "Go after hi, and they have a point On the surface, anyway David has a responsibility to support Noelle She is his child and a blood test will prove it"

An autoically--and in no other way--David was Noelle’s father Theis, I don’t want David in my life," Mary Jo said emphatically, "and I certainly don’t want him to have access to Noelle"