Page 60 (2/2)

"We read Peter Rabbit"

"Wonderful!" the woman beamed "Was it funny? Did you like it? I’m sure I’ve told you how e" She turned her attention to the paper "And what do we have here?"

The little girl held it up "It’s a picture"

"Is that me? Is it a picture of the two of us?"

"They’re birds That one is na a nest"

A flicker of disappointain "Why, of course they are Anyone could see that It’s as plain as the nose on your pretty little face"

And on and on Sara barely ingested any of it An intense new sensation had co deep and atavistic, tidal in its weight andof her senses on the back of the little girl’s blond head Those curls The precise and singular diirl’s body occupied in space Sara already kneithout knowing, a fact she also knew, the paradox building a kind of hallway inside her, like i , her voice at some impossible remove from reality, a transotten my manners Eva, I need to introduce you to so a blank

"Dani," Sara ed

"Our wonderful new friend Dani Eva, say how do you do"

The child turned Tiamation of form and features that was the only one in all the universe There was no doubt in Sara’s , closed-lip shter

But in the next second so It jolted Sara back to the world

"Lila"

Sara turned He was standing behind her His face was a ettable, one of thousands like it, but from it radiated an invisible force of ravity To behold hi

He looked Sara conte her utterly "Do you knoho I aht as a reed For the first tie secreted in the deep folds of her robe; it would not be the last

"Yes, sir You’re Director Guilder"

His mouth curled doith distaste "Put down your veil, for God’s sake Just the sight of you ers, she did so Now the shadow became a shadow literally, his features mercifully blurred behind the blush of fabric, as if in mist Guilder strode past her, to where Lila still crouched with Sara’s daughter If his presence irl, Sara couldn’t see it, but Lila was a different story Every part of her tightened Clutching the child in front of her like a shield, she rose to her feet

"David-"

"Just stop it" His eyes flicked disagreeably over her "You look like hell, you know that?" Then, turning to face Sara onceof the tray Sara pointed

"Bring it here"

Her hands, soed this

"Get rid of them," Guilder said to Lila

"Eva, sweetie, why doesn’t Dani take you outside?" She looked quickly at Sara, her eyes beseeching "It’s such a beautiful day A little fresh air, what do you say?"

"I want you to take o outside"

Lila’s voice was like a song she was being"I knoeetheart, but you kno sensitive Mummy is to the sun And Muets when she takes heraway fro beside the door

With excruciatingflesh The unbearable corporeal smallness of it, its discrete power, its infusion of memory All of Sara’s senses molded around the exquisite sensation of her child’s tiny hand in her own It was the first time their bodies had touched since one was inside the other, though noas the opposite: Sara was the one inside

"Run along, you two," Lila croaked She gave a wave of absolute misery toward the door "Have fun"

Without a word, Kate-Eva-led Sara frohed a ht I have to reht of stairs: a pair of doors at the bottom pushed into a s set The sky looked doith a soleht

"Come on," the child said And broke away

She cli Sara took her place behind her

"Push me"

Sara drew back the chains, suddenly nervous HowThis holy, miraculous, huh She released the chains, and the girl arced away, vigorously puher," she coher!"

Each sensation a piercing Each a painless engraving in the heart Sara caught her daughter at the small of her back and thrust her away Up and out she rose, into the Dece the air behind her with the sweet scent of her person The girl swung silently; her happiness was bound into a pure occupation of the act itself A little girl, swinging in winter

My darling Kate, thought Sara My baby, irl fleay, always returning to her hands I knew, I knew, I always knew You are the ehts Never could I let you die

Chapter 46

Houston

The liquefied city, drowned by the sea The great urban quag Hurricanes, drenching tropical rains, the unchecked slide of a continent’s waters seeking final escape to the Gulf: for a hundred years the tides had cori all