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“And it is ”

“Nannies notwithstanding ”

Mother sighed “Oh, Judith Anne Not that old whine again ”

“I’ht,” Jude said, and not because it was the only response that would end the conversation It was true Jude was forty-six years old She should have forgiven her iveness, never thought it necessary, even though she’d checked out of motherhood as if it had been a cheap ht Jude had been seven years old and suddenly upended by grief, and yet, after her father’s funeral, no one had thought to reach out for her, certainly not her own mother, ent back to work the very next day In all the years that caiven up painting and becoallery owners in Seattle She nurtured young artists while entrusting her daughter’s care to one nanny after another They’d had no relationship whatsoever until about five years ago, when Caroline had called and scheduled lunch Now, once a month, they pretended Jude didn’t even knohy

“How are the children?” her mother asked

“Wonderful,” Jude said “Zach’s grades are phenomenal and Mia has become a talented actress Daddy would have been proud of her ”

Her hed It didn’t surprise Jude, that small exhalation of breath Dad as a topic was off-liirl; neither one of thee that now, all these years after his death, although Jude still ht,” her o to any school he wants I hope he continues with his plans to become a doctor It would be a shame if he quit his studies ”

“I suppose that’s another renant and Miles was in medical school We hardly had a choice ”

“You lost the baby,” her mother said, as if that hat mattered

“Yes,” Jude said quietly, re and in love, and honestly, for most of her life, she’d been afraid of enetic anomaly that had been passed down fronant accidentally—too soon, when they weren’t ready—and Jude had discovered from the inception how profoundly she could love The very idea of motherhood had transformed her

“You have always loved your children toothem happy ”

Parenting advice from her mother Perfect Jude smiled thinly “It’s ih I wouldn’t really expect you to understand that ”

Her irl froive me none?”

“Lexi—and you certainly know her name by now—has been like a part of this family for the past three years She has never disappointed me ”

“And I have ”