“Her first initial.”

“You’ve picked a name?”

“Sarah. Sarah Renee Hamilton. The meaning of Sarah is princess.”

He walked over and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into him without even thinking about it, or at least as much as he could without my belly getting in the way. I didn’t pull back because it felt so good to be held again.

“I love that name, and she truly will be a princess. I wasn’t sure if you were going to give her my last name.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to at first, but since you’re back and you’ve made it very clear that you’re going to be in her life, I thought I’d better. She should have the Hamilton name.”

“Thank you, Emma. You have no idea what that means to me.” He kissed the top of my head.

“I bought something else.” I broke our embrace and pulled two silver butterflies from the bag.

He smiled.

“I always want our little girl to dance. Even on her saddest days.”

“She will. She’ll have your strength. With you as her mother, she’ll dance her whole life. Would you like me to hang them?”

“Yes. Please.”

He first hung the oval silver mirror and then the butterflies on each side. It was perfect.

“I better get going. You look exhausted, and it’s getting late,” he spoke.

“Okay. Thank you for everything today.”

“You’re welcome, Emma. Thank you, too.”

I gave him a smile as I walked him to the door.

“I’ll be in touch. I promise.”

“Bye, Max.”

“Bye, Emma. Bye, Sarah.” He placed his hand on my belly.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“Emma,how are you? Are you okay? Is the baby okay?”

“Mom. Calm down. I called to say hi. Everything is fine.”

I heard her sigh. “Thank God. You know I get very nervous every time I see your name pop up.”

“I have something to tell you, Mom. Max is back in New York, and he knows about the baby. He told me that he wanted to be in her life. So…”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, Mom. I’m okay.”

“It’s best that he’s in her life. You know that, right? You didn’t get to grow up with a father and didn’t have a choice. My granddaughter has a choice because her father wants to be in her life. It’s the best gift you can give her.”

“I know. Listen, Mom, I have to go now. I’ll talk to you soon.”

As I sat on the mushroom and looked up at the bright blue sky, I took in the warmth of the sun upon my skin. Watching the mothers pushing their babies in their strollers, I smiled because, before too long, that would be Sarah and me. The girls were happy that Max was taking responsibility for his daughter, but Molly still wasn’t convinced. She said a man like him doesn’tchange overnight. Who knows? Maybe they do, or maybe they don’t. I hadn’t heard from Max in a few days, and I was okay with that. We were friends who were sharing a child. My phone rang, and when I looked at the screen, I saw that Max was calling. I smiled.