I looked over at Maggie, who was smiling now and looking down at Layla. I saw that Layla was smiling too and looking straight at Mama. Then Myra said, “Just look at the light in that beautiful child!”

“Amen, that child, she’s a little angel,” Mama said. “Amen!”

Mama stood up from the dining table and reached out towards Maggie and Layla and said, “Layla, you come over here to your Mama Vermillion!” Maggie, smiling, handed Layla to Mama and with Layla in Mama’s arms I could feel all the tension and sadness leave Maggie. As we stood there all gathered around Layla, I saw for the first time the future yet to come. We were becoming a family now and it wasn’t like anything we could have ever imagined.

Little did we know how true that was to become.

Cooing at Mama, Layla smiled and kicked her legs up and down as Mama kissed her face. And Myra, standing next to Mama, was making a deep, warm, joyful sound that almost sounded like an old church hymn, and the world got brighter and our little apartment for the first time felt like a real home.