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know.”
    “I’m glad, baby.” Danny reels me into his
chest. He kisses my neck, moving the hair out of his way as he
kisses up my throat. “I always want this to be a safe place, for
whoever comes here. I just don’t want you to get attached. She’s
going to go off to college.”
    “I know,” I sigh. “Maybe she’ll become a
lawyer or social worker and come work for me.”
    “We’ll do whatever we can for her. She won’t
have to want for anything, you know that,” he reassures me, pulling
my shirt over my head. I nod, pulling his shirt off and running my
fingers lightly over the lilies tattooed over his ribs.
    “Did you hear what Ollie said?” I ask.
    “Yeah. Lu’s all around us. I wonder if she
brought this girl here.”
    “Wouldn’t surprise me one bit,” I admit.
    “I miss that girl,” Danny rumbles. I put my
head on his chest and hug him tight.
    “Me too.”

Chapter 7
    The weeks fly by with the activity of the
holidays, mixed in with two children that need vastly different
things. Danny is gone for days at a time as he does appearances and
various performances and award shows. My days are more hectic than
usual as I work from home as much as possible. Dominique gradually
gets more comfortable with her surroundings, often walking in the
woods and down to the barn. She’s always quiet, but the councilor
that we have her seeing says that she’s coping far better than if
she didn’t have the environment and people that know what she’s
going through.
    She rarely needs help with homework, and when
she does I have to look up what exactly she’s doing. I’ve forgotten
how hard Calculus is. Dominique decides that she wants to be called
Nicky after a few sessions with the therapist. She does research on
changing her name, and I get the lawyers on making that possible
for her as soon as she graduates.
    Her doctor’s visits are the only other time
she leaves our neighborhood of Los Rancheros. She’s let me share
her experience with the ultrasounds and I have to admit, seeing
that little baby move on a screen as her skin bulges is something
I’ve come to envy. Dominique, or Nicky now, seems detached from it
though. She acts like she takes more from my enjoyment of the acts
than anything. It’s worrying, but Danny and I agree that there’s
nothing that can be done. Dominique is adamant of going to college
as soon as she graduates in December.
    We’ve looked at apartments and dorm rooms
online, and have sent in her paperwork to start after the winter
break. But what about the baby?
    A few days before Christmas, just two days
after her eighteenth birthday, I’m making dinner in the outdoor
kitchen for everyone on the grounds when Deb comes rushing up the
steps. I drop the tongs in my hand, already running before she can
get a word out. Both of the kids were at the barn.
    “What’s wrong?” I demand.
    She pants and shakes her head. “The baby.”
That’s all I need to hear. Something’s wrong with Ollie and I’m
gone. I don’t remember running over the trail, the stairs down
hill, the barn stalls and horses shying away in surprise. I find
Phil, Deb’s husband beside Dominique on the ground, Ollie on his
hip looking alarmingly content.
    “What’s wrong, tell Mommy where it hurts?” I
ask, snatching him away and running my eyes and hands over him.
Ollie, of course looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.
    “Oh, Kinley. Not Ollie, Dominique’s baby,”
Phil says over my ramblings.
    “What?” I look to the poor girl panting in a
lawn chair beside me and feel horrible. “Oh my God! The baby?” I
push Ollie onto Phil and put a hand to her stomach. It feels like a
rock, and slowly untightens as she breathes through her mouth.
    “My water broke. I think it’s time.”
    My mind blanks. Holy shit, it was time? We
didn’t even have blankets except what I had in a gift bag in my
closet, yet there was going to be a baby?! She never wanted to buy
anything, but now there was going to be a person