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at Jenny. “But seeing you here after all these years…” Jenny looked first at Karen, then at Greg, who was rigid in the doorway to the living room, his face drained of all color. Karen could see the bewilderment in Jenny’s eyes. She was looking to them for some answer, some explanation, as a child would do. Say something, she thought. Get it together. But all she could do was stare helplessly at the intruder.
    “I have proof. Your birth certificate. It’s in my purse,” Linda said. She tried to reach for her purse, but she was encumbered by the bouquet of flowers and the shiny box. She held them up, offering them to Jenny. “These are for you,” she said. Jenny did not budge from her spot halfway up the staircase.
    Awkwardly, Linda placed the flowers and the box on the floor beside her. Then she stood up and began to fumble in her purse. “I put it in an envelope. One of these pockets…I don’t know…here…” She held up the slip of paper in Jenny’s direction, but Jenny just shook her head. Linda turned and offered it to Karen. Karen reached for it mechanically and stared down at it. Greg walked up and pried it gently from her icy fingers.
    “Let me see that,” he said. He frowned at the document as Linda lifted her gaze back to Jenny and drank in the sight of her. “You don’t know,” she said. “You don’t know how I have dreamed of seeing you.”
    Greg’s voice cut her off harshly. “What do you want?” he demanded. “Why are you here?”
    Linda tore her gaze from Jenny’s face and looked at Karen and Greg. “I’m sorry, Mr. Newhall, Mrs. New-hall. I know I shouldn’t have just turned up on your doorstep like this. I had to see her. Please, if we could just talk “
    Slowly, as if waking from a trance, Jenny came down the stairs, walked over toward Linda, bent down, and picked up the flowers and the box.
    “It’s a music box,” Linda said eagerly. “It plays ‘Beautiful Dreamer.’ “
    “Thanks,” said Jenny, standing near Linda but not looking at her.
    Karen finally recovered herself enough to speak. “Why don’t you come in?” she said in a leaden voice. She gestured to the living room, throwing a warning glance at Greg, and preceded Linda into the room.
    “Oh, this is lovely,” Linda exclaimed. “So comfortable. You have a beautiful home.”
    Karen was about to thank her when Linda added, “I’m so glad.” The implication hit Karen like a slap in the face. Linda hadn’t said “for my daughter,” but she might as well have. Karen turned and looked at Jenny. She was standing in the doorway holding her gifts, looking like a child who had lost her way home. Karen could see that she needed a chance to think, to collect herself. Karen walked back to her and gently took the music box from her. “Those flowers need water,” she said. “Why don’t you go put them in a vase.”
    Jenny nodded. “Okay,” she said, and fled from the room, clutching the bouquet.
    Linda had perched on the edge of the sofa. Karen seated herself in the rocker, the chair where she had rocked Jenny to sleep a thousand times, and placed the music box on the coffee table between them. Greg declined to sit.
    “I’m sure you’re wondering…” Linda began.
    “How did you…” Karen said at the same time.
    “Go ahead,” said Linda nervously.
    “What I want to know,” said Karen, “is how you found us. This was a blind adoption. Those records were sealed.”
    “I hired a private investigator,” said Linda apologetically. “He was able to get the information from the lawyer’s office.”
    Karen glanced at Greg, who was leaning against the mantel. She could tell he was as angry about this as she was. Arnold Richardson was careless, negligent, if he let this kind of information get out of his office. It was his job to protect them from something like this.
    “I know it was…wrong for me to do that. Please, try to understand. I’m from Bay land originally, although I’ve been living in