"It would have been nice to have a sister who isn't my mother," she said wistfully. "Elaine feels that way sometimes. But she'll always be more Bram's friend than mine. And Dierdre, but then she . . . became a whole other mess," she said, embarrassed. She added, more brightly. "Ah well. I still to play the big sister to all the rest of them."

Marcello grinned. "Right. And Mira isn't that much younger. If you play sister you her, you might get to hold the baby."

She turned away from him, glancing down. "Still a bit too close to the season for that. I did hold it a little. I've forgotten how tiny babies are--e'en tallfolk babies."

"Well, she's half," Marcello said. "Smaller than a tallfolk baby. Too close to the season?" he asked. "Does it make you want one?" He put a hand on her shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"A little," she said. "Just now it only makes me think that I would like one some day. Not just yet. I feel bad for her. She can't e'en really enjoy it."

"I know," Marcello replied. "I wish it were easier for her to say she's not ready and give it to an older woman who can't have one. Especially here. But I don't think she can." He smiled. "We will have one someday."

Niabheara bit her lip, then asked, cautiously, "Perhaps we could keep it?"

Marcelo was quiet. "I was thinking about that," he said. "Would you...want to, if it came to that? I assume Cormac will want the child, even if Mira does not?"

"Cormac's a bachelor man. I know he has family but I think they're all the way in the south of the island. I don't know very much about them." Her hands twisted together. "I only thought, at least then Mira would know it's being looked after and it wouldn't . . . it wouldn't be so much like losing it fore'er to some other family. She might feel better about going back home. But I . . . I don't know how I would feel about that. I know I'm not ready to be a mother just yet, but I don't want to make the offer just to foist it off on a nursemaid."

"I know," Marcello replied, nodding. "I know you're not ready. And it's one thing to be not-ready when it's your own child, but entirely enough to be not-ready for someone else's."