"I love babies, but that didn't stop me from going all sick and clammy for about two days this season when I thought I might be pregnant," she said. "I'm not ready. I know I'm not. If you think about it, yours is the only opinion that really matters. At the end of the day, everyone else gets to go away, but you don't."

Miranda went quiet, and then straightened up. "Really?" she asked. "You really believe that? You're not...angry at me?" she asked, looking at the baby.

"Why should I be angry?" she said, honestly surprised. "Did you really think I was angry? I just . . . I wasn't sure what you wanted."

Miranda bit her lip. "Everyone...I mean. I thought everyone would be angry." She swallowed. "If I wasn't in love with my baby."

Niabheara let out a patient sigh. "Sweetness, if you didn't love her at all, you wouldn't care what became of her. You would have agreed to whate'er I said as long as I took her off your hands. You just don't want to be a mother yet."

Miranda swallowed, and nodded, and looked the baby over again. "Do you want a baby?" she asked. "Or would you rather find someone else to take her?"

"I don't. I don't know that Marcello does, either. I think he's half worried for you and half agreeing with me." Niabheara looked at the baby, then pressed her cheek against her head. "But I won't pretend I don't feel two ways about it."

Miranda nodded. "Would Meg want a baby?" she asked.

She shook her head, sober. "I already asked." Hesitantly, she added, "One of my baronesses's eldest daughter just lost a child. She's been trying for years now. If there was anyone I'd ask first, it would be her."

"Oh." Miranda looked disappointed. "I was hoping I could give it to somebody in the family, at least," she said. "So if I did decide I wanted to see her, it wouldn't be so hard. I don't...I'm not ready to make a decision that's completely final."