“And then,” Dr. Hale said quietly, “Ruth said something nobody expected.”
Grandma looked at me.
“She pointed at me,” Grandma said. “She said, ‘Her. Give him to her. She’s the only person in this whole hospital who let me hold him. She’s the one who put in the window. I want him to go home with her.’”
I stared at my grandmother.
“How did she know you put in the window?” I asked.
“I told her,” Grandma said simply. “In the middle of the night, between contractions. She asked me why there was a window in a storage room. And I told her about Grace.”
I put my hand over my mouth.
“Harold Calloway didn’t like it,” Grandma said. “He didn’t like it one bit. A nurse? A carpenter’s wife? But his lawyer pulled him out into the hallway, and they talked for a long time. And when they came back in, Harold had decided. It was quieter this way. Easier. Nobody had to move across the country. No other agency had to know anything. Just a private adoption. Very discreet.”
