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“Even the kids help,” Melissa pipes up. “Even during the birth!”
“Really?” Lenna looks at the kids’ table. Some of the kids are toddlers.
“They think it’s magical. Years ago, people had babies in their homes. Children weren’t shooed away. So now, we let them participate in all of our births. If theywantto, anyway.” Melissa nudges Lenna. “Your Rhiannon was a huge help with my birth.”
Lenna tries to meet Rhiannon’s gaze, but she’s busy grabbing more food. It’s interesting how much of an asset Rhiannon seems to be here. How open, giving, patient.Tolerant.She gulps more wine.
Then Lenna turns back to Naomi, wondering if she wants her own turn to speak, but Naomi is now busy talking to one of the kids. “So is anyone pregnant now?” she asks the group.
Marjorie smiles furtively. “Sarah—she’s about eight weeks. We’re all so thrilled. She has struggled a bit. She’s still at the medical facility—they kept her to go through a few scans and genetic tests, but I hear it’s all looking good. Baby’s got a heartbeat.”
Then someone else clears her throat. “I suppose you’d like to hearmystory.”
Gia is looking at Lenna pointedly, like she’s trying to read Lenna’s thoughts. Lenna bristles.
“Though I don’t know if Ishould.Considering what happened last time.”
“It’s okay, Gia,” Marjorie says. “It’s better if it comes from you.”
“You can trust Lenna,” Rhiannon adds.
“What, um, happened last time?” Lenna asks slowly.
Marjorie sets down her fork. “We caught someone gossiping about Gia in a not-very-nice way. She’s since left the community.”
“A girl on educational exchange,” Gia adds. “Carina.”
Marjorie coughs. “Let’s not name names.”
“She wrote something about us, didn’t she?” Matilda pipes up. “I heard something about—”
But Amy cuts her off, wagging her finger. “Now, now, no gossiping.”
“My family is wealthy,” Gia goes on. “The Civatellis?”
Lenna blinks. “I’m sorry…I don’t…”
“My father’s family owns a bunch of steel plants out east. I was a socialite. An heiress. Hated it. Didn’t want to be part of their capitalist bullshit. So I came here and erased my past. Cut myself out of the family name, the will, all of it. I want nothing to do with that life.” She waves her hand.
Lenna glances around the table, but everyone seems to be taking this in stride. They’ve heard it before, maybe. It’s ironic, though. If Gia wants to erase her past, why is she so eager to talk about it?
“Wow,” she says, because she feels she needs to say something. “Well, good for you for following your intuition.”
Gia snorts, as if she doesn’t believe in any of that bullshit.
“Hey, everyone, I know a joke,” Matilda says, breaking the silence.
And then the conversation turns that way. Lenna’s grateful. Her head is starting to feel light from all the stories and pasts. Or maybe it’s the wine.
Matilda gets to the punch line, and everyone hoots with laughter. Coral shoves her friend playfully. Both young women look beautiful in the candlelight.Real,Lenna thinks. It must be such an experience to be a young woman here. Her teenage self would have never felt bold enough to tell a joke in front of a table of adults. Maybe her mom would have enjoyed a place like this, too. Maybe Halcyon could even havehealedher neuroses, just like it healed Matilda.
The sun has sunk brilliantly into the horizon, dyeing the sky orange and pink. Casting the mountains into a shadow. The stars have come out, bright pinpricks against black, more visible than any sky she’s ever seen in LA. Lenna thinks of the cabdriver from earlier, how he talked about the International Space Station. As she tilts her head upward, stars seem to explode in her vision. Comets, maybe. Shooting stars. Meteorites.
She gets a sudden burst of hope. She’s glad Rhiannon brought her here, even for a little while. She’s glad for how calm Jacob has been through this dinner—the companyishelping. She needs to let go of her mistrust. She turns to Rhiannon suddenly, and is surprised to see that her chair is empty.
“She went inside,” a voice says across the table. It’s Naomi, staring straight at her, an unreadable expression on her face.
“Oh,” Lenna says.
