“And this is the vessel!” she told a cluster of women, laughing, then went right back to announcing her own news.
Diane introduced me like a side dish.
Her friends hugged her.
Congratulated HER.
One woman asked me to scoot over so she could photograph Diane next to a centerpiece. I scooted.
Diane spent twenty minutes telling a circle of guests how hard Levi’s birth had been on her. Not one person asked me a single thing about becoming a mother.
I scooted.
I noticed. I rationalized.
Excitement, I told myself. She’s just excited.
Levi leaned in. “You okay?”
“Fine.”
He didn’t believe me.
“You okay?”
But I was doing this for my son, and I could still see my reasons.
What I couldn’t see was where I fit in the room. For the first time, I wondered if there was any space left at this shower for me to be Mom.
Then Diane clinked a spoon on her glass. “Games!”
I caught her elbow.
