Daniella finally let Rose into the house. "So what actually happened?" Daniella asked.

"I fell in the supermarket and ended up in the hospital, and I couldn't remember the last twenty years. The last thing I could remember was Titanic," said Rose.

"So you really don't know why we don't talk anymore," Daniella said.

"No, I really don't. So can you please tell me? Because all Jack will tell me was that we drifted apart."

"We did drift apart, but there was a catalyst that started the drifting," Daniella explained.

"Okay, so then what was it?" Rose asked.

Daniella took a deep breath and then began the story. "Over the last ten years, I've had six miscarriages. After the last pregnancy, which was about three years ago, I called you to tell you that we'd lost another baby. I had terrible nausea with that pregnancy. I had trouble brushing my teeth without gagging, I had to run out of a theater if someone's perfume made me retch, and I'd thought that all of those symptoms meant that that baby would be the lucky one. It meant absolutely nothing.

"When I called you, you answered the phone laughing. Jack was laughing in the background, yelling out something about pineapple. You guys were with Emma, and you were inventing cocktails for fun. Of course, you stopped laughing when I told you the news and put on your sad voice, but you couldn't quite stamp out the leftover laughter. I felt like the boring friend with yet another miscarriage, ruining the good times for everybody with my slightly disgusting gynecological bad news. You must have signaled to Jack and Emma, because their laughter stopped like a switch had been turned off.

"I told you not to worry, that we could talk later, and hung up fast. I threw the phone across the room and it smashed a beautiful vase I'd bought in Italy when I was twenty, and I lay down and screamed into a pillow. I still grieve for the vase.

"You didn't call me the next day. And the day after that, Olivia cracked her head open on the coffee table. So we were all distracted and busy at the hospital worrying about her. My miscarriage got forgotten in between cocktail inventions and Olivia. You never mentioned it. I always wondered if you forgot.

"I think that's when the coldness started between us. Yes, I know. Petty and childish, but there you have it."

Rose looked at Daniella with sad eyes. "I'm so sorry I forgot. I really am."

"It wasn't just that you forgot," Daniella began. "It's that I was jealous. Of you." Rose looked at Daniella confusedly. "You had absolutely no trouble getting pregnant with any of the kids. You weren't even trying with Josie and Olivia."

"How does Will feel about this whole thing? You are still with him, right?"

"Yes, I am. But I'm the one who wanted to keep trying this whole time," said Daniella. "Besides, we're fighting."

"About what?"

"He came home the other night and told me about this guy he met who adopted a child from Europe. I asked how long it took them, and he said he didn't know. But he always said he would never ever adopt. And now, all of a sudden, he's Mr. I-Can't-Wait-To-Adopt.

"Then I told him that it was too late. That we missed our chance. That it can take ten years to adopt a baby, and I didn't want to be 47 years old and taking care of a newborn. I told him we weren't going to be parents. It's over.

"He looked at me and said, 'so we're just going to sit around and watch TV for the rest of our lives?' And I said, 'suits me'. He got up and left the room, and now we're not talking."

"Oh, Daniella. I'm so sorry," said Rose.

"Yeah, well," Daniella said, looking at her watch. "I have to go. I have an appointment."

"Oh, ok," said Rose. "I'll call you sometime."

•••

After Rose got home, Jack gave Rose a kiss and said hello. "How did it go, sweetheart?"

Rose sighed. "It's complicated, but I'm hoping to fix it.

Meanwhile, Daniella had returned home from her doctor's appointment. She felt so hopeless, and she just put her head down and cried. She didn't even know why she was crying. Well, she sort of did. She stood up and decided to write in her diary. Sometimes it helped her get her anger out. She took out a black notebook that had '1932' written on the cover. She opened it onto the current page. She began to write:

A lot of people have left messages for me today, since I got back from the doctor.

Rose called me a few times.

I just saw a call from Emma.

Oh, and the nurse from the doctor's office has called me twice trying to give me the results of today's tests.

My assistant, Layla, has called, probably wondering where I am, because I left for lunch and just never went back to the office.

Will has called three times.

I don't seem to be able to call anyone back. I'm just sitting here, on the kitchen floor, crying and writing in my diary.

Now, the phone is ringing again. Ring, ring! Ring, ring! Engage with the world, Daniella! Go away, all of you.

•••

It's now the next day, and I finally called and got my blood-test results.