"Why?"
"I thought that it was better this way."
"How?" Kathryn struggles to understand.
"Because then you wouldn't have to worry about me so much. You wouldn't have to think about another baby out there in the world, that was your flesh and blood, that you didn't know."
"Daphne," Kathryn chokes back tears.
"I thought that this was a good idea."
"What was your plan, exactly?"
"To come here, and then come home..." she trails off.
"Without a baby?"
"I didn't think that you needed to know."
"Regina?"
"I didn't tell her either."
"Bay?"
"Bay knows."
"I'm not surprised."
"I didn't want to disappoint anyone."
"Daphne we..."
"You would have been disappointed. I didn't want to create problems for John's seat as senator. I didn't think he needed to know about it at all. I didn't think that anyone ever needed to know what really happened."
"And I ruined that for you."
Daphne shakes her head, "This is all a mistake."
"What do you mean?"
"From sleeping with Wilke, to coming to Italy. All of this has been one bad idea after another."
"You don't like it here?"
"I love it here."
"That isn't how it sounds," Kathryn points out.
"Because it isn't at all how I pictured it."
"The apartment?"
"It isn't about the apartment. It's everything. I always imagined this, just not like this. I can't drink the wine. I can't ride on the back of a motorcycle. Everyday I miss being at home in Kansas, as stupid as that sounds."
"That doesn't sound stupid."
"I am supposed to be grateful. I am supposed to be happy. This is supposed to be one of the best experiences of my life."
"It's not?"
"I feel so guilty."
"For what? Wanting to have a good time?"
Daphne shakes her head, "For choosing myself. I feel guilty for lying to everyone. I just want to come home, and I can't."
"Says who?"
"I still have months before my program is over."
"You can leave early."
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"I don't think that I am going to come back."
"What?!"
"I think that it is better if I stay."
"You just got done telling me that this isn't what you expected it to be. You don't seem happy."
"I can't do this," she admits.
"Do what?"
Daphne breaks eye contact, she looks at her stomach. "I can't home. I don't want to have to explain to everyone why..." she pauses, "I brought a baby home as a souvenir."
Kathryn doesn't say anything. She vacates her seat. She stands up, and hugs Daphne. She holds her close. She takes a step back.
"You can always come home," Kathryn tells her.
"I thought I would be ok with all of this, but I'm not."
"Okay."
"I am eighteen. I should be graduating in June with my classmates, instead of graduating early with no ceremony. I should be getting ready to go to college. Instead I'm here. I am eight months pregnant, and none of this is working out the way that it was supposed to."
"What do you mean?"
"I thought that I could come here, and finish the culinary program. I thought I could just have the baby, and come home..."
"Like nothing ever happened? Daphne, sweetie it doesn't work that way."
"I thought that I could. I thought that I would be okay with that. I want to go to college in the fall."
"What's stopping you?"
She swallows hard. The tears fall from her eyes, before she can will them away.
"This is so much harder than I thought it would be. I guess that I was naive to think that I could have a baby, and just give it away. I thought I could be ok with all of it, if I told myself that it would have a better life, and I could still do all of the things that I wanted to do."
"Daphne you can still do all of the things that you want to do," Kathryn insists.
"How?" she cries, "I want to keep this baby."
"Ok."
"Ok? It's not ok. None of this ok. I can't come home."
"Why not?"
"Because I am too ashamed. How am I supposed to come home, and face anyone? I am eight months pregnant. I hid it for months. I had you convinced that I wasn't pregnant anymore. How am I supposed to look John in the eye, and tell him that I'm pregnant? Or my mom? How am I supposed to explain to her that despite what she thought, and hoped, I didn't go through with it."
"We'll figure it out."
"How can you say that? I know that this is not what you wanted for me."
"No mother wants their daughter to become a parent at eighteen."
"Why didn't you just say that to begin with? I know that is how you felt, from the very beginning."
"Because it was never my decision."
"You think that I am making the wrong choice?"
Kathryn points to the couch. Daphne has a seat. Kathryn takes a seat next to her.