Lymber craft's Arc

Chapter 20 of 70

Two days after the birth, Lymber sat in the guest room across the hall with Violetta asleep against her chest. Her phone was still off in the drawer where Polly had put it. Paul was on the floor folding sleepers. Polly came in without knocking and held out the phone. She said, turn it on. She said a nurse at the clinic told her sister, and her sister told a cousin, and a girl at school posted an hour ago that Lymber had the baby last week. Polly said the countdown outside still had ten days on it. She said, we have to fix it before lunch. "They'll count backward," Paul said. He set the sleeper down. "They'll know she's full term." Polly said that was the point. Lymber turned the phone on and watched the screen fill up. Fifty-two messages. A screenshot of the leaked post. A girl she used to sit next to at lunch had written, so was the countdown fake or was the baby. Lymber felt her face get hot. Polly sat on the edge of the bed. She said, one post. Full baby, no due date talk, no apology. She said, she came early, she's healthy, we wanted a week. That's the line. Lymber lifted Violetta and Paul held her under the window where the light was soft. The baby's hair was brushed flat and her eyes were open. Lymber took the picture on her own phone this time. She sized her up in the frame so no one could call her small. She wrote the caption Polly gave her and added Paul's name at the end. She read it twice. Violetta Craft. Born early, home safe. Thank you for the countdown, we needed the week. She hit post before she could soften it. Paul sat down next to her and put his hand on her knee. Polly stood at the door and watched the screen with her. The likes came fast. A hundred in six minutes. The girl who leaked it deleted her post. A few comments still asked about the math, and Lymber did not answer them. By the time Violetta woke to eat, the top comment was a classmate saying she looked just like her dad. Lymber showed Paul. He read it twice and did not say anything. Polly took the phone back and put it in her sweater pocket. She said, that holds for now. She said the clinic would hear from her about the staffer by the end of the day. Then she went downstairs to start lunch, and the countdown outside the house did not matter anymore.