Lymber craft's Arc

Chapter 21 of 70

Six weeks after the birth, the week of privacy was long gone, and the timeline questions had started creeping back into the comments. A parenting blog from the next town over asked for an interview. Polly read the email at the kitchen table and slid the phone across to Lymber. She said, this is the one. She said, do it in the living room, do it with Paul, do it once. Lymber looked at Paul. He was holding Violetta against his shoulder, patting her back the way the nurse had shown him. He said, okay. They set up two chairs by the window. Polly brushed Lymber's hair back and stepped out of the frame. The interviewer came with one camera and a list of questions Polly had already seen. Lymber wore a soft sweater and no crown talk. Paul held Violetta the whole time. When the interviewer asked about the timeline, Lymber gave the answer she had given the nurse months ago. August. One partner. Scared at first. She said Violetta came a week early and they had the medical records to show it. Paul said, she's mine. He said it once and did not add to it. The interviewer wrote it down. The piece went up that night with a photo of the three of them on the couch. Violetta was six weeks old and looked it, small and new, with Paul's brown eyes. The comments filled in under the post. A few people still did the math out loud. Most did not. A woman Lymber did not know wrote that the baby had her father's face. The interview linked to Lymber's old countdown post and framed the early birth as fact. By morning, the parenting blog had shared it twice more. The timeline story was closed on paper. Polly read the piece at breakfast and set the phone down. She said, that holds. She said she was going to the store and would be back by lunch. She did not ask if Lymber needed anything. She did not check the crib. She poured her coffee into a travel cup and left through the front door. Lymber stood in the kitchen with a bottle warming in the sink and realized her mother had not told her what to do next. Violetta cried from upstairs. Paul came down with her already in his arms and handed Lymber the bottle without a word. They sat on the couch in the big quiet house and fed her together. Lymber watched Paul count the ounces the way Polly used to. She said, mom's going to let us do this by ourselves now. Paul said, yeah. He did not look away from the baby. Lymber leaned into his shoulder and let the interview keep working without her.