EMMA'S CHILD

by Thatcher, Kristine

Jean and Henry Farrell, after years of unsuccessfully attempting to have a baby of their own, decide to adopt. Emma, the birth mother, approves of the couple. Now a new waiting game begins: awaiting the birth of their child. To help Jean through, her best friend Franny comes for a visit, but brings more baggage than a normal traveler as she is separating from her husband, Sam. When the time arrives it is not a happy occasion however, as the baby, Robin, is born hydrocephalic, and will not live long. It was agreed that Jean and Henry would only accept a healthy infant, but Jean’s investment in the waiting game was too intense and she falls for this child. The attention she pays to Robin not only threatens to tear her marriage apart—sending Henry away on a camping trip with the estranged Sam in a male bonding scene not to be missed—but causes trouble at the hospital as well: Jean has no parental rights, even though Emma has disappeared, and the administrators (despite what the nursing staff have to say) are wary. Eventually, after making some progress, Robin succumbs to his condition, leaving Jean and Henry, not only having to repair their marriage, but right back where they started—interviewing with a new birth mother.