I Held My Son On The Floor While My Husband Chose Her First...

The front door clicked when Marco followed Vanessa into the hall. I heard it, and I heard the quiet that came after.

Gloria hadn't moved. She sat on the far end of the gray sofa with her black smartphone held tight in both hands, thumbs hovering over the screen. The glass coffee table with its thin gold frame sat between us like it had all afternoon, catching the warm light from the sheer curtains.

Leo's weight was still against my legs. His breathing had slowed but his fingers were locked in my sleeve. I could feel his cheek damp against my knee through my top.

For a few seconds none of us spoke. The arc lamp hummed faintly. A car passed outside and the sheer curtains lifted just enough to move the light across the table.

Then Gloria looked up at me, just for a breath, and back down at her phone.

I shifted. My knees ached from the floor. I put one hand flat on the rug and pushed myself up. It wasn't graceful. My legs tingled and I had to steady myself with my other hand on the edge of the coffee table. The glass was cool.

"Stay behind me, baby," I said to Leo, and my voice came out smaller than I wanted. I nudged him gently behind my calves, so his shoulders were against the back of my legs. He didn't let go. He moved with me.

Gloria watched me stand. Her grip on the phone changed. She pulled it closer to her chest, elbows in.

I took one step around the corner of the table. Then another. The sofa was only four feet away, but it felt longer. I stopped at the edge of the glass.

"Gloria," I said.

She didn't answer. Her thumbs rested on the dark screen. I could see the faint smudge of fingerprints on the glass.

"I need to see what you sent," I said.

Her mouth tightened. She shook her head a little, not quite a no, more a flinch. "Elena, honey, it was just to keep everyone updated," she said. "Vanessa was worried. She asked me to."

"Can I see the gallery?" I asked.

She clutched the phone tighter. The black case creaked a little in her hands. "It's family," she said. "You wouldn't want Leo's face out there anyway. I was protecting him."

I stared at her hands. They were shaking. The phone was still lit where her thumb had waked it. I couldn't see the screen from where I stood.

I put my hand out, palm up, low over the glass. I didn't cross the table. I kept the gold frame between us.

"Then put it here," I said. "On the table. So we both see it."

Gloria's eyes moved from my face to my hand to the glass. She hesitated. Leo made a small sound behind me and pressed his forehead harder against my leg.

"I don't think that's a good idea right now," she said.

"I'm not asking you to unlock it," I said. "I'm asking you to put it down."

The light through the curtains shifted again. I could hear Marco's voice low in the hallway beyond the door, and Vanessa's answer, sharper. Neither of them coming back yet.

Gloria looked toward that door, then back at me. Slowly she leaned forward. She didn't open her hand. She lowered the phone until the bottom edge touched the glass, then set it down in the center of the coffee table, screen up. The black rectangle caught the reflection of the ceiling.

She kept her fingers on it for a second too long before she let go and pulled her hands back into her lap. Her beige blouse had creased where she'd been holding herself.

I didn't pick it up. I kept my hand where it was, hovering just above the gold frame. My palm was open. I could see the camera lens on the back of the phone and the little notch at the top of the screen.

Leo tugged at my shirt. I didn't move.

Gloria folded her hands. "Don't make this bigger than it is, Elena," she said quietly.

I looked at the phone on the glass. Neither of us was holding it now. The space on the table was maybe twelve inches of clear glass between our hands.

I heard the hallway door open.

Marco stepped back into the living room. Vanessa was right behind him, arms still crossed, her black V-neck sharp against the gray sofa behind her. Marco stopped when he saw us. He saw me standing over the table, saw Gloria on the sofa with her empty hands, saw the phone sitting alone on the glass.