"I'd love to," Marina said happily. And then they were interrupted. "It's no big," she said to the stranger, one of the easier charms she had learned to clean up a mess.

Then she beamed. "Parenting books," she said figuring if the lady could barge in on their conversation she could be a little forward too. "Are you having a baby?" she asked. Marina kind of couldn't help herself, but she had a tendency to fawn over pregnant things.