Our mother. She knew what her brother meant without him having to clarify, and still it took Adrienne a few minutes to process his question.

Of course she’d wondered about her mother. She’d wondered when she was scrunched up in agony from the labor pains, wondered if this was how their mother felt. “Yes,” She answered truthfully, her expression unfocusing as she did so. “I wanted her to be there when I was in pain. I of course knew that a lot of women have their mothers there if they want, and - when I was at the peak of it - I wanted her. I wondered about her.”

But she’d also wanted their adoptive mother, and their nanny, Fiorella, which she’d told her brother as well. “I wanted comfort.”