"You keep saying that."
"Because it is true!"
He nodded. "I am willing to concede the point, though I have always been told that babies are resilient. One way, or another, Jocinda will be fine."
"Stop calling her that! Fantino and Joyce called her Jo-Jo. She deserves to be called by the name her parents gave her."
"They named her Jocinda."
"After me and Joyce. Doesn't that tell you anything?"
"Your name is not Cindy."
"Joyce thought it was funny to call me Cinderella. She didn't find the stories in the media the tragedy everyone else did, but laughed at them." And her baby sister had said the name fit too well, the way Annette had always served her family.
Carlo didn't look like he believed her.
"When have I ever lied to you?"
"When you promised to marry me."
"Get over it!" For once the guilt of jilting him was not paramount. "Relationships end. You can't let your personal feelings toward me hurt Jo-Jo. You're responsible for her now." At least until Joyce and Fantino could take back the responsibility.
"I am aware." Carlo's tone and expression said he realized how serious that commitment was and maybe it wasn't one he'd been looking for.
"You need to listen to me, Carlo."
"I have listened to you, but I also listened to what my brother and my sister-in-law did not say in their living will. They did not name you as co-guardian to Joc…"
She glared at him, demanding he acknowledge the six-month-old as her own person, not just a name on a piece of paper.
"Jo-Jo. They made no provision for you to take care of the baby."
"But Ihavebeen taking care of her!" She looked at him imploringly. "Please, Carlo, Jo-Jo needs me."
He frowned, like her easy agreement angered him instead of pleasing him. "Meet me for dinner tomorrow night and we will discuss options."
"But I was going to go back to Upstate New York tonight, for Jo-Jo."
"She has Pamina. The baby will be fine."
Annette hoped that was true. Jo-Jo might be used to her father being gone during the week and seeing her own mother occasionally despite living in the same house, but for the last three months, Annette had been there all day, every day.
Nevertheless, she nodded. "Where do you want to meet?"
"I will send a car for you. Where are you staying?"
"I'm not. Like I said, I was planning to return on the train tonight."
"I will have a room booked for you at my hotel."
"Okay."
"No arguments about paying your own way or choosing your own lodgings?"
She stared at him. "None of that matters right now."
Annette wasn't even sure shecouldbook her own hotel right now. She was beyond exhausted and doubted she'd sleep any better tonight than she had been since news had reached her of Joyce and Fantino's accident.