Marcia was uncommonly quiet as they drove to the mall. Then she suddenly burst into an almost laugh—a barely audible "ha" and then a snicker—stopping just as abruptly as she had begun. It sounded bitter, at least to Amy who was driving. She turned quickly to look at Marcia. "Something funny? What's up? Tell me." The toddlers, Marcia's Max and Amy's Julia in their car seats, also looked at Marcia, their mouths open, a little drool at the corner of Julia's mouth until Marcia reached back and dabbed at it with a tissue.

They had planned today's outing weeks before when they'd run into each other at Dan Fogel's office. Dan was their children's pediatrician and Marcia and Amy met in his office waiting room more than two and a half years ago at their first post-delivery check-up. Chatting while fussing with their newborns they learned their babies had been delivered within a day of each other, Julia on a Tuesday and Max the day after. It was the first child for each of them and they soon became the best of friends. Marcia once told Amy she was the closest friend she'd had since junior high school and it often seemed as if they had known each other their entire lives. In the months after their first encounter Marcia and Amy each met other women with children born almost the same dates as Max and Julia. They were all originally from different parts of the world—Marcia, from New York and Amy, from Hawaii, the only Americans—and, by the time the children were starting to sit up, they became a cadre of friends, informally calling themselves the "baby ex-pats" group. Over the years the group gathered fairly regularly at one or another of their homes for the children to play with each other and, less frequently, for shopping excursions. There were seven women all together. It was the biggest group of really good friends Marcia had ever had, although she remained closest to Amy and spent the most time with her.

Now, heading for the mall, Julia was chatting away, as usual, trying to get Max to pay attention to the pictures in her coloring book and her Barbie. Max was not as responsive as he generally was to her urgings, probably not so obvious to Amy and Julia but certainly clear to Marcia. She had been a little concerned about him since yesterday, for a few days really, but he didn't have a fever and he was eating as well as usual. He looked up through the sunroof each time a plane started the descent to LAX and once when a helicopter was crossing overhead. Uncharacteristically, his stare would continue for a second or two after there was nothing to be seen, even until there was no longer a sound in the sky. The word that came to Marcia's mind was "sluggish." He wasn't at all cranky, but she was at least a little worried.

She discussed Max with Michael last night as they were turning off the den lights. "Maxie looks fine to me," he said. "Let's go to bed. You worry too much." And then, after checking the front-door lock again, he followed her up the stairs, walking closely behind her. "I have a big day tomorrow, and I was thinking we might get together ..." He slid his hand between her legs, almost causing her to stumble at the top step. "What do you say?"

"Come on, Marsh. What's up?" Amy said, not giving up, and erasing Marcia's wandering thoughts.

Max looked at his mother to see if she would respond and then turned back to Julia as she offered him Barbie's Ken, dressed in a blue bathing suit.

"No, nothing to tell. Silly stuff. Really nothing," was all Marcia could say, and then they were at the mall looking for a parking space.

When Amy found one she put her hand on the rearview mirror as if to adjust it but mostly to again look over at Marcia, who was still staring ahead, deep in thought. The space between Amy's eyelids was ridged with concern, her brow wrinkled, her eyes half-shut for the moment, not quite sure what she should say. Marcia was Amy's dearest friend and she was positive that Marcia's laugh had not been a happy one. Another tough morning with Michael? Amy wondered.

* * *

A delicately pretty woman, with dark hair and even darker, almost impenetrable eyes, Marcia Kleinman was as slender as she had been before her marriage, before Max was born. Her belly was not quite as flat, more noticeable to her than Michael. He loved to put the palm of his hand on her belly and massage that extra little bit of flesh between his fingers, before reaching farther down to twist the slightly stiff pubic hairs, careful not to pull at them. "Pretty" was never quite enough to describe her. Her short dark hair framed a perfectly oval face dominated by full lips. There was a slight slant to her eyes and her upper lids were full without the usual folds—from her mother, Barbara, and Barbara's mother before her—those eyes adding a touch of distinctive and seductive mystery to her beauty. Every now and then someone who saw Amy and Marcia together would ask if they were sisters, although Amy's appearance was unequivocally Asian. Marcia had just a whisper of the Orient despite the fact that no one in the family could be traced any farther east than a shtetl fifty kilometers southwest of St. Petersburg. Slimmer than her mother and almost an inch shorter, she was unmistakably Barbara's daughter. The resemblance was even more noticeable when they glared at each other, which happened often.

In addition to her music and to her voracious reading, fiction and non-fiction, Marcia was athletic. She ran the New York City Marathon twice when they lived there "B.M."—before Max—and still jogged almost every day, at least ten miles a week, usually before Michael went to work and on weekends. She adjusted to Los Angeles almost as soon as the airplane's door opened. She loved living in a place where people played golf and tennis virtually every day of the year, even though she never tried golf and had given up tennis. Forbidden by Barbara to play most sports while she was growing up because of what might happen to the muscles of her hands, the flexibility of her fingers, she had learned to play tennis at college but never really enjoyed it with her mother's insistent warnings still inside her head, constantly exhorting her to "guard those precious hands." She earned a place on the junior varsity team but quit after two weeks when she scraped her knuckles on a metal fence while trying to return a low shot deep in the corner. A little betadine and a couple of band-aids took care of the injury but, as soon as she left the dispensary, she knew she would never play tennis again. She couldn't stop thinking about how easily it could have been to break her fingers or even her wrist and, for two days after the scrape, she kept feeling her wrist bones to make sure they were intact. She felt a grudging recognition that one day she might need her hands to be as perfect as possible.

Or maybe it was her mother overpowering her subconscious as it seemed her mother so often did.

When she started running again after Max was born it was no longer for marathon lengths. Running the New York marathon for the first time she was thrilled in the chaos and the vibrancy of the start, as the multitudes swarmed across the Verrazano Bridge, runners so close together they were mostly occupied with not tripping. She was exhilarated when her energy rebounded as she passed groups of cheering friends, particularly at that singular moment when Central Park first came into her view. Despite the excitement she was decidedly deflated when she learned her time didn't put her in the top half of finishers. She never thought of winning, but she hoped—expected even—that she would finish in the top quarter. When she ran the following year her time was a little better but still not good enough to even put her in the top half. By then she was able to laugh, saying, "Well, I'm older now, so this isn't so bad," and shrug it off. She knew then she wasn't going to run another marathon just to be another runner. She would miss the incomparable thrill, the pure rapture, the delirium she felt when crossing the finish line, but there was no hope of her ever winning so she stopped trying.

Music, not sports, ultimately defined her. Michael often told her she played the piano better than anyone he had ever heard. She also heard that from many professional pianists, including her mother. She had what she called her "happy music," which she either played on the piano or listened to on CDs, and her sad music. She only played her sad music when she was alone pondering something or feeling a little down, a little depressed. She always made a point of having her happy music on when Michael came home, usually after nine on weeknights. But lately, if she was upstairs or busy with Max and hadn't taken the time to change the CD, the sad music was on when he walked in. When he asked what she was sad about she would smile and hug him and say she just wished he'd come home earlier so they could spend more time together, always adding that she was happy now that he was home. He would remind her how busy he was and how he needed to work hard if he was going to eventually make partner at the firm. Eventually, he stopped asking about the music when he saw her after a long day and just got himself ready for dinner. She used to set the dining room table for dinner even if just for the two of them, but now they mostly ate in the kitchen and he would turn on CNN or worse, ESPN, and then they wouldn't hear the music at all.

* * *

The mall wasn't too crowded and the kids were free to run from store window to store window, laughing and cackling, screeching when they came to the Disney store—mostly behaving well, as they generally did. Julia attracted the usual admiring glances for her Hawaiian-Japanese mother's eyes crowned by a full head of curly, strawberry blond hair inherited from her father and his Russian-Jewish ancestors. Marcia sometimes wondered if Julia could have any idea how beautiful a woman she would almost certainly become. Julia could be quite coquettish when she attracted attention, which was often, and she loved to be photographed. Max's dark hair, Marcia's hair, was almost as curly and he was certainly a handsome, sweet-looking little boy. When he was in a carriage or a stroller strangers would often stop to admire him, but he always seemed disinterested. And he quickly learned to resist being photographed, just like his mother.

Usually there were more than Marcia and Amy on these sojourns. Generally at least three, sometimes four or more of the ex-pat group, besides the children. When that many of them went they had to take as many as three vehicles because of the bulky car seats. The women always looked forward to being out of the house with other adult women, enjoyed sharing the little landmarks of their children's growth and development, enjoyed meandering from store to store window-shopping, enjoyed especially finding a good bargain. Lunch together was great fun, at least while the children were still in carriages and easy to control. They all welcomed the intermittent opportunities that permitted them to talk about their husbands and get at least some understanding of their own version of what one of them called "the ongoing Venus-Mars wars." In the crafts store, the crystal department at Bloomie's or some other place with breakables, they held the children's hands tightly. One of them, the "designated watcher," would keep track of the little ones if the others wanted to concentrate on some serious shopping that might require particular thought or advice. When someone needed help in deciding if a dress fit well, or wanted an opinion about how a lamp would match the living room décor, or if the contemplated purchase was too expensive or not, the children were kept in tow.

However, today, neither Marcia nor Amy bought anything other than a gift Amy needed for a birthday party Julia would attend. During the ride home there was only a little superficial chatting. But when Marcia half-heartedly asked her in for tea, Amy decided to stay and give her friend a chance to talk.

After the children were settled in the den with a sliced apple to share, watching Max's favorite movie, Finding Nemo, Marcia and Amy sat opposite each other at the kitchen table.

"So, what's up?" Amy asked.

"Nothing important. Really." There were a few intermittent whistles from the teapot.

"Michael?"

"Nothing." This time a partly suppressed growl from deep in her throat and the slightest shake of her head. She hesitated and then poured the boiling water into their mugs and pushed the bowl of sweeteners to Amy.

Amy stirred her tea slowly and deliberately, waiting to respond, and then said, "What did he do now?"

Marcia blew at the steam rising from her cup, not yet sipping. "Does Brian dismiss the things you say? Does he ignore you when you're talking?" She raised her head to look directly at Amy. "No, no, he doesn't. Not the way Mikey does."

"Brian's an easygoing guy. It's hard to get him riled."

"I wish I could say the same about Michael." Her nostrils flared as she took a long, deep breath. "And I'm not sure I can take too many more of his damn `things to take care of today' lists." She ran her finger around the rim of the cup expecting a sound, but there was none. "Today's yellow legal-pad communication was to remind me about the dry cleaning. I don't need those notes, but he just can't stop. He says he's trying to help and then he promises to stop, but after a few blissfully noteless days, there they are again. On the damn refrigerator. Under the damn ice-cream cone magnet. The size of the notes changes from full sheet to Post-its, as if that would make it different."

"So what was the laugh about?"

Marcia put her cup down on the table, inhaled slowly and with a forlorn smile said, "It's the same thing all over. The superiority, always sounding like the ultimate authority and making assumptions—making decisions—the same controlling crap." She held the cup between both hands, as if trying to warm up. "He always speaks ex cathedra or ex judicia or ex whatever. He always has to be in control. I don't think he really asks for my opinion except when he wants to buy something we don't really need. And then he won't listen to my answer." She cleared her throat. "And when he wants sex, of course. He listens then." And the damn sex is usually pretty good. "Sometimes I just get so weary." She took a long sip of tea.

"So, the laugh was ..."

"The thing that made me laugh is that I just suddenly realized that I married my mother, but even worse. It's as if I'm still living with loving and controlling Barbara. But now there's also all that stupid male strutting attached." She snickered again, the same laugh she'd made in the car. "Isn't that worth a laugh?"

When Barbara Moss, Marcia's mother, was twenty-four, long before she married Alan Whitman, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands came to hear her play at the Stadsgehoorzaal in Leiden. It was Barbara's first European tour, just seven months after earning a master's degree from Juilliard. Beatrix graduated law school in Leiden and was back visiting friends. Barbara had already played in Barcelona, Lyon, and Antwerp, receiving enthusiastic reviews. This concert in Leiden was sold out. After Barbara played—an all-Chopin recital—Beatrix came backstage and presented Barbara with a bouquet of flowers and, in almost perfect, delicate, English, patting Barbara's hand as they sat opposite each other in the cramped dressing room, said it was the best she had ever heard Chopin played. "I hope I may have the opportunity to hear you again someday," Beatrix purred.

The scrapbook photograph of Beatrix and Barbara, cut from the Leidsch Dagblad, Leiden's oldest newspaper, was one of Marcia's favorites. It was the one and only time Barbara was photographed with royalty and Marcia loved how youthful and excited and assured her mother looked. She and Beatrix looked like two old friends sharing recipes. Beatrix became queen just when Barbara's first stereo recording was released and Barbara sent the record to her as a gift. Three Beethoven sonatas, the Waldstein, the Pathétique, and the Appassionata, the record had already received some appreciative reviews. Beatrix' warm note of gratitude was on the scrapbook's facing page. When she was still a child Marcia liked to run her fingers over the raised royal seal on the stationery even through it was behind plastic and she couldn't feel it that much.