"I—came back?"
"Of course."
"I did not."
"Are you trying to stand there and tell me we didn't have a long talk this morning in Stephanie's room? Are you trying to stand there and tell me we didn't decide to keep Stephanie and maybe even get her a little brother in a year or so?"
"What's got into you? I never said anything of the kind."
"Bryan Channing! If you're joking, I don't find it so funny."
"Neither do I. I'm not joking."
"I—I hate you...."
"One of us had better see the doctor," said Channing, placing his hands on Ellen's shoulders and bending forward to kiss the whisps of hair at the nape of her neck. "Maybe you'd like to go away to the country for a while."
"Don't you kiss me."