“Is it the number of children?” he asked after a pause. “Or do you want none at all? You don’t want them on principle?” The look on his face was serious, bone-deep apprehension. A curly head, leaned against his shoulder, a small starfish hand on his chest. She scoffed with mild self-deprecation. “It’s become clear to me rather recently that I wouldn’t mind one. I don’t object on principle. I object to this notion that it would be my highest purpose, or my only purpose. Because I don’t think it is. I think that I . . . I matter. A woman matters, married or not, children or no children. I
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