Lights come up on Michael pacing, worrying and praying that his wife and baby survive ("The Waiting Room"). All is well; Michael has a son. He tosses cigars into the audience. Agnes enters, pulling a clothesline strung with diapers and baby clothes. Michael now realizes that he has a family for whom he needs to provide ("Love Isn't Everything"). Agnes then has a girl. Now Michael knows that he really needs to make money. Despite the stress, love isn't everything... but makes it all worth it. The tension between Agnes and Michael starts to become palpable. Michael has become very self-involved and self-important about his work and success as a novelist. He treats her as a lowly domestic as he lectures the audience on writers and writing, themes and works. She interrupts him in the middle of his diatribe and calls his work dull. He corrects her grammar, criticizes her cooking and habitual lateness, insisting that she accompany him to literary parties at which she feels uncomfortable. She counters that she also has a list of irritating habits ("Nobody's Perfect").