the living room, she paused to get her bearings. “The sofa’s over there?” She pointed.
“Uh-huh.”
“Let’s sit there.”
Once they were settled, Julia put her arm over her daughter’s shoulders. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.”
Callie was obviously still pouting. “I was just telling you what Tiffany told me.”
Julia didn’t know exactly what to say. “I know you were. And we started the conversation, didn’t we?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Callie, the girl who died a long time ago was my best friend. Her name was Fidelity. She was Flo and Frank Sutherland’s daughter.”
“Really?” Callie sounded more fascinated than shocked.
Julia played with her daughter’s pigtail. “That’s why it’s hard for me to hear about this.”
“Oh…How come nobody ever told me?”
“Well, it’s not something I like to talk about.”
“Why did the man kill her?”
“Nobody really knows. Until now…until now he said he didn’t kill her. I guess maybe he’ll explain.”
“You knew him?”
Julia had known Christian, yes. In all the ways one person could know another. “He was a friend of mine, too. And of Fidelity’s. It’s very, very hard to accept the fact that he murdered her.”
“Tiff said he was driftwood.”
“Driftwood?”
“Something like driftwood.” She paused. “Drifter.”
Julia was confused. “No, a drifter is somebody who moves around a lot. He lived at Claymore Park.”
Callie lowered her voice. For the first time, the severity of what had happened seemed to sink in. “Tiff said he killed a lot of people. I’m glad he didn’t kill you, Mommy.”
“He didn’t kill a lot of people, honey. I don’t know what Tiff heard, but that’s not true.”
“Tiff said they’re going to put him in a chair and kill him because he killed so many people in Florida.”
Julia had a sudden vision of chasing a fox and having it go to ground. One moment the fox was in sight, body tensed, the next it simply vanished. “Florida? Callie, what did—”
The telephone rang, and she and Callie sat in silence as Maisy answered it. Then Maisy came into the room, telephone in hand. “It’s Flo Sutherland, Julia. She needs to talk to you. It took her a while to track you here, but she says it’s important.”
Julia didn’t reach for the telephone. In the past weeks her life had changed immeasurably. She knew it was about to change again.
“Julia?”
“Take Callie in the kitchen, would you, Maisy? I think she’s ready for her pie.”
“Come on, Callie.”
Callie got up, and only then did Julia reach for the phone. She waited until Callie and her mother had gone before she brought it to her ear.
Maisy knew better than to ask Julia to listen to the next chapter of her novel that night. After Flo’s telephone call, Julia had held up well enough to put Callie to bed and get ready herself, but Maisy knew that the one thing her daughter needed most was solitude.
The house was dark, the dishes finished, and the windows closed and latched before she went to look for Jake.
She had expected to find him in their bedroom, but when she found he wasn’t, she went out the back door and made the trek to the barn. She heard him talking to Feather Foot before she even opened the door.
“What a good pony, a pretty pony.”
She stood in the doorway and watched them, the hulking, gentle man and the flirtatious little paint. “Did you bring her sugar cubes? After telling Callie not to give her too many?”
“Carrots. Left over from dinner.” Jake didn’t turn.
“Guess I can’t find fault, then.”
“She’s a pretty little thing. Feisty, but pretty. A lot like Callie.”
“And you spoil her the same way.”
He stroked the pony’s nose a moment before he faced his wife. “I like to spoil the women in my care.”
“It’s been a tough evening.”
“You want to talk about it, don’t you?”
“I suppose. Do you?”
His mouth twisted wryly, neither a smile nor a frown. “I wish I had something to say. Something wise and all-knowing about the universe and the way things always come right in the end.”
“They don’t.”
“That’s why I don’t have anything to say.” He brushed his hands together, then held out his arms. She crossed the floor and went into them.
“The phone call was a terrible shock for Julia.”
“Terrible?” He tightened his grip, hugging her closer. “To discover that a man she loved isn’t guilty of murder after all?”
“She’s always known that.”
Jake rested his cheek against Maisy’s hair. “You want to believe that because you like to keep your eyes closed to certain realities.”
“And what reality are we talking about this time?”
“That life is far more complex for your daughter than it is for you. That she has never developed your defenses.”
She was hurt, but she tried for humor. “She’s married to Bard Warwick. A defenseless woman couldn’t survive that.”
He kissed her hair. “No matter what you want to believe about her, Julia did doubt Christian’s innocence, at least momentarily. And now she’s going to have to face the fact that she didn’t stand beside him when he needed her most.”
“He wouldn’t let her.”
“Because she faltered on the witness stand.”
Maisy shivered. The evening was cool, but Jake’s arms were warm. She supposed the shiver had something to do with a chink in the defenses Jake had mentioned. “I’m so torn. If they find Fidelity’s jewelry tomorrow, Christian will surely go free. I’ve prayed for that since the day he was sentenced, but Julia has so much to deal with. Having Christian
