Maddie into the car she had taught a ninety-minute hot yoga class in a 105-degree studio. While she had carefully hydrated before and after, she realized she was still thirsty. On top of a full morning of consulting with the contractors who were turning an old building in the River Arts District into Evolution, a brand-new health and wellness studio, she was dragging.
“I would like living in the country,” Maddie said. “Daddy and Willow do. It’s so peaceful there, and nobody bothers you.”
Taylor lifted her hair off the back of her neck and wondered if she ought to cut it boy-short again if she was going to work this hard. “Nobody bothers us at home in Asheville, either.”
“But you could leave me alone in the country and not worry.”
“Get over it, kiddo. I wouldn’t leave you alone anywhere. Let’s go get Harmony.” Taylor started toward the steps, but the grumbling Maddie didn’t follow. Velvet, Harmony’s golden retriever and the mother of their own dog, Vanilla, came around the corner, and Maddie squatted to pet her.
“We’ll be down in a few minutes,” Taylor told her, and escaped.
Upstairs on the tiny porch she heard women’s voices from inside the apartment. Assuming that Rilla was helping Harmony get Lottie ready, she waited, but when Harmony opened the door and Taylor saw an older woman who strongly resembled her friend, she wondered if she had been wrong about their plans for the night.
“Taylor...” Harmony looked surprised, too; then she shook her head. “It’s later than I thought. I lost track of the time.” She hesitated, then stepped aside and let Taylor in.
“If something came up we can go another evening.” Taylor smiled at Harmony’s visitor, who was holding Lottie. Then before she could stop herself she asked, “You look familiar. Have we met?”
“I’m Jan,” the woman said, and returned Taylor’s smile with a strained one of her own.
Harmony was looking back and forth between the two women, as if she was trying to decide what to say. Finally she shrugged. “Mom, Taylor isn’t going to tell anybody you were here. You don’t have to worry.”
Jan looked troubled, but she gave a short nod.
Harmony turned back to Taylor. “This is my mother, Janine Stoddard. She just arrived.”
“Jan,” the woman said. “I always preferred it.”
“I never heard anybody call you Jan,” Harmony said.
“Because your father preferred Janine.”
Taylor was trying to remember everything she knew about Harmony’s family life, but none of this was making sense. “Are you visiting?” she asked. “It’s nice to meet you at last.”
“I’m just here for the night,” Jan said.
Taylor realized now that Harmony had been crying and still looked upset. “Look, this is obviously a bad time for me to be here.”
But Harmony was already addressing her mother. “Mom, we can be honest about why you’re here. Taylor knows about Dad.”
Jan looked unhappy at Harmony’s words, and Taylor grew even more uncomfortable.
“I ought to leave,” Taylor said.
“Mom left my father. She finally managed to get away. And I’m trying to get her to stay here with me.”
Now Taylor was at a complete loss. “I shouldn’t be involved.”
“It’s complicated,” Jan said, as if she hoped that would put an end to the discussion.
“My father’s a scary man,” Harmony went on, ignoring Taylor’s protests and her mother’s obvious discomfort. “She’s been afraid to leave him for years, because she knew if he found her he would retaliate, and now that she’s done it, she’s afraid if she stays he’ll trace her here and take it out on me, or even on Lottie.”
Taylor wasn’t sure now whether she was feeling light-headed from the hot yoga or the conversation. Whatever it was, she suddenly felt weak-kneed. “I think I need a glass of water and a place to sit.”
Without a word Harmony motioned to the sofa and left for the kitchenette. Taylor gratefully took a seat while Jan walked back and forth with the baby.
“I know this sounds crazy,” Harmony said when she returned with a glass. “I’m sorry you walked into the middle of it.”
Taylor drank half the water before she finally rested the glass on her jean-clad knee. “He’s that bad?” She addressed the question to Jan.
Jan looked torn. She didn’t answer.
“You left him, but you can’t admit how frightening he is?” Harmony asked her mother. “Can’t you tell her how many times he hit you or how many bones he’s broken?”
“He’s possessive and...” Jan hesitated, then lifted her eyes to Taylor’s. “I’m afraid he’s capable of almost anything where I’m concerned.”
“Has he ever hurt anybody else?”
“He’s a successful businessman,” Harmony said. “He’s also a deacon in our church, and he used to be on the boards of two charities, maybe still is. I don’t think anybody really likes him, but they respect him well enough. Unless he changed after I left home, he was careful to save his fury for his family, mostly Mom. When he was angry at other people, his revenge was always more subtle or aimed at us.” She looked at her mother. “Is that still accurate?”
Jan looked distressed, but she nodded.
“He sounds like a monster,” Taylor said, and waited for Jan to deny it. When she didn’t, Taylor began to get the full picture.
She wished one of the other goddesses, Analiese or Georgia, had walked into this instead of her. They were both older and more experienced. Analiese was a minister, used to dealing with family problems, and Georgia was a school administrator who worked with difficult kids and their difficult home lives every day. Her own degree was in health and wellness promotion, and it had never prepared her for this.
But she was here, and they were not.
“What can I do?” she asked, when nothing more profound occurred to her.
Jan was a slight woman, rail thin and haggard, but now that she was inside, Taylor could see even more clearly the resemblance to Harmony. “There’s nothing to do. I have to leave. I can’t stay here.”
Her conviction was absolute. Taylor could hear it. “But where will you go?”
“I’ve laid plans. I’ve been...working on getting away for a long time, and I have help.”
“Mom says Dad will think she’s gone west.”
“But you’re not going west?” Taylor asked.
“She’s not going anywhere,” Harmony said. “She’s going to stay here, with her daughter and granddaughter. Dad’s not going to
