“Do you want to follow her?”

  After another long pause, he said, “No, I don’t want to follow her. We need to get to our gate.”

  His tone was so cold, so lacking in emotion, that Izzy couldn’t help but fear that a ten-second encounter with his ex-wife had ruined everything.

  * * *

  What the fuck is she doing in Boston? From the second he saw her coming toward him, Cabot felt like he’d been electrocuted. He’d recognized her even more than twenty-five years after the last time he saw her. He would’ve known her anywhere after spending so much time looking for her and Mia and having had numerous age-progressed photos created for both of them.

  His stomach churned, and his chest ached the way it had when he’d had pneumonia a few years ago, like he couldn’t get enough air no matter how hard he tried.

  Mia.

  He needed to tell her he’d spotted Deb in Boston. What other reason would she have for being anywhere near there but to see their daughter? He’d talked to Mia yesterday to tell her about their vacation, and she’d never mentioned plans with her mother. But would she tell him if she was seeing Deb? He didn’t know.

  “I need to make a call,” he told Izzy when they’d reached their gate. “I’ll be just a minute.”

  While she took a seat, he walked away to call his daughter, praying that she answered. He tried the home line first.

  “Hey, Dad,” she said, answering on the third ring. “Aren’t you off to Bermuda today?”

  His heart contracted the way it always did when she called him Dad. “Yes, we’re at Logan now, and I wanted to tell you…” The words got stuck when his throat tightened, and the old familiar rage resurfaced to remind him it was always there, on simmer, waiting to boil over without warning.

  “What? Is something wrong?”

  He forced a deep breath past the ache in his chest. “I saw your mother. Just now.”

  “What? You saw her? Where?”

  “In the airport, walking toward security, so arriving, I presume.” He took another breath and released it. “Did you know she was coming?”

  “No! I haven’t talked to her in months.”

  He was relieved to hear that. They’d carefully avoided the subject of her mother, especially after Mia had made dropping all charges against Deb a condition of seeing him when they first reconnected a year ago. “It’s possible she may be planning to surprise you.”

  “Oh God, Dad. Today’s a year since everything came to light, and the last time we talked, she said she wasn’t going to wait forever to work things out with me. You don’t think she came here because of that?”

  “I really hope not. Do you want me to come there? I will. We can go to Bermuda another time.”

  “No, Dad. No. That’s not necessary. Wade is here, and I’ll be fine if she shows up, but thank you for the warning.”

  “You’re under no obligation to see her or have it out with her. You know that, right?”

  “I do,” she said with a sigh that he deeply resented.

  How dare Deb show her face anywhere near either of them? She was goddamned lucky she wasn’t in prison. You’d think she would leave their daughter alone until Mia was ready to mend fences—if she was ever ready for that.

  Standing across the crowded concourse, he noticed people beginning to head toward the boarding area for their flight.

  Izzy caught his gaze and tipped her head toward the doorway.

  He’d sprung for first-class seats to ensure Izzy’s comfort, so they could board at any time. “I’ve got to go, Mia. Will you please let me know if she shows up there?”

  “No, I don’t think I will, Dad. You need to go with Izzy and have a wonderful time and not worry about any of this crap.”

  “I’ll worry more if I don’t hear from you.”

  “I’ll text you, but don’t worry, okay? I can take care of myself, and I’ve got Wade. You’ve saved me from being blindsided if she does show up, so you’ve done what you could for me. Have a great trip, and try to relax, will you?”

  “Yeah, sure.” He told her what she wanted to hear while knowing there was no hope of relaxation for him now. Not after seeing her. He probably ought to turn around, go home and bury himself in the work that had sustained him through all his trials. He would have if it weren’t for Izzy.

  Suddenly, the last place he wanted to be was on a plane bound for Bermuda. The trip seemed ludicrous.

  “Are you okay, Dad?” Mia sounded worried about him, and he couldn’t have that.

  For the first time since they’d reconnected, he lied to her. “Sure, honey. I’m fine. I’ll text you from Bermuda.”

  “Safe travels.”

  “Thank you.” He didn’t want to end the call, but there was nothing left to say, so he pushed the red button and put the phone in his pocket. Then he headed across the concourse to where Izzy stood, waiting for him to board.

  “Everything okay?”

  Nothing was okay. The festering wound had reopened, spilling its poison on everyone and everything around him.

  “We don’t have to go,” she said when he took too long to answer her. “I’d totally understand if you didn’t want to.”

  He believed her. She would understand and wouldn’t hold it against him. For a second, he thought about taking her up on the offer to cancel the trip. He was this close to saying, Fuck it, let’s go home. But what would he do once he got there? At least in Bermuda, Izzy would have something to do while he dealt with the festering wound.

  “It’s okay.” He reached out a hand to her. “Let’s go.”

  She seemed hesitant as she took his hand.

  Cabot didn’t blame her. He’d be hesitant to go anywhere with him, too. She knew him well enough by now to realize he’d been knocked off his feet. What she didn’t know was how bad things could get when that happened.

  Maybe it was just as well she found out now how bleak the darkness could get, rather than a year or two and a couple of kids down the road. Even though the thought of losing her made him sadder than he’d been about anything in a long time, at the end of the day, he was a realist. Life had given him no choice but to face reality every time it punched him in the face.

  * * *

  Butler Town Clerk Hannah Coleman had just seen off one of her favorite town residents, her father’s friend Cletus, when the home phone rang with a call from Grayson. “Hi, honey.”

  “Hey, Mom. How’s your day going?”

  “Pretty well so far. Cletus was just in and brought me doughnuts from the store. That always makes my day.”

  “That was nice of him. Listen, I wanted to tell you… I talked to Dad about the divorce and other matters.”

  All it took to ruin Hannah’s good mood was a reference to Mike Coleman. “And?”

  “He’s broke.”

  “Why did I know you were going to say that?”

  “I did a little digging and discovered it’s true. However, the woman he’s engaged to is wealthy.”

  “Of course she is. He’s no fool.” No, I was the fool when it came to him. “Who is she?”

  “Her name is Lisa Duckworth. Her late husband was the CEO of a tech firm. He left her very well-off.”

  “So that’s that, huh?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “What do you mean? He’s broke. He can’t pay past child support.”

  “No, but his future wife can.”

  “Ugh, do I really want to make another woman pay for his past sins?”

  “It’s the principle of the matter, Mom. He wants something. You want something. Why should he be the only one who gets what they want out of this? He’ll have a choice—ask her for the money or no divorce. Either way, it’ll cause him considerable discomfort, and isn’t that the least of what he owes us all?”

  “I heard about Vanessa turning down the money her firm offered if they’re not also willing to fire the guy who harassed her.”

  “Pretty ballsy move, if you ask me.”

  “Like you said, it’s the principle of the matter.”

  “You don’t have to do anything, Mom. You can sign the divorce decree and call it a day—a long overdue day.”

  “I’m going to be honest with you. Going after the money feels vindictive to me. It’s not like I need it. Ray and I, we’re in good shape between his pension and the one I’ll have when I retire. We don’t need his money—or I guess I should say his fiancée’s money.”

  “I hear what you’re saying, but that wasn’t always the case, was it? You’re looking at this in the present tense. Not the past tense, when every day was a struggle to feed, clothe and shelter eight children, not to mention trying to get us through college.”

  “I don’t know what to do, Gray. I look at Vanessa, such a badass going after that guy who harassed her, and I don’t have the same moxie to go after the man who left me with eight children to finish raising?”

  “You have all the moxie, Mother. All of it. That’s not what this is about.”

  “What would you do?”

  “I’d stick it to him, but that’s me. I can’t tell you what to do, and I’ll respect whatever you decide.”

  “You know what I think most about when I think of your father?”

  “What’s that?”

  “How much he missed out on. He has no idea what a good man you are, what a fine lawyer, what a great brother, cousin and friend—and now a wonderful father and fiancé. He doesn’t know how you and Izzy and Ness took care of your younger siblings or how you all still take care of each other. He missed the best part of parenthood—the payoff when your children become adults that you not only like, but respect. I think the fact that I have that, I have all of you, and he doesn’t might be enough vindication for me, Gray.”

  “That’s a really great way of looking at it. Do you want me to let him know you’re going to sign the divorce papers?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is it all right if I also tell him he owes you everything, and if he ever gets the chance to make it right with you financially, he ought to do that because it’s the right thing to do?”

  “I would have no objection to that. Thank you for handling this and for taking another one for the team by having to speak to him.”

  “Happy to do it for you, Mom. I’ll let you know if he has anything else to say.”

  “Sounds good. Love you, son.”

  “Love you, too.”

  For a long time after she ended the call, Hannah held the portable extension to her chest, hoping she’d done the right thing. She turned it round and round in her mind, and twenty minutes later, she still felt the same way about what she’d decided.

  She heard Ray’s truck in the driveway and went to meet him when he came into the mudroom.

  “There’s my best girl.” He greeted her with a big smile and a kiss on the cheek. “How’s your day going?”

  She put her arms around him. “It just got much, much better.”

  “Everything all right?” he asked in a wary tone.

  Hannah filled him in on her conversation with Gray.

  “You’re damned right we have everything we need—and then some. We don’t need anything from him, unless it’s important to you that he pay up.”

  “I just can’t make myself care anymore. I know I probably should, but I don’t.”

  “I think you’re doing the right thing. Dredging up crap from the past doesn’t change what happened then.” He slid his big hands down her back to cup her backside. “It only screws up what’s happening now—and now is pretty damned sweet, if you ask me.”

  She gazed up at his rugged, handsome face. “It’s the sweetest time of my entire life.”

  “You know what the good news is about you finally getting divorced?”

  “What’s that?”

  “We can get married. If we want to, that is.”

  “I always said I’d never get married again. The first time didn’t work out so well, as you’ve probably heard.”

  Grinning, he said, “The second time would be nothing like that, and you know it. I can be perfectly happy for the rest of my life just the way we are, but if you want more, I’m here for it.”

  She laughed. “Which one of the kids taught you that saying? ‘I’m here for it.’”

  “I think it was Simone, but that’s beside the point.”

  “I suppose if you would be the husband, I might be convinced to take another spin around the marriage rodeo.”

  “Let’s keep that in mind for when things are signed, sealed and delivered, shall we?”

  Hannah went up on tiptoes to kiss him. “We shall.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “What hurts us is what heals us.” —Paulo Coelho

  After the phone call from her father, Mia spent the next few hours on edge, waiting to see if her mother had flown into Boston with plans to come to Vermont. She was so anxious that right after a lunch of soup that she couldn’t quite stomach, she called Wade, who’d gone into the office for a few hours earlier to catch up on some work.

  “Hey, baby, do you miss me?” he asked when he took the call.

  “Always, but something sorta happened, and—”

  “What?” he asked, all the playfulness gone.

  “My dad called.”

  “I thought they were going to Bermuda?”

  “They are, but he saw my mother coming into Logan.”

  “What? What’s she doing in Boston?”

  “I have no idea, but he thought—and I tend to agree—she might be coming here.”

  “Why now do you suppose?”

  “Today is a year since Hunter told me my SSN was a fake. I’ve hardly spoken to her since that day.”

  “Ah, yes. That’s probably it. She gave it a year, and now she’s coming to you. I’ll be home in fifteen minutes.”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt your work—”

  “As you well know, nothing is more important to me than you are. I’m coming, love.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. Not that she couldn’t handle a confrontation with her mother on her own, but everything was better when he was with her. “Thank you.”

  “You don’t have to thank me. I’ll be right there.”

  The line went dead, so she put the portable phone back on the charger and went to the front window of the farmhouse they were renovating, while wondering if her mother would even know where to find her in Butler.

  Her stomach ached, and her chest felt tight with the anxiety that had been such a part of life with her ex, Brody, who was now in prison, thanks in large part to her testimony. She’d escaped that nightmare, found a blissful new life with Wade and had reconnected with her long-lost father, too.

  Mia had been shocked to learn that her mother had basically kidnapped her and kept her from her father. She’d worked hard over the last year to get to know Cabot, to spend as much time with him as she could and to try to make up for lost time that could never be recovered. And in the year since everything blew up, she’d mostly avoided her mother’s calls, letters, emails and pleas for a chance to talk, to explain, to make sense of something that could never make sense to her—or her father.

  She didn’t want to see her mother.

  She didn’t want to hear her pathetic explanations.

  She didn’t want any of that to invade the happy space she and Wade had created together.

  When he arrived home ten minutes later, skidding to a stop in the driveway with snow flying behind his SUV, she stepped outside to meet him on the porch.

  He wrapped his arms around her. “I’m here.”

  “Thank you for coming.”

  “You never have to thank me for coming to wherever you are, because you’re my favorite place in the world.”

  She slid her arms around his waist and held on tight to her love, her anchor, her everything. “I don’t want to see her.”

  “Then you won’t.”

  “I know I should, but—”

  “You don’t owe her anything, Mia. Not one fucking thing.”

  “She did give birth to me and raise me…”

  “While keeping an awful secret from you that she never would’ve told you if Hunter hadn’t figured it out. You owe her nothing.”

  She shivered from the cold as much as the anger she heard in his voice. Unlike in her last relationship, his anger was on her behalf, not directed toward her, and his support made all the difference.

  “Let’s get you inside before you catch cold,” he said.

  For the next two hours, they snuggled on the sofa and watched a movie, a rom-com she couldn’t have named afterward if her life had depended on it. Though they had a hundred projects underway in the house, and weekend time was precious, neither of them could focus on anything else when her mother might be coming.

  By the time they heard the crunch of tires in the driveway, Mia had begun to think her mother had come to New England for something other than seeing her. No such luck.

  “Stay put. I’ve got this.” Wade kissed the top of her head, got up and put on a coat to go out to greet their visitors.

  Mia knew she shouldn’t let him fight her battles for her, but this was one she was happy to cede to him. She cracked one of the windows so she could hear him, but kept the blinds drawn so she couldn’t be seen.

  “I’m Wade Abbott, Mia’s husband.”

  She peeked around the blind to see he had his hands in his pockets as he stood before her mother and stepfather. Her mother had gone completely gray since Mia had seen her last.

  “I’m Mia’s mother, Deb, and this is my husband, Roger.”

  “Yes, I know who you are.”

  “Of course Cabot called to tell her he saw me,” Deb said with a bitter edge to her voice.

  “Yes, he saved her from being ambushed by a visit she doesn’t want.”

  “I’m not ambushing her! She’s my daughter!”

  “Showing up uninvited to confront a daughter you know doesn’t wish to see you is the very definition of an ambush.”

  “What else am I supposed to do? She doesn’t take my calls or respond to my emails.”

  “Because she doesn’t wish to speak to you or hear from you. She’s told you that in so many words.”