Fox River. Emilie Richards

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 come back now will make things that much harder, won’t it?”

      “It won’t make things easier.” He stepped back a little and rubbed his hands up and down the sleeves of her sweater, as if to warm her. “What makes you think he’ll return?”

      “Because Peter’s been his champion. I’m sure he’ll offer Christian a job at Claymore Park.”

      “Peter has contacts all over the horse world. He can help Christian find a job far away from the scene of the crime. Christian’s been gone nine years. Will this still seem like home? When nearly all of Ridge’s Race and beyond was sure he murdered Fidelity?”

      “I think when you’ve lost everything and you’re given a chance to find some part of it again, that’s what you do.”

      Jake seemed to consider that. “You’re a wise woman, Maisy.”

      “Do you think so?”

      “I think you let it slip out now and then, when you don’t think anyone’s listening.”

      She frowned. “How do you put up with me?”

      “Very easily.”

      “Sometimes lately I’m not so sure.”

      He didn’t ask what she meant. “Time moves on and people change. Their lives change with it. Christian’s life is changing again. Julia’s life is changing, and she’ll have to face it, whether she feels ready or not. Our lives are changing, too.”

      “How are they changing, Jake?”

      “We’re growing older. There’s less time to say the things we need to.”

      “What things?”

      “A lifetime of things that’ve gone unsaid.”

      She was sure he was being purposely obtuse. “Do you have things you need to say?”

      He smiled a little. “I’m working my way toward them, I suppose. How about you?”

      She thought of a thousand things she’d wanted to tell him or Julia and never had. She, who chattered continuously.

      Instead she asked a question. “Jake, do you still love me?”

      “Yes, I do.”

      She felt vulnerable, an unexpected and unwelcome sensation. “You’ve been critical lately.”

      “Have I?”

      “You seem impatient with me and with the things I say.”

      “I guess it goes back to time moving too fast. I don’t think you’re saying the things you need to.”

      “This isn’t making any sense.”

      “I don’t know how to make sense of it. I feel like our life together’s been about peeling off layers. I wonder sometimes if we’ll ever succeed.”

      “I feel like I know you.”

      “As well as you let yourself know anyone.”

      “That would be a good example of the word ‘critical’.”

      He shook his head. “That would be a good example of the word ‘honesty’. Maybe there’s too little of it in our marriage. Maybe that’s what I’m feeling impatient about.”

      She felt they’d covered ground and gotten nowhere. She missed the man she’d married, the man who had accepted her unequivocally.

      He gripped her shoulders. “Don’t look at me that way. You haven’t lost me. I don’t love you any less. Maybe I’d just like more of you.”

      “How much more of me could anyone stand?” She patted her round belly. “How much more could there be?”

      “I think we’d better check on things inside. If Callie needs something, Julia’s in no shape to get it for her. Not tonight of all nights.”

      She realized he was putting her off, but she was relieved.