"You just haven't had as many years as the Quinns did." Grace hauled the
bucket out of the sink. "They were a unit."
Units, Anna thought, often broke down. "If something had happened
between Ray and Gloria, would Stella have forgiven him?"
Grace thrust the mop into the bucket and gave Anna a cool, decisive
look. "Would you forgive Cam?"
"I don't know," Anna said after a moment. "It would be hard to because
I'd have killed him. But I might, eventually, put flowers on his grave."
"Exactly." Satisfied, Grace nodded. "That kind of betrayal doesn't
swallow down easily. And it follows that if the Quinns had that kind of
tension between them, their sons would have known it. Children aren't
fools, no matter how many adults might think so."
"No, they're not," Anna murmured. "Whatever the truth is, they need to
find it. I'm going to type up my notes," she said as she rose. "Will you
take a look at them, see if there's anything you want to add or change
before they go into the file?"
"All right. I've still got some wash to hang out, then I'll bea"
They heard it at the same time, the wildly happy barking of dogs.
Grace's reaction was pure distress. She'd lost track of the time, and
Ethan was home.
Going on instinct, Anna slipped her notebook into a kitchen drawer. "I
want to talk to Cam about this before we tell Seth about the phone
call."
"Yes, that's best. Ia"
"You can go out the back, Grace," Anna said quietly. "Nobody could blame
you for not wanting another emotional hit today."
"I have wash to hang out."
"You've done more than enough for one afternoon." Grace straightened her
shoulders. "I finish what I start." She turned into the laundry room and
the lid of the washer clanged as she tossed it up. "Which is more than
can be said of some people."
Anna lifted a brow. Ethan was in for a surprise, she decided. And wasn't
it handy that she was around to see him get it?
Chapter Nineteen
when he saw her car in the driveway, Ethan had to force himself not to
rush into the house just for a look at her. A quick glimpse, just one.
He could take all of her into his mind with just one look.
He hadn't known it was possible to miss a woman--to miss anything--the
way he was missing Grace.
The way, he thought, that left him empty and achy and edgy every hour of
every day until he was desperate to fill the void. Until he laid awake
at night listening to the air breathe.
Until he thought he was losing his mind.
The control he'd kept in place for so many years where she was concerned
seemed constantly shaky these days. The walls of that control had
already been breached, were tumbled at his feet so that he could swear
he was choking on their dust.
He supposed once a man let it go, it was hard to build it back up again.