“Take care of yourself, sweetheart.

That baby will be our greatest blessing. And tell Gordon to buy you whatever bag you want.

You’re the one who’s going to give me a grandson.” My stomach clenched…

Not because I wanted Gordon back. That was the surprising part.

After twenty-five years of excuses, I had no illusions left about his fidelity or his character.

What frightened me was how easily Beverly could speak of replacing me while I stood just a few feet away, holding the grocery bag she had ordered me to carry.

I put the milk in the refrigerator and walked upstairs. In the little bedroom that had once been Paige’s, I took Walter’s envelope from the false bottom of an old sewing basket.

Inside were copies of a trust agreement, a recorded deed, several letters from his lawyer, and a photograph of Walter smiling beside a stubborn red geranium.

He had been unable to stand for long when that photograph was taken. I remembered arranging his sweater so the camera wouldn’t show the feeding tube beneath it.

The envelope explained a great deal about our lives. It did not explain why I had waited so long to act.

For that, I had to go back to Walter’s last winter.

PART 3

Before his stroke, Walter had been the quietest member of the family.