The expression drained from Bradley’s face. I hadn’t meant to reveal it then, but the truth was already in the room. “You knew the cancer had returned.”

He turned toward the window. “How?”

“Helen heard you in the hospital parking lot.” His eyes shut. “She heard you say you wished things would hurry along, so the estate could be settled.”

Carol raised a hand to her mouth. Bradley shook his head. “I was upset. I didn’t mean—”

“You said it.”

The room went quiet, broken only by the waves beyond the porch and the low hum of the refrigerator. For the first time since childhood, Bradley looked genuinely young.