48

Kenmore was watching the Braves beat the Dodgers when the doorbell rang. “I got it,” he called back to Shane, who was somewhere in the back of the house. At first, the glare from the setting sun outside left the visitor nothing more than a silhouette, but then he saw her. There were dark circles under her eyes, and her skin was pasty white, but she gave him a tentative smile.

He flung the door open wide. “Come inside and tell me what’s happened.”

She took a step in but went no farther. “I realized that I was trying to do the same thing my father did all those years ago. The truth was hard to face, so I was planning to go away and make a new life so I didn’t have to be bothered with it all. But there is no way I’m going to make my father’s mistakes. If there’s nothing else good that comes out of this entire thing, it’s going to be that I learned you can’t change the truth to suit your desires. It’s not fair to the people you leave behind to deal with carnage, and it’s not the right thing to do as a human being.”

He looked at the grim determination on her face. He nodded once, then reached out his hand to clasp her shoulder. “I’m proud of you.”

“Are you? Am I doing the right thing?”

“Kelli, I think—”

“The right thing about what?” Shane walked over to stand right beside them. He frowned at Kelli. “What are you doing here? Last I heard you were leaving town for good, going back to get married to some guy you never bothered to mention.”

“Shane.” Kenmore shook his head and took a step toward his son. “You don’t have all the story. You need to back off.”

“I don’t have all the story because I’ve been purposely kept in the dark. That is not my fault.”

“No, it isn’t, and you’re right.” Kelli looked at him, then back at Kenmore. “Maybe I should start right here, right now, by telling Shane all of it. His reaction might give me a good idea about what I should and shouldn’t do with the rest of them.”

Kenmore nodded slowly. “There’s probably some truth in that.” He continued to nod. “Yeah, that’s a good idea.” He looked at the worn-down girl before him, her shoulders stooped as if the weight of a lifetime were upon them. Actually, Kenmore supposed the weight of a lifetime was on her shoulders—it was her father’s lifetime that was crushing her beneath its weight.

Shane sat forward, elbows on knees, looking up at Kelli, who had paced through the entire explanation. “So, you’re telling me that almost nothing I’ve known or believed about you was true?”

Ouch. It hurt. But it was the truth, so what had Kelli expected? “Yes, I guess that’s what I’m saying.”

“You guess?”

“No, I don’t guess, okay? I know. I know that I didn’t come in telling anyone the truth about who I was, for, well, for obvious reasons. But those decisions were made with good intentions.”

“And this mystery guy you were going to marry, it was all just made up?”

“Yes. No. Sort of.” Kelli dropped into a chair and doubled over, trying to somehow squelch the growing pain in her gut. “At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do. You were showing a fair amount of interest in me, and I was feeling more than a fair amount interested in you, but at the time, my plans were to leave here and never look back. It seemed like it would be the less painful thing, to just throw that out there, putting me in as the bad guy and letting you believe you’d gotten off the hook and were better off for it.”

“That’s what you thought, huh?” Shane shook his head. “If you ask me, I’d say you weren’t thinking about much of anything. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have made some of these bone-headed decisions you did.”

“You’re right, okay? I know you’re right. But this isn’t exactly a common situation. It’s not like there are a bunch of self-help books about what to do after you’ve found out everything you ever believed was a lie—a lie told to you by the one person you trusted more than anyone else on earth.” Kelli stood up and started pacing again. “Maybe I was right to go. Maybe I should leave forever before any more harm is done. It was crazy to come back again. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Kenmore, who had discreetly left the room while Kelli was telling the crux of it, now returned. “There is something you should know.”

“What?”

“Alison suspects something. She hasn’t quite figured out all the details. They are too farfetched for her to do that, but that horse figurine you gave to Beth? She recognized it as looking a lot like David’s work. She asked me what I knew, and I played dumb. I don’t think she quite believed me, but then again, what else is she supposed to believe? The truth is crazy.”

“How did she seem, when she asked you all this? Was she upset? Angry?”

He shrugged. “She was a little worked up, but not hysterical or anything. Like I said, she asked the question, but she didn’t really believe she could be right.”

“If Shane is this upset, you know it’s going to kill Alison and Beth.”

“It will initially, you’re right about that. When you first walked into my store three months ago, it stirred up some deeply buried feelings in me that were not pleasant and that I didn’t want to face. But you know what? Since you came back, there’s been something else, something else that surprised me.”

“Like what?”

“Relief.” He scrubbed his hands across his face. “All these years when I’ve had my suspicions about what happened—and then when you showed up and I knew for sure—well, it’s been sort of like that feeling you get when a big flu epidemic is going around. You try to avoid it with all you’ve got, but when the symptoms finally start, it’s almost a relief. You know the next little bit is going to be painful, but you also know that at least now you can quit dreading the ‘what ifs’ and just get on with what is. For me, it would be a relief to look at the people I love without secrets blocking my eyes, or theirs.”

“He’s right.” Shane stood up and moved toward her. “He’s absolutely right.” He held out his hand. “You want to go walk for a bit?”

She looked at the extended hand, trying to think through everything. She couldn’t make sense of it all, but there was one thing she did know. There were some risks that were worth taking. “I’d love to.” She took his hand, and the two of them walked out into the evening.

He kept shaking his head and muttering, “I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it.”

Kelli didn’t reply. What could she say to that?

After they had walked for a while, and the muttering had tapered off, he turned to her with his most adorable boyish grin. “What was that part where you said that you were . . . what was it you said . . . feeling more than a fair amount of interest in me? I think that’s something I’d like to hear more about. How’d it go again?”

She smiled up at him. “I can’t quite remember.”

“Let’s see if I can come up with a little reminder.” He drew her into his arms and kissed her deeply.

“I think it’s starting to come back to me now.”

“Maybe one more reminder.”

“Sounds like a good idea.”