Winnie’s ranch was just ahead, and Hannah turned onto the winding road that led to the ranch house. It was a beautiful area and Winnie kept the white fences painted and the ground free of debris. The rolling green hills reminded Hannah of the pictures she’d seen of the English countryside. She’d like to go to England someday, but for now, the Lake Eden countryside was certainly beautiful enough for her. Hannah pulled up at the ranch house, got out of the car, and walked up to Winnie’s front door. She still wasn’t sure how she would handle this. She just hoped that the right words would come to her when she needed them.

“Hi, Winnie,” Hannah said when Winnie opened the door. “I brought you something on my way to Loretta’s place.”

“That’s nice of you, Hannah.” Winnie took the box that Hannah handed her. “What’s in it?”

“Pralines. One of my college friends gave me the recipe and I made them this morning. She was from New Orleans and she claimed they were authentic.”

“Did I hear you say pralines?” Connor appeared in the doorway.

“Nothin’ wrong with the man’s ears,” Winnie said, smiling at him and then turning back to Hannah. “Coffee? I just made a fresh pot.”

Hannah counted the days. Winnie always washed the giant, blue-enameled pot and made fresh coffee on Sunday mornings. On the other days of the week, she just kept the pot on the stove until the level of coffee was low and then she added more coffee and water, and brought it up to a boil again. By Saturday, Winnie’s coffee could double as nail polish remover. Hannah and Mike had suffered through a Saturday night cup once and neither one of them had done it again. Winnie claimed that her mother had made coffee that way and she didn’t see any reason to change it.

This was Thursday and that was over halfway through the week. She was living dangerously if she accepted Winnie’s offer, but it wouldn’t be politic to refuse. “Sure,” she said. “I’d love a cup of coffee, Winnie.”

Winnie poured cups for all three of them and they sat at the kitchen table. They talked for a minute or two and then Hannah pulled out the ring.

“I found this on the way in,” she said, handing the ring to Winnie. “It looks like a man’s ring to me. Did somebody around here lose it?”

“Looks like yours.” Winnie handed it to Connor.

As Hannah watched, Connor’s face turned pale. “It’s mine,” he admitted.

“Why didn’t you tell me you’d lost it?” Winnie asked. “I would’ve put the boys on lookout for it.”

“ ’Cause I wasn’t sure . . .” Connor stopped and took a deep breath. “I didn’t know where I’d lost it.” He turned to Hannah. “Where did you find it?”