SHALLIE AND HER mother sat in Cord’s office upstairs, a second chair pulled close to the desk. Tina had come in with a tray, bringing each of them a glass of champagne. “I can guess who you are. I’m Tina and we’ll talk soon.” Both Shallie and Christine nodded. “I think you’ll need this,” Tina said, putting down the two glasses—and a box of tissues.

“So,” Christine murmured. “I gather from Eddie and his associate Tony that you know some of my background. Let’s start there. But first I have to say it again, I love you, baby, and I’ve loved and missed you all these years.”

“Me, too,” Shallie half sobbed, leaning over to clasp Christine’s hand.

“You know I left this town because I was afraid, for you and for myself. I was afraid of my husband…and his cronies. He turned out to be a crooked cop, involved with the mob in Chicago…” She shook her head forcefully, then settled her gray-blond hair behind her ears. “I’d figured it out a few years earlier. That’s why your birth certificate says ‘Father Unknown.’” With a wry smile, she added, “I guess that’s accurate, since I hadn’t really known him. In any case, I felt I had to get out, that you and I had to get out. His threats were escalating.”

This revelation was no longer new to Shallie but remained terrifying.

“My half sister, Della, was kind enough to take us in, and then I got a threatening call from Kevin, and I had to escape, I knew she’d be willing to look after you. She and Norm. And Eddie did inform me that they died sometime ago. I’m sorry about that.”

Shallie nodded, not bothering to point out that the Schafers were mostly in it for the money. It didn’t matter now, and there’d certainly been moments of kindness.

She studied Christine, who still, in some ways, resembled that thirty-year-old photo—the classic profile, the slenderness, the expressive eyes. “I didn’t even know what you looked like,” she said. “Or anything about you. Until Russ found a few pictures. And a letter you’d left for Della.”

Christine stared at her. “She never showed you the letter I wrote, saying that I loved you and I was running away as much for your protection as mine?”

“No…”

“Damn it! I’m sorry.”

“It’s not important now. And I have seen the letter, thanks to Russ.” Christine smiled faintly.

“Tell me what happened after you left,” Shallie said. “I mean, I know some of it, but I want to hear it from you.”

“I think Eddie told you, but I changed my name and found a job in a motel near Orlando. That’s where I met Reba Shannon, who came here to Painted Pony Creek at my request to meet you, see how you were.”