Mary looked at me questioningly.

“There was a yellow rose petal in Constance’s room at the B&B. We don’t grow them.”

She nodded.

“Then you left to go home, but on the way, you spotted Constance in the window of the B&B. It’s a small town, you would have likely known she was staying with us while Graves House was undergoing renovations, and the view of the Rosewater Room is clear from the street.”

“I saw her in the window on the second floor and all I could think was when is enough, enough? I know I hurt my sister. I know I did. But hadn’t she already made me pay?” Her gaze drifted away from me to the memory I couldn’t see. “I knew then it was never going to stop. As long as she was alive, she’d find a way for me to keep on paying. But to deny me Grant?” Her eyes flashed back to mine. “Tell me, what would you do? What would you do if someone told you that you couldn’t lie beside your husband when the time came?”

The truth was, I didn’t know, but I couldn’t let her derail me. Not now. I had to hang on. “After that you came around the back of the house. Nora had left her mallet out. You picked it up and snuck inside. You knew to use the hidden staircase. Graves House has one too.”

“It was all so easy. It was like I was in a dream. I headed up those stairs and—”

“What are you doing?”

Mary and I both jolted as a voice tore through the night.

“Get away from my mother!”

Chapter 43

Mary’s face crumpled as she watched her daughter stride toward us.

“I knew you would do this!” Liz shouted at me. “Whatever she’s saying, don’t listen to her, Mom. She’s tricking you.”

Mary sighed. “That’s not true, honey. I know you want it to be, but it’s not.”

“The Warrens aren’t right,” Liz said, coming toward me, shoulders squared, fists clenched. “You know what they can do.”

“No, Liz,” Mary said, stepping in to head off her daughter. “I know it’s my fault you think that, but there’s so much I need to tell you. I asked Nora to help me with your father.”

Liz looked to her mother, who had grabbed her arm.

“I should have told you sooner. I just didn’t want you to have to live with knowing the type of man your father really was.”

“No. No,” Liz said, shaking free from her mother’s grip and pointing at me. “You made her believe that.”

I stilled my breath. My hands trembled even harder. “I would never do that.”

“In fact, I bet you and your aunts did something to my mother that night. It makes perfect sense. Nora hated my aunt, but she didn’t want to get her hands dirty.”

“Sweetheart, please,” Mary said, reaching for her daughter again, but Liz moved away before she could touch her. “You need to listen to me. There’s so much I haven’t told you. Maybe if I had, things wouldn’t have gotten away from me the way they did.”