He thought of his father, broken and dying in a hospital bed. Even then Ray’s concerns had been for his sons, for Seth. For family.

“When I first saw you,” Sybill began, “the three of you, I knew you were brothers. No real physical resemblance, but something less tangible. I’d say you’re an example of how environment can offset heredity.”

“More an example of what two generous and determined people can do for three lost boys.”

She sipped her wine to soothe her throat before she spoke. “And Seth.”

“Lost boy number four. We’re trying to do for him what my parents would have done, what our father asked us to do. My mother died several years ago. It left the four of us floundering some. She was an incredible woman. We couldn’t have appreciated her enough when we had her.”

“I think you did.” And moved by the sound of his voice, she smiled at him. “I’m sure she felt very loved.”

“I hope so. After we lost her, Cam took off for Europe. Racing—boats, cars, whatever. He did pretty well at it. Ethan stayed. Bought his own house, but he’s locked into the Bay. I moved back to Baltimore. Once an urbanite,” he added with a quick smile.

“The Inner Harbor, Camden Yards.”

“Exactly. I came down here off and on. Holidays, the occasional weekend. But it’s not the same.”

Curious, she tilted her head. “Would you want it to be?” She remembered her secret thrill when she’d gone off to college. To be on her own, not to have every movement and word weighed and judged. Freedom.

“No, but there were times, are times, I miss the way it was. Don’t you ever think back to some perfect summer? You’re sixteen, your driver’s license is shiny and new in your wallet, and the world is all yours.”

She laughed, but shook her head. She hadn’t had a driver’s license at sixteen. They’d been living in London that year, as she recalled. There had been a uniformed driver to take her where she’d been allowed to go, unless she managed to slip out and ride the Tube. That had been her small rebellion.

“Sixteen-year-old boys,” she said, while their salad plates were removed, their entrées served, “are more emotionally attached to their cars than sixteen-year-old girls are.”

“It’s easier for that boy to get himself a girl if he has wheels.”

“I doubt you had any trouble in that area, with or without a car.”

“It’s tough to neck in the backseat until you’ve got one.”

“True enough. And now you’re back here, and so are your brothers.”

“Yeah. My father had Seth through complicated and not entirely clear circumstances. Seth’s mother. . . well, you’ll hear talk if you stay in the area for any length of time.”

“Oh?” Sybill cut into her fish, hoping that she could swallow it.

“My father taught English lit at the university, the Eastern Shore campus of Maryland. A little less than a year ago a woman came to see him. It was a private meeting, so we don’t have the details, but from all accounts it wasn’t pleasant. She went to the dean and accused my father of sexual harassment.”