“I know what you meant. All of Lola’s husbands left her handsome sums of money that she invested wisely. I think she saved every penny she ever earned. Like I said, she was always frugal, and yet she lived extremely well. Like Lola said, a woman’s worst fear is that someday she might be homeless and hungry. Now she never said this, and it’s just my opinion, but I think she always had the fear in the back of her mind that somehow, some way, her son would snatch everything away and say she was incompetent or something like that. Don’t take offense at that, Cady. But those are controllable fears, and on top of that she has Mandy and me. Now, she has you. I think it’s all working out the way she wants it to. At least I hope so. You never went to bed, did you?” Anthony said, switching the subject.

“No, I didn’t. Time got away from me. I had no idea there were so many scrapbooks. I only got through the early ones, which took Lola up to her third marriage. I read the one Mandy kept on my father, and I just finished going through my own. It’s all pretty mind-boggling. It didn’t jar any memories, though. Maybe I need to commit the contents to memory or something like that. Ohhh, these waffles look delicious. I always get the frozen ones in a box.”

Mandy rolled her eyes. “The morning paper is on the table. I’m going upstairs to see what Herself is going to want for breakfast. There are more sausages and eggs in the warmer if Atlas is still hungry. Turn to the front page of the Lifestyle section. Tell me what you think.” She winked at Anthony before she left the kitchen.

Cady picked up the morning paper and leafed through the pages until she came to the Lifestyle section. She stared down at a picture on the front page. The man was tall, with dark curly hair. He looked pressed and creased. A meticulous dresser. He could have posed for Town and Country. Cady peered closer at the picture. He looked to be self-assured, comfortable in his own skin. She just knew he hated his curly hair. Men always hated curly hair and women would kill for it. “Whoever he is, he’s certainly good-looking. Is he a friend of yours?”

“No. He was a friend of yours. Don’t you recognize him?” Anthony said, peering over her shoulder.

“No. Should I?” Cady squinted to see the fine print under the picture. “Who’s Maxwell Ward?”

“You knew him as Boomer Ward. He’s going to be Indigo Valley’s new police chief. They’ve been running his picture in the paper every day for a week now. I guess they’re doing it to acquaint the people with the new chief. I expect you to eat every bit of that fine breakfast I made for you.”

Cady didn’t start to shake until she heard the kitchen door close behind Mandy. She picked up her fork, but her hand was trembling so badly she had to put it down on the table.