Eby nodded. “Just before we left Atlanta. We bought my sister the house and a car. Gave her some money. Set up a small trust for Quinn. Then we gave the rest of the money away to charity and moved to Lost Lake.”

Kate sat back against one of the pillows, and a puff of dust rose up around them and sparkled in the air. “Why did you give the money away? Mom would never explain it to me.”

Eby shrugged. “I doubt she truly understood. No one did. Our family has a history of wanting money. Wanting it, never having it, never able to keep it. George grew up without money, and he’d been happy without it. When we got back from our honeymoon, everything just fell apart. My mother and sister wanted so much. Expected so much. And nothing was ever enough. George and I realized we didn’t need the money, and my family wouldn’t leave us alone as long as we had it. So we gave it away. And they never forgave me.”

“But Mom must have,” Kate said. “She must have wanted to bury the hatchet, by coming here that summer after George died.”

Eby hesitated. “I don’t want to speak badly of your mother,” she said, looking at Kate kindly. “I know she had a hard time growing up in the shadow of her mother’s grief. And I know she must have loved you. I could tell the first time I met you that you’d had a childhood full of love. She let you express yourself. Like you do with Devin.”

“It’s okay,” Kate said. “I want to know.”

“Quinn grew up with a very negative impression of me. I think she wanted the satisfaction of seeing me grieve the way her mother grieved.” Eby waited for Kate to interrupt her, to protest, but she didn’t. “I was devastated when George died, but I had Lisette and the lake guests and the town, and they didn’t let me go to that place, that dark place. I had a support system, which is what the women in our family sorely lack after they fall in love. They get married and want nothing but that one person. But relying on one person for your every need is so dangerous. One set of hands isn’t enough to keep you from falling. Quinn didn’t like that I wasn’t going to sell the lake and have extra money to share with her. She didn’t like that I was going to be okay. She didn’t expect that. It was just one more thing for her to resent.”

Kate took a moment to process that. “I can’t believe my dad let her come here to do that.”

“I don’t think he knew. When he figured it out, he made you and Quinn leave with him.”