“I should be offended at that, but it’s so ridiculous that I’m not.” He was looking at her with the same coldness in his eyes that his wife had. “I guess you are grown up. And adults can handle the truth. This hidden place is where your father and Vera used to meet in the seventies and where they meet now. But they think no one knows.”

Cait kept her expression as neutral as she could.

“You don’t look surprised.”

She wasn’t about to tell of the breakneck ride down Main Street. Her father and Vera, with eyes locked as they raced. No, she wasn’t surprised. “I don’t know the details.”

“Vera and Miguel. One of the great love affairs of all time.”

“But how did my mother figure into that?”

“You asked for the truth. Gabby was a means to an end. Vera was so in love with Miguel that she was going to stay here in Mason. Your dad went to bed with Gabrielle to force Vera to leave the country and do what she was meant to do. Sorry to say it, but there was never any love between your parents.”

Cait well knew that. What shocked her was Vera Exton. Her reputation was that nothing hindered her. “The famous journalist was going to give it all up for the man she loved? For my father?”

“Yes. They used to hide out in here. There was a big table over there where they made posters protesting the Vietnam War. They marched together.”

It wasn’t easy hearing that her father had kept such a big secret from her. “Coop asked if she did that, but I didn’t know.”

“No one in Mason did, but Vera never knew fear. Or your dad. He was stabbed with a bayonet in a rally that turned violent.”

Cait looked away. She knew about the scar on his side. When they went swimming he would make up stories of how he got it. Ogres and unicorns often played a part.

“Maybe if we’d all helped in those protests, my brother would be alive now.”

He was talking about Robbie. She turned to him. “I’m sorry about your brother.” She took a breath. “What was he like?”

For a moment, Adam looked away. “He was a smart-ass, devil-may-care. He did what he wanted when he wanted to do it. But he was likable. Very, very likable.” Tears were starting in Adam’s eyes. “My little brother never had a chance to live.” He looked at her. “Sometimes Kelly gets mad at me and I have no idea what I did wrong. Did my son do something to you that he doesn’t know he did? Why did you break up with Jared?”

“We never had an argument. We agreed on everything.”

“Is that bad?”

“No. It was great.”