“Exactly my hope for my wandering sister,” Kelly said. She set about her plan to entice Vera to stay by giving her and Miguel a place that was for work only. They wouldn’t be distracted by the things that went on in a house. No appliances beeping when the cycle was finished, no doorbells ringing, no deliverymen.

An acre away from the house, near a big oak tree, she had plumbing and electricity installed.

Then Adam and a crew had moved Miguel’s old schoolhouse, the place where he’d raised Cait. Kelly left one bedroom and a bath closed off, but other than that, it was all open, with Miguel’s little kitchen against one wall. They brought in the old, peeling bookcase from the cellar and all the books and papers they’d been able to save.

When Jared saw it, he frowned. “Maybe they’ll want separate offices.”

Adam and Kelly had looked at each other and laughed. “It would be easier to separate conjoined twins than those two,” he said.

“Certainly less painful,” Kelly added. She looked about the big space with its desks, couch and chairs, with a big table at the side. Neither she nor Adam mentioned that it looked remarkably like the interior of the old cellar, but with windows.

When the cellar roof had collapsed in 2002, Kelly had cried. “Now she’ll never come home.”

Adam held her as he looked over her head at the big hole. The destruction seemed like the end of an era. Vietnam protests. Miguel with Gabby so he could give Vera the freedom to leave. Then years later, Miguel and Vera hiding out and creating Mike. Michaela Vera Montoya. He couldn’t help laughing.

Kelly pulled away to look at him. “What’s so funny?”

“That’s Mike’s real birthplace.”

“It is.” She turned to look at the big hole in the ground, with the broken roof sticking up. “What are you thinking about doing with it?”

“Fill it in. No, don’t give me that look. When that was first used back in the seventies, no one had ever heard of a seat belt or any kind of safety. Times have changed. That place is a hazard. It’s a wonder no one fell into it.”

“You did keep it fenced. We could—” His look made her realize he was right. “You do it. I can’t bear to see it destroyed.”

So Adam had taken over the job, first hiring a backhoe to remove the pieces of the roof. The next day, he went down the rotting stairs. The bright Kansas sun showed how bad the interior was. Mold and insects and animals had destroyed nearly everything. He salvaged what books and papers he could, and the bookcase that Miguel had painted. He put what was salvageable in his truck and stored it. The rest he took to the dump.