“I didn’t realize I was such a problem person,” she said.

“Women might have jobs but they don’t have careers. That’s reserved for men.”

“Maybe that will change.”

“Someday, but right now it’s the way things are. So are we set? Do we have a plan worked out?”

“I think we do.”

He held out his hand and they shook.

“I nearly forgot,” Adam said. He rummaged in the bottom of the picnic basket, withdrew the ring box Paul had given him and handed it to her.

She started to take it but then pulled her hand back. “I want at least some of the magic of this great lie.” She held out her left hand to him.

With a chuckle, he took her hand and slipped on the ring. “Me, too. Can you imagine if I gave Vera an expensive engagement ring?”

“She’d sell it to help famine victims.”

“Yes, she would. Your sister is a better person than we are.”

“That she is.” Kelly was looking at the way the ring sparkled in the fading daylight.

Adam moved the picnic basket. Then he and Kelly took opposite ends of the tablecloth to fold it.

Suddenly, the sound of a truck motor made them drop to the ground like combat soldiers. Flat on their bellies.

They waited, breaths held, until the truck kept going.

Adam was the first to sit up and he shoved the cloth into the basket. “I guess we should address this secrecy thing.”

As she sat up, one of the ducks nudged her leg. “We can’t be seen together. Not out here, anyway.” The area around the pond was secluded, too private. “The gossip would be rampant.”

“In public, I guess we should keep arguing, like we always have.”

“I can tell you you’re an arrogant ass and that if I want to spend time with your sexy little brother I will?”

Adam gave a one-sided grin. “And I will tell you to get your filthy animals off me.”

“You wish they liked you that much.”

Adam scooped up a squawking, flailing duck that had been pecking his ankle, then released it. “When you’re around, even the cockroaches like me.”

“Lucky you.” She said it with such sarcasm that he laughed. “Where do we meet when we must? Your grandmother’s retreat belongs to you and Vera. The town kids use the Fredericks place.”

Adam took a moment, then said softly, “Dad has an apartment in KC.”

“Had it for long?” She was trying to sound as though it was an ordinary question.

“He bought it twenty-one years and seven months ago.”

Kelly knew what he was saying. It looked like Burke Hatten had the apartment even when he was married to Adam’s mother. Kelly thought about saying some platitudes but she didn’t. “Sorry,” she whispered.

“I found the deed and keys in the safe. I haven’t seen the place. I asked Robbie about it, but he knows nothing.”