Now Amelia’s mind returned to Max’s guests. Max and Hannah’s Saturdays were sacrosanct. Either they drove into Asheville for brunch and to the farmers’ market for fresh fruit and vegetables for both their households, or they sequestered themselves at Max’s house.

“What do you do all day?” Grace had once asked Hannah.

“We turn off the phones and just hang out.” Hannah had given Grace a shy smile. “We eat leftovers and ice cream, read, watch old movies, things like that. Once, we sat all day and sorted through old photos that we’d been meaning to put into an album. One thing we do not do is discuss our work at Bella’s Park.”

Across the road, the lights in Max’s downstairs rooms switched off. Amelia went inside, placed her teacup in the kitchen sink, then climbed the stairs and knocked on Hannah’s bedroom door. “You awake, Hannah?”

“Come in, Amelia.”

Hannah sat on the edge of her bed, one foot shoved into her bedroom slipper, the other foot twisted, wiggling under the bed in search of the other slipper. Amelia bent and retrieved it for her.

“Ever notice how shoes, especially slippers, are never where you put them when you go to bed? I think they walk about while we sleep,” Hannah said. “It’s odd.”

“What’s odd is that there’s a strange man and a very pregnant woman at Max’s. I was on the porch when a cab deposited them at his front steps. The man opened the front door and walked right in.”

Hannah hastened to the window, which overlooked Cove Road. “I don’t see anything or anyone, and there’s no light in Max’s bedroom.” She reached for the buttons on her pajama top. “I’ll go right over.”

“I’ll go with you,” Amelia said. “Meet you downstairs.”

At the front door, Amelia handed Hannah a mug of black coffee without sugar, and they started across Cove Road. Hannah unlocked the front door, then flipped on the foyer light. There sat three large suitcases.

Max’s heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs, and seeing Hannah, he smiled. “I was just about to phone you. Guess who’s here?”

Hannah shook her head. “Who?”

“My son, Zachary, and his wife, Sarina, have come home from India, and she’s about to have a baby.”

Hannah was uncertain that she had heard him correctly, but there he stood, beaming and happy. “Zachary, here? But…I thought…?”

“Yes, I know. He said he hated Covington and would never come back, but life is unpredictable.” Taking Hannah’s arm, Max urged her toward the kitchen, Amelia following. There Max sank into a chair and ran his fingers through his hair. “Sometimes things don’t work out as planned. They’ve been through hell, from what they’ve been telling me.”