Her mother finally seemed to realize that this argument wasn't going to go away. “Where did you hear about that?”

“People tell me things. Everyone knows who my father was.”

“I see,” her mother said. “Well, from now on, if anyone asks you about him, just say he was a very gifted man. That's honest—he was.”

Rose turned away to indicate that the conversation was over, but Carrie couldn't let it go. “People say my grandmother was gifted too,” she said defiantly. “I know you don't talk to her or see her or anything, but everyone says Lu Lawson was a real big star.”

Carrie saw her mother's back stiffen. “My mother had a following,” Rose said in a flat tone. “So, yes, you could say she was a star.” She started toward the door.

But once again Carrie couldn't let it go. She'd wondered for too many years why there weren't any pictures of Bobby and Lu in their apartment. “Were you ever proud of them, Mother?” she heard herself blurt out.

The huge green eyes that turned back to her were full of a pain so raw, it made Carrie look away. “That part of my life is over,” Rose said. “I don't believe in looking back.” Then she walked out of the room.

THE FOLLOWING SATURDAY, Carrie told her mother a lie. “Mrs. Forester invited me to come hang out at Zoe's apartment,” she said. Mrs. Forester was Zoe's mother and she hadn't done anything of the kind, but Carrie knew Rose wouldn't check. Her mother gave her much more freedom than other kids had because she said Carrie was responsible and mature. Carrie knew she really wasn't, but since she wanted Rose to keep her illusions, she usually wound up doing the responsible, mature thing. Which probably proved her mother was right—most of the time. Not today, but Rose didn't know that. She had a busy day planned, and she was already late for her first appointment. So, after frowning about the idea of “hanging out”—a waste of valuable time—she told Carrie to come home by four so they could get to the shelter in time to help with dinner, and hurried out the door.

Carrie waited until her mother was out of sight before she took off herself. Instead of walking north from Eighty-third Street toward the Forester apartment on Eighty-eighth Street, she headed downtown to the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. She'd decided to do some research and find out, once and for all, about Bobby Manning and Lu Lawson.