She gazed out the shop door, and she watched as Jessica took Flora for a walk across the inn's lawn. It was too damp for people to picnic on blankets, but nothing could keep them away from the ceili—some had set up folding chairs, others stood in clusters, and all were dressed for the weather in raincoats, slickers, and plastic sheets. Marisa knew that Patrick had told Jess that she could walk Flora anytime. She kept her eyes peeled for him, but he was nowhere to be seen.

“Want to take a break?” Sam asked after a few minutes.

Marisa nodded. “I was thinking the same thing.”

They went into the back, poured glasses of iced tea from the small refrigerator Lily kept in the workroom. Clinking glasses, both sisters smiled.

“I'm so glad you're here,” Marisa said. “I never thought you'd come.”

“I almost didn't,” Sam said.

“When Patrick told me you were back in Baltimore,” Marisa said, “I was so shocked.”

“I didn't mean to hurt you,” Sam said.

Marisa felt so tight; they had been building to this for so long, after the years of Ted. Her chest ached, and she stared into her younger sister's eyes. She flooded with emotion, just as she had at their reunion. “My terrible marriage,” she said.

Sam took her hands. “Ted,” she said.

“I was so lonely,” Marisa said. “It was after Paul had died, and you went back to Baltimore. He was there—he seemed to love me. And he seemed to love Jessica.”

“I know,” Sam said. “I was happy for you at first—I was. But I just watched you disappearing. You were losing yourself, and I was losing you.”

“Sam,” Marisa said. She swallowed, thinking of how she had always wanted her little sister to look up to her. She wanted to be a good example, wanted to show Sam the way. “I didn't know what to do. It's so hard to explain—”

“You don't have to,” Sam said.

“But—”

“You ran those clinics. You treated so many battered women. I thought you would know—I never thought it would happen to you.”

“I never did either. I thought I knew the signs—but he was so charming at first. He seemed to love me so much.”

“Isn't that what all the women tell us?” Sam asked softly. “When we ask them what's going on?”

Marisa nodded, remembering the many hands she had held, the tired and confused and terrified faces she'd looked into.

“The worst part,” she said, “was what he did to Jessica's puppy. I still can't believe I put her in a situation like that.”

“I know,” Sam said. “When you told me, I wanted to come kill him myself.”

“That was the last thing I did tell you,” Marisa said. “You seemed so disgusted with me. That's when I finally got out. How could I have let it go so far?”