“Honey,” she said, “I want you to meet someone. Rose, this is Rebecca Houghton. Rebecca, my daughter Rose Malone. Rose,” Lily said, “do you remember I told you about Rebecca? How you and she are related?”

Rose nodded. Rebecca crouched down, looking straight into her eyes.

“You're my sister,” Rebecca said, holding Rose's hand. Their similarities were so great: they were both graceful, strong, beautiful brown-haired girls. Their eyes were hazel, green flecked with gold. Seeing them together, Rose's small hand in Rebecca's, brought a lump to Lily's throat.

“My mother told me,” Rose said.

“Officially, we're half-sisters,” Rebecca said. “But that doesn't sound right.”

“Rebecca's not half anything,” Judy said.

“Neither is Rose,” Lily whispered, and Liam put his arm around her.

“We have the same father,” Rebecca said. “So we can thank him for that—for each other. But other than that, we're fine without him. We have great mothers, and we have ourselves.”

“Ourselves?” Rose asked.

“Yes,” Rebecca said. “We're girls, and we're great. Don't ever forget that, Rose. When you get a little older . . .” She paused, and Lily had the sense of Rebecca remembering back to a younger version of herself, trying to figure out what she'd understood at nine. “You'll know what I mean. Girls who don't grow up with their fathers sometimes think they're not good enough. But you are, Rose.”

“You are too, Rebecca.”

“Rebecca is about to start law school,” Judy said to Rose. “She graduated from college in May, and she took lots of pre-law classes. Now she's going to become a lawyer, and help women and kids. She's going to be their advocate.”

“Advocate?” Rose asked.

“Someone who pleads a cause,” Rebecca said. “I'm going to help everyone in the country understand that women and children have to be treated with respect. Especially judges and courts. Because so many people go there for help, and they don't get helped. I'm going to change that.”

“That's good,” Rose said. “I'll help you.”

“She's going to end up on the Supreme Court,” Judy said, her eyes shining as she faced Lily.

“I think you're right,” Lily said as she stared down at Rose and Rebecca, the two bright and brilliant daughters of such a tarnished man.

After everyone had eaten, and the band got into full swing, Tara and Bay came dancing over to Lily and Liam. They tapped Liam on the shoulder, and he turned to look. At first Lily thought they were cutting in to dance with him—but no. They wanted Lily. “May we have the pleasure of this dance, madame?” Tara asked.

“But of course,” Lily said, smiling up at Liam, kissing him as they spun her away.

They had all kicked off their shoes the minute they'd arrived, so the three of them danced barefoot. Lily began to notice that her two friends were easing her through the crowd, to the edge of the dance floor, and then out from under the tent.