“Oh no,” Lily said. “He knows now—what are we going to do?”

“I think Rose and I should come to Hubbard's Point now,” Liam said. “Why stay away if he already knows?”

“But what if it wasn't him? What if it was someone else, just a neighbor passing by, or—”

“Lily,” Liam said gently.

“I don't know what to do,” she said. “It seemed like such a good idea, for you to keep Rose away from here. Maybe that's still best—he doesn't know she's his. He has no idea.”

“He mentioned her green eyes and brown hair,” Liam said.

“Like his.”

“Yes,” Liam said.

“Oh God. I have to think . . .”

“Okay,” he said. “But don't think too long. I want us all to be together.”

After he hung up, Liam turned to see Rose sitting in a chair by the window, sunlight turning her brown hair shiny as copper. She had asked him for help braiding it that morning after Lily had left, and he had tried—tricky, with one arm. Now he saw it tumbling free to her shoulders—she had unbraided it after Edward's comment.

Hearing a knock at the front door, Liam's stomach clenched. He almost wished it would be Edward, so he could do battle. Rushing through the airy living room, he found his old friend John Stanley standing there—tan in a white polo shirt and faded Breton red shorts, wearing wire-rimmed spectacles and a Panama hat. John's grin evaporated at the look in Liam's eyes.

“Whoa,” John said. “It's just me.”

“We had an unwelcome visitor this morning,” Liam said. He leaned around John, looked up and down the street. “Come on in.”

“He found you?” John asked, frowning. Of course, Liam had told him all about the reason he and Rose needed to stay there. “Look, I have just the thing to take your mind off that. Have you noticed all the activity out there?” He pointed at the water.

“Hard to miss it,” Liam said as he gazed at the cove churning and turning white with froth, fish in a feeding frenzy.

“Come take a boat ride. I'll show you something unreal.”

“I have Rose with me. . . .”

“My kids used to love coming on oceanographic projects. We'll make her part of the team.”

Liam nodded. Getting Rose away for the day would be the best possible thing to do. “Let me ask her,” he said.

He hurried out, into the living room. Rose was curled up in a chair. She had a book open on her lap, but her gaze was troubled. Liam could see that Edward's visit had disturbed her. “Rose,” Liam said, “my friend wants to take us for a boat ride. Would you like that?”

“I want Mommy,” she said.

Liam went to sit beside her. “I know,” he said. “We're going to be with her really soon. But we can't today, so I thought maybe this would be the next best thing.”