Carol and Beth Ann, two girls who’d discovered the truth behind their birth on their fifteenth birthday, had plotted together to leave Asheville and erase their pasts. Carol, blessed with a beautiful soprano voice, signed up to sing on the Maisy Adams. Beth Ann, the prettiest of the clan by far, wanted to see Edna, the woman who’d given birth to them and then given one daughter to a sister and her twin to their grandmother before she’d run away. The twins, who looked as different as night and day, had left the mountains together but gone their separate ways in Elizabeth City fifteen years ago.

“Why do you come back here, year after year?” Carlotta asked.

Beth Ann rolled her shoulders. “Peter shipped out right after we married in ’38, and then I had Bonnie nine months later. He was gone for so long; then the war broke out. I guess I needed her. I floated the idea of a vacation here to the other wives, and they all readily agreed. We’ve been coming back ever since.”

“And now he’s back. And not the same man.”

“No.”

“Have you considered leaving him?”

Beth Ann shook her head. “I can’t do that. His family is wealthy and powerful, and they would see to it that I never saw my children again, and that would kill me.”

“Does he know about Edna?” Carlotta asked.

“I never thought so. Edna and I exchanged letters over the years, and when Peter and I moved a month ago, my box of letters went missing. I think he found them.”

“Has he said anything?”

Beth Ann stared into her glass, swirling the water. “No. But he’s changed. He’s worse.”

“What did you tell him about your past?”

A smile tipped the edges of her lips. “An orphan. No family. Father was a preacher.”

“At least the last part is true.”

“Easier to remember lies rooted in truth.”

So here they both were, sisters raised as cousins, searching for something neither one could put into words.

“It’s very late. I should go,” Beth Ann said.

“Don’t. Lay down on the couch and sleep for a few hours. You’ll feel more like yourself and better able to handle what waits for you. You said yourself your husband and children are asleep. And I promise not to talk about family anymore.”

In the morning, Beth Ann would sober up, and then Ann would be embarrassed by this moment. She would return to her husband and her life. Maybe one day she would decide enough was enough with Peter Manchester. But Carlotta had lived enough to know that that time was not now. Ann was not ready.

“Edna chooses very comfortable furniture.” Carlotta fluffed a pillow for Beth Ann. “Lie down.”

Beth Ann suddenly seemed too weary to argue. She lowered to the pillow, curled up her knees to her chest, and relaxed into the softness.