Lara padded softly through the foyer, passing all the black-and-white family photos as well as photos of their prized horses and the painting of her great-grandmother standing on a horse. As she passed it, a detail caught her eye: the choker necklace. She reached up to touch her own neck. It was bare. Still feeling the imprint of the necklace on her collarbone, Lara couldn’t remember taking it off, but then so many things about the hour after she left the church were hazy. At some point, she must have cooperated with her mother because she was also out of her wedding dress and now in a long sleeveless cotton nightgown that looked like it belonged in another century.

The minute she stepped outside, the breeze hit her. Goose bumps dotted her arms, and she rubbed her hands over them. She walked out into the field where, as a teenager, she’d sat with Todd so many times. Easing herself onto a soft patch of grass, she thought there was something comforting about being here again. It recalled a simpler time.

Usually her mother was up by five, so the animals were stirring and restless, waiting for Audrey to feed them. They turned their hopeful attention to Lara.

She thought she heard rustling in the tall grasses behind her. Lara twisted to get a better look. “Todd?” Instead of his tall figure standing there, she found only the softly swaying grass. Thinking she heard movement again, she turned, hoping that Todd would emerge from the trees. There had been mysterious things—mysterious people—appearing here before, only now she welcomed them. She’d even dreamed about them again last night.

It was late harvest in the valley, and she knew the nearby winery’s seasonal staff would be out this morning, racing against the clock for any late grapes that were ripening. Expecting to hear the firing up of tractor engines and the shouts and laughter from the early-morning pickers, she pulled her legs closer, meeting the eyes of the tall chestnut horse that had begun staring at her from his gate. It was as though time had stopped. Even the scene in the house looked like one of those episodes of The Twilight Zone where everyone had fallen into a deep sleep with Lara being the only person conscious and left wandering the earth.

She didn’t know how long she’d been sitting when she heard the gravel shifting then saw the glare of headlights coming up over the drive. Her breath caught. Todd! Oh, thank God.

This had all been a terrible nightmare.