Carter had cornered Blaire now. He was standing close to her, invading her personal space, and Blaire kept backing up. What a jerk, flirting right in front of his wife and clearly making Blaire uncomfortable.

Kate strode over. “Excuse me, but I need Blaire for a moment.”

“Everything all right?” Blaire asked as they walked away.

“Just rescuing you, that’s all.”

Blaire smiled at her. “Thank you. He had one of the tuna sandwiches, and his breath was horrible.”

For some reason, Kate found that hilarious, and she started giggling. They were both laughing now, but soon loud guffaws were coming from Kate and she was holding her side, unable to stop. The room went quiet, everyone turning to look at her. It made her laugh even harder, until tears were running down her cheeks.

Simon walked over and pulled her to the side. “What’s so funny?”

She pushed him away. “Why don’t you go back to talking to Selby? You were doing quite a bit of laughing yourself.”

He looked at her like she was crazy. “What’s wrong with you? We were just talking.”

“You always have an excuse, don’t you?” She walked away.

She walked around in a daze awhile longer, anxious for the evening to end. The original plan had been to wait until eight to sing “Happy Birthday” and cut the cake, but Kate needed the party to be over before she completely fell apart.

At seven thirty she decided to hurry things along. She looked around the room for Simon so that he could help with the presents, but he was nowhere to be seen. Naturally he would be somewhere else when Kate needed him. She loaded as many of the gifts as she could carry into her arms and took them to the dining room, setting them down on the table, and then went to the kitchen to find Fleur. As the two of them gathered the cake and dishes, the door from the garage opened, and Simon walked in.

Kate looked at him, annoyed. “I was looking for you. Where have you been?”

“Nowhere. Just remembered I left my phone in the car.” He patted his pocket. “What did you need?”

“Just get the other presents from the table in the hall and take them into the dining room,” she said, not bothering to look at him as she left.

Kate gathered everyone into the dining room, and as soon as Simon turned off the lights, Fleur brought the cake in, candles blazing, along with Kate’s sterling cake knife. Simon hurried in with the rest of the gifts as they sang “Happy Birthday.” When Annabelle blew out the candles, the room was plunged into darkness.

“Daddy, turn the lights on,” Annabelle’s frightened voice rang out amid soft laughter.