Simon had been released the following day. Kate asked her father to pick him up, nervous at how he’d react to seeing her after the way she’d treated him. Even if he had been cheating on her, the fact that she’d believed him capable of killing her mother and terrorizing her made her feel ashamed. They needed to have a long talk about what they would do going forward, and how they would co-parent Annabelle. She’d rented a suite at the Sagamore Pendry while the house was being inspected for structural damage, and she’d asked her father to wait until evening to bring Simon over, so she could get Annabelle to sleep and they could talk privately.

Harrison and Simon walked in, and Kate rose from the sofa in the living room, tentative.

He looked terrible—his skin ashy, his clothes wrinkled. It had only been a few days, but she could see jail had taken its toll.

“How’re you doing?” she asked.

He ran to her and pulled her into his arms. “Thank God you’re okay. I almost lost you.”

Surprised, she began to return his embrace, but then she remembered Sabrina and pulled away. “Simon, we have to talk.”

“I’ll be in the lobby,” Harrison said. “Just call if you need me.”

Simon and Kate sat down, and she began. “I’m so sorry for the way I behaved. I just sort of lost it. The anxiety really took over, and I wasn’t myself. Can you ever forgive me for believing that you could have hurt my mother? I think I always knew deep down that you could never have done that.”

He visibly relaxed. “I forgive you. These have been the worst days of my life. Sitting in that cell, knowing that you believed I had done such a horrible thing. Thank God Randolph came forward.”

Kate thought of what Randolph had said. “He intimated that you’d been good to him. What was he talking about?”

Simon shrugged. “His grandson’s financial aid for college fell through. He came to me for help in arranging for another loan. I remembered how hard it was for my mother after my father died, so I gave him the money. We can well afford it. I knew Hilda would want to help her brother, and I didn’t want her to deplete her savings.”

Kate was touched. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“He asked me to keep it between us. Speaking of Hilda, your father said you fired her?”

Kate groaned. She’d really messed that up. “I’m afraid my paranoia got the best of me. I wrote her a long letter, apologizing and letting her know about my history with anxiety. I haven’t heard anything from her yet. I can only hope she’ll forgive me and come back.”

“I think she will.”