Chapters (97)
- Cover
- Back Cover Text
- Praise
- Booklist
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Seventy-One
- Seventy-Two
- Seventy-Three
- Seventy-Four
- Seventy-Five
- Seventy-Six
- Seventy-Seven
- Seventy-Eight
- Seventy-Nine
- Eighty
- Eighty-One
- Eighty-Two
- Eighty-Three
- Eighty-Four
- Eighty-Five
- Eighty-Six
- Eighty-Seven
- Eighty-Eight
- Eighty-Nine
- Acknowledgments & A Personal Note
- Excerpt
Watching Emma warmed him. He was amazed at how she had saved one of her students. She was a remarkable woman and he was glad she was his wife.
“Hi, Ben,” said a large bearded man with a canvas bag of hardcovers and paperbacks of Ben’s books, setting them on the table for him to sign. “I love your books. They’re better than any versions of these stories they’ve put on the screen. Can you sign them to Karl with a K?”
“Happy to, Karl.”
Before signing, Ben spotted Kayla in her glowing green T-shirt helping a woman lift books. His heart swelled with love and pride in how much she looked and acted like Brooke. She was every bit the reporter.
But he was concerned about how Kayla was struggling with her mother’s death and her inability to accept Emma—that she regarded her instead as a mysterious outsider in their lives.
He planned to raise it with Doctor Hirsch when they spoke.
Kayla grunted, hefting a box crammed with Game of Thrones and Harry Potter books, setting it before a woman who was using a cane. The woman slid on glasses to sort through the titles with delight.
“Bless you, dear,” the woman said.
Kayla dragged the back of her hand across her brow. While the woman piled her selections, Kayla looked for Emma, still troubled that she could find no reference to a deadly fire at a Tony’s Diner in Beltsville, Maryland.
Was Emma lying?
I’ve got to keep digging. I need to look inside that trunk in her closet. And there’s something else I can try. It’s dangerous but it’ll prove if she’s lying.
“There you are, Kayla!”
She turned to the happy face of Clara Jean O’Connor who took her hand and nodded to cameras milling through the activity.
“The TV people are here! They want to interview your dad, you and Emma. We’re going to meet them at your dad’s table.”
“Do you have westerns?” a man with silver hair, wearing a gingham shirt and a bolo tie, asked Emma. “I’m looking for Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour.”
“Westerns are in row twenty.” Emma pointed to the sign.
“I thank you kindly, miss.”
As the man made his way, Emma’s smile faded and she returned to her problems. Angry that Marisa Joyce Narmore had slipped away from her on the freeway before she could get answers about the note. Emma would have to try again with Marisa soon.
Then there was Kayla with her questions about her past. Emma hated lying to her and to Ben. But she had to, to protect them. She hoped one day she could undo her lies and reveal the truth.