She told herself this wasn’t any of her business, but she couldn’t let it go. “Lilly said she’s your aunt.”

“Yeah, so what?”

“When she looked at you, I got this strange feeling.”

“Spit it out, Molly. I’ve got things to do.”

“Her heart was in her eyes.”

“I seriously doubt that.”

“She loves you.”

“She doesn’t even know me.”

“I’ve got this weird feeling about why you’re so upset.” She bit her lip and wished she hadn’t started this, but some powerful instinct wouldn’t let her back off. “I don’t think Lilly’s your aunt, Kevin. I think she’s your mother.”

Chapter 12

12

“Fudge!” Benny smacked his lips. “I love fudge!”

—Daphne Says Hello

Kevin looked as though she’d punched him. “How did you know? Nobody knows that!”

“I guessed.”

“I don’t believe you. She told you. Damn her!”

“She didn’t say a thing. But the only other person I’ve seen with eyes that exact color of green is you.”

“You knew just by looking at her eyes?”

“There were a couple of other things.” The longing Molly had witnessed on Lilly’s face when she gazed at Kevin had been too intense for an aunt. And Lilly had given her clues.

“She told me how young she was when she left home, and she said she’d gotten into trouble. I knew your parents were older. It was just a hunch.”

“A damn good hunch.”

“I’m a writer. Or at least I used to be. We tend to be fairly intuitive.”

He flung down his hammer. “I’m getting out of here.”

And she was going with him. He hadn’t abandoned her last night, and she wouldn’t abandon him now. “Let’s go cliff diving,” she blurted out.

He stopped and stared at her. “You want to go cliff diving?”

No, I don’t want to go cliff diving! Do you think I’m an idiot? “Why not?”

He gazed at her for a long moment. “Okay, you’re on.”

Exactly what she’d been afraid of, but it was too late to back out now. If she tried, he’d just call her “bunny lady” again. That was what the kindergarten children called her when she read them her stories, but, from him, it didn’t sound as innocent.

An hour and a half later she lay on a flat rock near the edge of the bluff trying to catch her breath. As the heat from the rocks seeped through her wet clothes, she decided the diving hadn’t been the worst part. She was a good diver, and it had even been sort of fun. The worst part was hauling her body back up that path so she could throw herself off again.