“It’s not strange at all.” Mallory smiled at her. “I think it’s the most beautiful thing you’ve done so far, and I’ll always treasure it.”

“Really?”

“You’ve become an artist.”

“Don’t be silly. It’s just something to do with my hands.”

“You keep telling yourself that.” Mallory grinned. “Is it coincidence that you used the colors of your favorite football team?”

Lilly hadn’t even realized it. Maybe it was a coincidence.

“I’ve never understood how you turned into such a sports fan,” Mallory said. “And not even a West Coast team.”

“I like the uniforms.”

Lilly managed a shrug and turned the conversation in another direction. Her thoughts, however, remained stuck.

Kevin, what have you done?

Chef Rick Bayless’s cutting-edge Mexican cuisine made the Frontera Grill one of Chicago’s favorite spots for lunch, and before Molly had given away her money, she’d frequently eaten here. Now she ate at this North Clark Street restaurant only when someone else was picking up the check, in this case Helen Kennedy Schott, her editor at Birdcage Press.

“… we’re all very committed to the Daphne books, but we do have some concerns.”

Molly knew what was coming. She’d submitted Daphne Takes a Tumble in mid-January, and she should have given Helen at least an idea about her next book by now. But Daphne Finds a Baby Rabbit had gone into the trash, and Molly had a devastating case of writer’s block.

In the two months since her miscarriage she hadn’t been able to write a word, not even for Chik. Instead, she’d kept busy with school book talks and a local tutoring program for preschoolers, forcing herself to focus on the needs of living children instead of the baby she’d lost. Unlike the adults Molly met, the children didn’t care that she was the about-to-be-ex-wife of the city’s most famous quarterback.

Just last week the town’s favorite gossip column had once again turned the media spotlight on her:

Heiress Molly Somerville, the estranged wife of Stars quarterback Kevin Tucker, has been keeping a low profile in the Windy City. Has it been boredom or a broken heart over her failed marriage to Mr. Football? No one has seen her at any of the city’s nightspots, where Tucker still shows up with his foreign lovelies in tow.