“No, and I’m sorry about that. I told her you were being more than fair, warning her about the show and telling her to just ignore it if she couldn’t deal with it. But she didn’t see how that would be an option, since it will probably make the news and all. It was…” Maggie tugged at the ends of her hair. “Well, it was obviously a lot easier for her to close her eyes to the situation and lie to herself when no one was putting the truth in the spotlight.”

“That’s the problem.” Wren held the scrolled papers so tightly they crunched. “It’s not the truth in her mind. She thinks I’m lying.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

“What do you mean?”

A gust roared, rattling the windows. As if awakened by the wind, the furnace turned on with a clank and rush of air. “That night we stayed at the house, I went looking for Mom after the others had gone to bed. I found her in the living room, flipping through the family albums. Mournfully, you know. Like it was the last time she’d be able to see her parents the way she always had.”

Wren pinched the bridge of her nose. “A final good-bye?”

“Yeah. She was upset. I tried to discuss the situation with her. It wasn’t a productive conversation. Not only didn’t I change her mind, she decided I was siding with you.”

Pressing the scrunched papers against her chest, the aunt swore softly. “I am very sorry about that, Margaret. I was afraid that might happen.”

“She wants me back home.” Maggie ran a hand over her hair. Apologetically: “She thinks you’ve been manipulating me.”

Wren briefly shut her eyes. “Oh God, worse and worse.”

“Well, that’s stupid, and I told her so.” She pulled a curl straight, then brushed it back. “After we argued, Mom headed upstairs. I stuck around in the living room. The albums were open, so I started going through them, not paying much attention, just thinking about you and Mom. But I noticed something—something strange in the pictures, the ones that included my grandparents. I went through them again, more slowly. It struck me that the whole time I was growing up, Mom never left me alone with Gramps.”

“Never?”