Brynn shakes her head. Im just getting over strep throat and Im still on antibiotics. Ill be the designated driver.

I dont think so, Fiona says briskly, and turns to Tildy. Have you heard from Ca.s.sandra?

She left me a message this morning. And one last night, as well. Tildy screened both calls.

What did she say?

Just that sh.e.l.l be here. She must have hit traffic. Did you know shes getting married to some guy in November?

She e-mailed us both when she got engaged, Brynn says. I called her to say congratulations and catch up. She told me about her fiance She said they met at the hospital where shes doing her residency. Hes a doctor, right? A podiatrist or something?

I think so. Tildy idly inspects her manicure.

She said you met him when they came to Boston for a Red Sox game this summer. Whats he like?

Tildy wonders if Brynn really cares, or is just trying to keep the conversation afloat until Ca.s.sie arrives and they can get down to business.

Fiona is busy pulling her Blackberry from her pocket and flipping it open under the table, checking for e-mail.

Alex? Hes nice enough, Tildy says briefly. She can think of nothing to add other than, Good-looking, too.

Oh, itsAlex? Brynn asks. I thought it was Alec.

Hmm. Maybe it is. Tildy makes a mental note to pay more attention next time Ca.s.sie mentions him.

Fiona tucks her phone back into her pocket and casts a glance over each shoulder before asking Tildy in a low voice, So, what did you think when you got that birthday card in the mail?

To be honest? I thought one of you had a sick sense of humor.

It wasnt us, Brynn tells her definitively. And Ca.s.sie swears it wasnt her. So unless it was you It wasnt me. Please! Tildy rolls her eyes.

Well, then, who the heck do you think it could have been?

Hmm, Brynn seems to have a bit more s.p.u.n.k than she ever did back in college, Tildy notes with some satisfaction. Good for her.

I dont know what to think, she replies evenly, and fights the urge to pick up her winegla.s.s again. She doesnt want them to think shes drinking to calm herself.

And anyway, shed better keep her wits about her, or this could go very badly.

Fifteen minutes after watching Brynn and Fiona climb out of the BMW and walk into the restaurant, Ca.s.sie is still sitting in her Toyota parked at the far end of the parking lot.

Shes got to go in.

Either that, or just drive away.

But she cant just sit here indefinitely, mulling things over.

I shouldnt have come at all.

Really, theres so much she could beshould bedoing instead, with every free moment shes not working at the hospital. She has to finalize the reception menu. Meet again with the seamstress whos doing the final alterations on her wedding gown. Give Alecs sister the final guest list for next months shower, which she was supposed to have completed weeks ago.

Go ahead and invite anyone you want, Tammy urged her. Neighbors, distant relatives, old college pals Im serious, Ive got plenty of room.

Ca.s.sie suspects that her future sister-in-law is as eager to be graciously accommodating as she is to show off her newly built 7,000-square-foot brick Colonial facing the Long Island Sound.

Someday, well have a spread like this, baby, Alec said when they walked through it for the first time last month. You and me and our five beautiful kids. They can each have their own room.

Fivekids? Ca.s.sie laughed nervously.

Youre right, lets go for six. I dont like odd numbers. And well put up a big stable for Marshmallow, and you can ride him whenever you want, every day if you want.

Ride him where?

On our beautiful property. Well have a few acres, lots of trees, a water view, white picket fence, the whole nine yards.

White picket might as well be barbed wire, she found herself thinking illogically, as her fiance pulled her in for a kiss.

She tried to relax and let him kiss her, but she couldnt.

Whats wrong? he asked.

She shook her head. Nothing.

He gave her a long look and was about to question her further when his sister stuck her head in and told them dinner was ready.

How much longer can I go on pretending everything is fine?Ca.s.sie asks herself now, resting her head against the steering wheel.

She had enough to worry about before this whole Rachel thing reared its ugly head the other day. Between her medical residency and her wedding plans, shes barely had time to digest what that birthday card might signify.

All she knows is that her life is finally thrashing out of control like a wild stallion.

And she has two choices.

She can either tightly take hold of the reins while theres still time Or she can close her eyes, allow fate to toss her wherever it may, and pray for a safe landing.

There she goes at last, heading tentatively up the wide brick steps and disappearing into Glenview Springhouse.

For G.o.ds sake, it took Ca.s.sandra Ashford long enough to get out of the d.a.m.ned car.

In contrast, it takes no time at all to furtively dart from the silver BMW to the red Ferrari to the blue Toyota and slip a white envelope beneath the drivers side windshield wiper on each.

There you go, ladies. A nice little surprise for all of you Especially Matilda.

Sh.e.l.l look at it with confusion, and certainly with disdain, and, perhaps, ultimately, with dread.

Thats the point.

At the very least, she and the others will come to realize that they arent alone here at this secluded inn in the woods.

That, in fact, after this they can never really be sure theyre alone anywhere.

CHAPTER 6.

Daddy!

About to settle into his desk chair at the computer, Garth bolts back to the living room at the blood-curdling shriek.

What is it? Whats wrong? He skids to a stop in the doorway. Both the boys are sitting calmly on their little wooden stools pulled up to the cluttered coffee table, where he left them just a moment ago.

Theres crust on his bread! Caleb explains, one eye trained on the television, where SpongeBob Squarepants is doing a little dance.

Oops. Brynn did say he was supposed to cut off the crust.

Crust! Jeremy bellows like someone in the throes of physical torture. Yucky!

Cut that out, Jeremy. Crust is good for you.

No crust!

Okay, okay, stop shouting. Garth reaches past a tall stack of magazines and a taller one of unpaid bills to retrieve the paper plate containing the peanut b.u.t.ter sandwich he just made.

Theres crust on mine, too, Daddy.

Yeah, yeah, Ill cut it off. Picking up Calebs sandwich as well, he retreats back to the kitchen, where this mornings cereal boxes still litter the white countertop, along with plentiful toast crumbs.

He promised Brynn hed clean up everything and load the dishwasher with the cereal bowls, milk-soggy and still in the sink.

Just go get ready for your lunch, he urged her, as she surveyed the messy kitchen.

She protested, but only for a moment. When she emerged from the bedroom a half hour later, she looked like her old self againin khakis and a nice blazer rather than the T-shirts and raggy-hemmed faded jeans she favored most days.

Her old self, as in the person she used to be, before the boys came along.

She smiled when he complimented her. Then he caught her looking at the mess he hadnt yet touched.

Dont worry, Im on it, he promised. You just go have fun.

I will. But She shook her head.

Whats wrong?

That superglue didnt hold. The towel bar just dropped off the bathroom wall again. Can you fix it?

He sighed. Yeah, Ill fix it.

Soon? Because I dont want one of the boys to get hurt.

How, exactly, she thought one of the boys could get hurt by a missing towel bar was, and still is, beyond him.

Yet Garth knows better than to argue with illogical maternal logic. He never wins.

You go have fun with the girls, and forget about everything here. Ill hold down the fort.

I hate to leave.

Its only for a few hours, and you never go anywhere. Enjoy it.

I am kind of looking forward to a change of scenery, she admitted. In fact, I was thinking maybe one weekend in October, we could take a ride to the Cape to see my father.

I dont know Its such a long drive for just two days, between Friday-night traffic and Sunday-night traffic.

We could go on Columbus Day weekend.

Isnt that when Im in Arizona?

Oh, right. I forgot.

Why dont you go anyway, he suggested, with the boys?

He expected her to accuse him of not wanting to see her family, as she has before. But, surprisingly, all she said was, Maybe I will.

Good. She should. Her father and stepmother will want to see her and the boys And Garth is well aware that theyd just as soon do it without him around.

Theres never been much love lost between him and his father-in-law. Joe Costello is an old-fashioned, blue-collar guy who wasnt thrilled when his only daughter shacked up with her professor the summer after graduation. That she went on to marry him and settle down on the opposite end of the state didnt help matters as much as one might expect.

Joe and his wife are civil enough these days, but Garth is never entirely comfortable in their presencenor are they in his.

Brynns father frequently likes to point out that hes just a regular guyas opposed to Garth, who ostensibly is not.

I dont get all that professor talk, he remarks pointedly whenever Garth uses a word containing more than three syllables. Can you say that again in plain English?

No, Garth isnt anxious to visit the Cape anytime soon. Let Brynn go with the boys, and explain that hes off somewhere indulging in professor talk.

Daddy?

Right, the sandwiches.

Coming, guys.

He opens the silverware drawer and roots around. b.u.t.ter knife, steak knife, paring knife, meat cleaver Dont they have a regular old bread knife?

Im hungry! Jeremy whines from the next room.