Bliss was inches taller, her body stretching out, her pin-straight hair cut to the tops of her shoulders. She looked like a street urchin-beautiful, but lanky and underfed.

"I can't believe how much she's grown," Ben said. He looked through the pictures, all of them of Bliss on the waterfront. Her face was somber and unsmiling. In his memory, she smiled all the time. In the last picture she was waving at the camera, but still there was no smile.

"Doesn't she smile anymore?" he asked.

"Oh, sure. She was a little grumpy that day."

Ben sat back with a sigh. "I guess we'll be doing this until she's eighteen, huh? You sneaking me pictures?"

"I'll do it as long as you want me to."

"I know it puts you in an awkward position with Jen."

"Blood's thicker than marriage." Sam stretched, looked around him again. "Speaking of Jen, she wants me to talk you into coming for a visit. You can bring Eden, if you like. We miss you. We used to spend practically every weekend together, remember? Always had some project we were helping each other with."

"I'm not ready to go to Annapolis. I can't be that close to Bliss. I'd try to get a look at her."

"Mmm." Sam nodded. "By the way, did you know Sharon's father died?"

"No." Ben felt wounded, forgotten. "I thought he was doing better." Sharon should have called him. Regardless of what had happened this past year, she should have let him know. "I can't even call Sharon to...Do you have her new number?"

"Yeah, but Ben, I really can't."

"I just want to tell her I'm sorry about her dad. Come on."

Sam was easy on this one. He pulled out his wallet and read him Sharon's number from a scrap of paper. "Don't tell them I gave it to you," he said. "By the way-I've found a couple of names of therapists up here. Why don't you let me...?"

"Can't afford it."

"I'll take care of the cost."

"No, Sam. You know that's just not my way of dealing with things."

"Do you need a refill on the Valium?"

"I haven't taken any."

"Good. I really wish you wouldn't. You look like you've lost a little weight. Are you eating? How are you sleeping?"

Ben loved this side of Sam-the soft, concerned, nurturing side that was the reason for his success as a psychiatrist. He would make a wonderful father. "I'm fine. My best nights, though, are the nights I'm not sleeping because I have Eden with me. I've had some very sleepless nights lately."

Sam laughed. "My baby brother's sleeping with Eden Riley. Amazing." He swallowed the last of his beer and set the empty can on the coffee table. "There's just one more thing I have to tell you and then I've got to get back on the road."

"What's that?"

"Well." Sam took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "I hesitate to tell you because there's nothing we can do about it and I figure you're already feeling helpless enough."

Ben sat forward. "Tell me."

Sam looked him in the eye. "I think Sharon was seeing Jeff when you two were married."

Ben shook his head. "She barely knew him, if she knew him at all." Sharon didn't fit his image of a woman having an affair back then. "What makes you think that?"

"He slipped when Jen and I picked Bliss up to go to Saint Michaels. He said he and Sharon took Bliss to Wild World two summers ago. Sharon corrected him and he argued with her and then realized he was incriminating himself and shut up."

"Pretty slim evidence, Sam."

"Well, I asked Bliss about it and she thought it was two summers ago too."

"Bliss's memory is pretty unreliable."

"She calls him Daddy, Ben."

At first he didn't understand what Sam was suggesting. He only felt the sting of the word, remembering Eden's reaction when Cassie referred to her stepmother as Mommy. But then he caught on.

"Do you think...?"

"I don't know. I know you didn't do it, and if Jeff was really around during that time..."

"But Bliss said it happened when she was in bed in her own room."

"Maybe when you were traveling."

"Christ, Sam, why don't you just punch me in the stomach and get it over with? Sharon wouldn't ... You know her better than that."

Sam shrugged.

"She had back problems all that year. She wasn't even interested in sex."

"Maybe she just wasn't interested in sex with you. Or maybe not with Jeff either. Maybe she drove Jeff to Bliss or-"

"That's crazy," Ben said, but what he was remembering was the time he'd called home from Colorado and a man answered. Sharon had told him it was someone from school. She was having a meeting of some of the teachers. "Assuming it is true-what can we do about it?"

"That's just it." Sam put his glasses back on. "There's nothing we can do. I spoke with Barbara McKay and the social worker who investigated the case. They said there's nothing concrete to go on."

"I can't believe Sharon would let me go to jail for something Jeff might have done."

"You confessed, remember?" Sam had been furious with him for his incriminating outburst in the courtroom.

"I didn't feel as though I had a goddamned choice. They were going to torture Bliss."

"She's not as fragile as you think."

Ben set his beer down. He looked over at his brother. "Do you remember Randy?"

Sam frowned at him. "What are you dredging that up for now?"

"I've always wondered if you understood why I didn't want to let Bliss testify. I still remember what it was like having all those questions thrown at me."

"You really need to see someone, Ben. You should have put that stuff behind you a long time ago."

"It is behind me. Or it was until I saw that scared look on Bliss's face."

Sam stood up. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. Would you rather I just kept this sort of information to myself?"

"No." It took all Ben's strength to stand up himself. He didn't want Sam to leave. "Please don't start keeping things from me."

"Okay." Sam put his arm around his brother's shoulders and started toward the door.

"Thank Jen for the cookies."

"Sure." At the door Sam turned to face him. "I don't know how to say this other than just to say it." He pulled a check from his shirt pocket and pressed it into Ben's hand. "Use this for whatever you want. A better place to live, maybe. Or a trip for you and Eden. You should get away. Relax a-"

"Forget it." Ben's cheeks burned. He put the check back in Sam's pocket, but Sam extracted it again.

"Please, Ben, take it." There were tears in Sam's eyes, ready to spill over. Ben looked away, opened the door wider.

Sam set his hand on the doorknob. "I can't stand to see what's happened to you. This isn't right. It isn't fair. Please let me help with the money. It's the only way I can."

"No." Ben stared out at the BMW next to his pickup. He couldn't look at Sam's face, didn't want to see if the tears were making their way down his cheeks.

"You know how much we love you?"

Ben nodded. "Drive carefully, okay?"

He stared at the number for a long time before dialing the phone. He held his breath as it rang, grimaced when Jeff answered.

"This is Ben," he said. "I'd like to speak with Sharon." There was a moment's hesitation on the other end of the line.

"How did you get this number?"

"It doesn't matter. Is Sharon there?"

"She doesn't want to talk to you."

"Let her tell me that herself, okay?"

He heard Sharon's voice in the background, then Jeff growling, "You don't have to talk to him."

"Ben?" It was Sharon, and he felt an old rush of love for her.

"Sam just told me about Pop," he said. "I'm so sorry, Sharon."

She said nothing and he felt an aching in his chest.

"I wish you'd told me," he said. "He was a part of my life, too."

"I know." Her voice was husky. "I didn't know what I should..."

He heard Jeff bark something in the background. "Could you please ask Jeff to give you a few seconds' privacy?" To his surprise, she spoke to Jeff and Ben heard the slamming of a door. Poor Sharon. "I'm sorry," he said. "I don't want to create problems between you two."

"It's all right."

"How did Bliss take it about Pop?"

"I don't think we should talk about Bliss."

Ben closed his eyes, let the ache spread, fill him up. "She's my child, Sharon."

There was another long pause before Sharon spoke again. "She doesn't really understand," she said. "She keeps expecting him to show up at the door."

"Does she expect me to show up too?" He knew he'd overstepped himself the second the words were out of his mouth, but it was too late.

"Why should she?" Sharon snapped. "You made it very clear to her-and to me-that your pride was more important than your family when you refused counseling."

"Sharon, I was innocent. I couldn't go-"

"I'm getting off."

"Wait. Look. Just tell me how she is. How does she get along with Jeff? He sounds kind of gruff."

"At least he's not a wolf in sheep's clothing."

"Sharon, I want you to do something for me. Just entertain the thought that I might be innocent."

"I will not."

"You have to. Because if you truly believe something happened to Bliss and if I'm innocent, then someone else is guilty and ... Sharon?" He dug his fingers into the quilt. "Were you seeing Jeff while we were married?"

Sharon drew in a sharp breath. "I can't believe you're asking me that."

"I'm sorry. But I-"

"Ben, don't call again, all right? There's no point to it. It upsets me and it upsets Jeff. And Bliss is never going to know you called, so don't imagine that she will. She's so much better now. She's finally starting to forget you, and the last thing we need is to have you harassing us again."

She hung up on him, and he slowly moved the phone from the bed to the apple crate. She's finally starting to forget you. Maybe it was best for her that she forget him, that he become one-dimensional in her mind. The bad daddy. Make it simple. Visitation was a poor idea, a terrible idea. Bliss's counselor was right. It could only confuse her.

He'd forgotten to ask Sharon if Bliss smiled anymore.

He'd promised her pizza, and she'd driven up to the cabin expecting to be greeted by the aroma of oregano and tomato sauce. Instead all she could smell as she neared the open cabin door was the heat.

He sat at the table in the center of the room, his back to her, and at first she thought he was working on the dollhouse. "Ben?"

He turned around, clearly startled. "I didn't hear your car."

She walked toward him. "You must be deep in thought." She put her hands on his shoulders, and as she bent down to kiss the top of his head she saw the photographs lined up on the table in front of him. "Are these new pictures of Bliss?"

"Sam brought them." His voice was flat.