The doors of the cavern exit opened and their tour group emerged. Eden felt cool air brush past her face and arms. Ben stepped out of the door holding Cassie's hand. Cassie was speaking to him in her usual animated style, and he leaned down to listen to her.

"Ben and Cassie seem to be getting along fine," Kyle said.

"I think she keeps him from missing Bliss so much."

"Well, I doubt that." Kyle lifted his camera case and slung it over his shoulder as he stood up. "It doesn't matter who you're with or what you're doing, you always miss your own child. Even when she's sitting right next to you."

40 King's Dominion amusement park had been too much for Cassie, and Ben was certain it was his fault. He'd worn her out. Eden had let him, of course. Not once did she say, "She's had enough, Ben." Eden seemed to know he needed this day to make up for the childless existence of the past year. But now both he and Eden would pay for their indulgence.

Cassie whined for the entire first hour of the drive back to the Valley-something he had not seen her do before. She'd finally reduced it to a whimper, and now she was slumped over her seat belt, sound asleep in the backseat of Eden's car.

Eden unfastened her own seat belt and got to her knees to reach into the backseat. "Can I use your sweatshirt to make a pillow for her?" she asked.

"Sure." Eden was wearing shorts, and he took his hand from the steering wheel to run his fingers up the inside of her thigh. Her body quivered perceptibly beneath his hand. "I'd forgotten how good you feel," he said.

"I hate this." She sat down again. "I'm going to get a house of my own in Coolbrook even if I have to pay for the entire year."

He knew having a place of her own where they could more easily be together was only one of her reasons for wanting to leave Lynch Hollow. She was anxious to get away from Kyle and Lou, whom she was treating with a distance they didn't deserve.

She took his hand and held it on her thigh. "Have I told you today that I love you?" she asked.

"Not in words," he said. "But I could tell." He'd caught her eyes on him a few times that day, watching him through the sunglasses she'd worn to keep from being recognized. Every time he found her looking at him, there was a smile on her face. Approving. Accepting. She'd bought him a sweatshirt, taken a dozen pictures of him, locked her fingers in his as they walked. He knew very well that she loved him.

They stopped at the small supermarket on the edge of Coolbrook to pick up something for dinner. They had to wake Cassie from a deep sleep to take her into the store with them, and she was pouty and mean. They bought lettuce, a loaf of Italian bread, spaghetti sauce. Cassie dragged her feet after them, wailing, "I want Reese's Pieces, Mom. I want Magic Middles."

She stood between them in the checkout line, slumping dramatically against the counter. "Mom, I need them. Please may I have Reese's Pieces? Please, please, please?"

"You've had more than your share of junk today, Cassie," Eden said.

Ben pulled a ten out of his wallet, but Eden shook her head as she reached into her purse. He put his money away quietly, gratefully. She started to take a bill from her wallet, but her hand froze. He followed her eyes to the rack of tabloids above the counter and saw immediately what had caught her eye. There was a huge picture of Eden and Michael Carey, a wide black slash drawn between them, separating them. The headline proclaimed simply, unequivocally: EDEN DUMPS MICHAEL FOR CONVICTED SEX OFFENDER.

He touched Eden's arm and felt the stiffness in her body as she lifted the paper off the rack and set it upside down on the counter with their groceries. Then she slipped her sunglasses from her purse and put them on, although she was inside and it was nearly seven o'clock in the evening.

"Mom, I need them." Cassie's eyes were on the candy display next to them.

Eden spun around. "Cassie, I said no, damn it!"

It was the first time he'd heard her speak to Cassie in anything other than a loving tone. But his surprise was nothing compared to Cassie's, who shut up quickly and whose eyes filled from exhaustion and the sting of her mother's words. He set his hand on her little shoulder and squeezed.

Once in the car, Cassie began to cry. It was a whining cry, grating in its insistence as it filled the ominous silence between him and Eden. The tabloid rested on Eden's thighs. The picture-Eden in a clingy, low-cut dress and Michael in a white tuxedo-was barely visible in the dim light, and she wasn't looking at it. She stared out the window at the darkening cornfields as he drove.

"I want Reese's," Cassie crabbed, and then with a manipulative little catch to her voice, "I want my daddy."

"Cassie," Ben said, "would you please stop whining?"

Eden snapped her head toward him. "Don't yell at her!"

He felt as if she'd slapped him. He tightened his hands on the steering wheel and kept his eyes on the winding road.

He pulled into the clearing in front of his cabin and turned off the ignition. For a moment the three of them sat in the dark car, listening to the rise and fall of the cicadas' song, unable to summon the energy to unfasten a seat belt or open a door.

After a few minutes Eden looked over at him. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

He tried to see her face, but it was too dark. "You knew this had to happen at some point," he said.

"No," she said quietly, reaching for the clasp of her seat belt. "I guess I didn't."

Inside the cabin he melted butter and chopped garlic for the bread while Eden made up the couch for Cassie, who was too wiped out to protest any longer. She climbed between the sheets and was asleep by the time Eden sat down at the table and opened the newspaper. He was annoyed at himself for the guilt he felt. He had kept nothing from her. He hadn't betrayed her, but her silence felt like an accusation.

He tore a head of iceberg lettuce apart and began slicing a tomato. Eden glanced over at Cassie before reading him the lead-in to the article.

"Head of Handicapped Children's Fund takes child molester as her lover."

He snapped the knife through the tomato and seeds flew, landing on the wall, on his shirt.

"Do they refer to me by name?" he asked.

"Yes. Someone really did his homework." She read a bit of the article to herself, then made a sound of disgust. "Sue Shepherd," she read, "president of the Handicapped Children's Fund, which was founded by Ms. Riley, said, 'If it's true, we certainly would no longer want her representing our organization.'" Eden's face was white, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she continued reading out loud. "A close friend stated, 'It's hard to believe Eden would get herself mixed up with someone like that, but her divorce left her pretty messed up, so who can say? They'll ban her children's films, no doubt about it. I can't believe she'd put her career in that sort of jeopardy.'

"Ironically, Michael Carey, who stands to lose the most by this turn of events, says be bears Eden no grudge. 'If it's true, then I'm worried for her. That's all I have to say on the subject.'"

It was worse, far worse than he'd imagined. He walked over to the table and set a tentative hand on her shoulder. "Eden, I don't know what to say."

She raised her hand until her fingers grasped his, and he was relieved by her touch. She looked up at him, her eyes huge and clear. "Make love to me," she said.

"Now?"

"Yes."

He looked at Cassie asleep on the sofa. "Where?"

Eden glanced at her daughter, then looked around the four dismal walls of the cabin until her eyes lit on the only possible source of privacy. "The bathroom."

He followed her into the bathroom, aware of his own raw need for her. But it was the sex of a pornographic movie, the kind of sex he thought a child molester might have. Neither of them felt tender. The moment the door was closed behind them, Eden reached for the snap on his shorts and he pushed her T-shirt above her breasts. She leaned over the sink and he pounded into her, her own body hammering back at him with an anger he hoped was not meant for him. He came with a swiftness that shamed him, leaving her far behind. The cold white light of the bathroom suddenly hurt his eyes and he closed them to shut out the pain. He was breathing hard as he rested his cheek on Eden's back and slipped his hand between her legs.

"No." She brushed his fingers away and stood up. "I don't care." She pulled her T-shirt down over her breasts and lowered herself to his dingy bathroom floor, where she set her head on her arms and began to cry. Her weeping echoed in the cold metal and graying porcelain of the bathroom, and the walls tightened around him. He pulled up his shorts and sat next to her, trying to take her in his arms, but she was rigid-a jutting mass of elbows, knees, shoulders-and impossible to get close to. He stroked her hair, hunting for softness, then rested his hand on her hip where her warm bare skin met the wretched linoleum of the floor.

"Eden, please. Let's go in the other room."

She shook her head without lifting it from her knees. "It's not fair," she said.

"I know."

"Everything was so good. I'd finally gotten close to Lou and Kyle, I had a wonderful film to work on. I'd fallen in love. Now it's all coming apart at the seams." Her words were muffled. He had to lean close to hear her.

He sat back with a sigh. "Here's what I think you should do," he said. She didn't raise her head, and he continued. "Call this garbage pail newspaper. Give them an interview. Tell them you had seen me briefly and I'd kept my past from you. Once you found out, you were shocked and outraged. You dropped me like a hot potato."

She raised her face slowly and he was unsettled by the hurt in her eyes. "Could you let go of me that easily?" she asked.

"You've worked so hard to get where you are, Eden. I don't want you to lose all that-your career, the Children's Fund, the fans that love and respect you. There's no reason you should have to pay for my problems."

She leaned her head back against the wall and he saw determination replace the pain in her eyes. "I'm not going to let the media run my life, Ben." She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. "I've had a good career. I've had fame and money. I've had the Children's Fund. But what I've never had"-she reached out and touched his cheek, let her fingers linger there for a moment-"is someone like you."

41 She refused to take any phone calls the next day at Lynch Hollow, and Kyle finally asked Michael and Nina not to call again. "Eden will call you when she wants to talk," he said, and she was grateful and guilty for his intervention.

But then Wayne called. It was ten o'clock, too late for him to be calling to speak with Cassie. Eden took the phone from Kyle's hand and waited until he had left the kitchen before sitting down at the table, steeling herself for whatever the next few minutes would bring.

"Hi, Wayne," she said.

"Eden. What the hell have you gotten yourself into?"

She sighed. "He's innocent, Wayne. The paper blew the whole thing out of proportion."

"Look, Eden, I'm trying to stay calm about this. I'm trying to stay rational. But I did some checking on this guy. I have a friend who knew the prosecuting attorney on his case. The man's an abomination, Eden. What he put his kid through...Are you letting Cassie around him?"

"Cassie is fine. She's having a great time."

"Do you know what that pig did to his daughter?"

"His name is Ben, Wayne. And I know what he was accused of doing. I also know he didn't do it."

"Oh, I see. You know more than the judge and jury. Eden, please listen to me. My friend says Alexander is a pathological liar. On the surface he comes across like a great guy. Sincere. Honest as the day is long. But he has no morals. He's not capable of caring about anyone but himself."

"You wouldn't say that if you knew him and knew how much he loves his daughter."

"Eden, Jesus Christ! He abused his daughter. Not just once, either."

"I don't see the point in continuing this conversation."

Wayne was quiet for a moment. "I think this is all my fault somehow. I didn't handle the divorce very well and I guess it was harder for you than I realized. Maybe you're desperate or-"

"Don't flatter yourself, Wayne. I'm not desperate."

"Well, my main concern-and I hope yours as well-is Cassie's welfare. If you insist on seeing this jerk you'll have to send her back to me."

"Forget it. You had her for an entire month. She's mine now. And she's perfectly happy here."

"I don't want her around him, Eden. If you don't send her back voluntarily I'll go back to court. I'll get her easily-you can see that, can't you? Your judgment is obviously out of line."

She squeezed the phone cord between her fingers as though she could shut him up if she pressed hard enough.

"Does Kyle condone you seeing this guy?"

"Kyle knows he's innocent."

"You've all lost your minds. Let me talk to Kyle."

"No. I don't want to drag him into-"

"Look, Eden, I'll give you the weekend to think about this before I do anything. But keep him away from Cassie, do you hear me?"

"Yes."

She hung up and within a few seconds the phone rang again. She heard Kyle pick it up in the living room, heard his muffled end of the conversation and knew he was talking to Wayne. She went upstairs to check on Cassie, who was smiling in her sleep. Eden sat on the edge of the folding bed and smoothed the hair back from her daughter's cheek. If she thought for an instant Cassie was at risk, she would never see Ben again. Never. Surely Wayne knew that.

She met Kyle in the kitchen. "I hate to ask you to do this, Kyle, but could you keep an eye on Cassie? She's sound asleep and I need to see Ben. I won't be long."

"All right." Kyle switched on the porch light and walked her outside. "That was Wayne on the phone. He's very serious, Eden. I wish I could say you should stick by Ben, but he's going to cost you, honey. He's going to cost you a lot."

Eden spun around to face him. "And what do you think it would cost me to make a movie about my mother screwing her brother?"

Kyle looked as though he'd been stung. "We were cousins," be said, quietly, weakly, and he turned to walk back into the house.

She took a step after him. "Kyle, I'm sorry. I-" She jumped as the screen door slammed closed on her apology.

Ben was nearly asleep when his phone rang.

"Is this Ben Alexander?" It was a male voice, sharp and unfamiliar.

"Yes."

"This is Wayne Cramer. Eden Riley's ex-husband."

Ben sat up. He had not expected this phone call. Perhaps he should have. "Yes?"

"I just spoke with Eden. I explained to her that if she intends to continue seeing you, I'll fight to get our daughter back. And I'll win."

Ben shut his eyes. No doubt he would win. No doubt at all. "Well," he said, "I guess if I knew the little about me that you know, I'd feel the same way," he said. "But I can assure you Cassie's safe. She's a wonderful kid and-"

"Oh, Christ, don't you fucking dare tell me about my daughter. If you touch her, I swear I'll kill you."

Ben knew this man's anguish. He knew his fear. "Wayne, I know you think I'm guilty, but I'm not. I understand how you feel because I feel the same way. I worry that someone else might have hurt my daughter and I think about that day and night. That person might still be around her and I can't-"

"Look, I just want you to know that Eden's going to lose Cassie along with everything else. Are you worth that?"

Ben swallowed. "No one's worth that," he said, but he heard the phone slam down at the other end as Wayne Cramer hung up on him.

He was sitting on his porch when Eden pulled into the clearing.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as she sat down next to him on the bench.

"I needed to see you, but I thought you'd be asleep. Why are you outside?"

"Thinking." He set his hand on her back, played with the ends of her hair. "You asked Kyle and Lou to sit?"

"I had to. Wayne just called me." She sounded disgusted. "He read the paper, I guess, and he's worried about Cassie."

"He'd be a lousy father if he weren't." He wrapped a strand of her hair around his finger, watched how it caught the glow of his porch light. "He called me, too, Eden."