"No, of course not. I was just saying . . ."

"Yes?"

"You let another opportunity pa.s.s by."

"You've got to be kidding." She would have laughed if her head hadn't hurt so much.

"I'm most certainly not kidding. I swear I don't remember the last serious relationship you were in. In fact, I don't think you've ever been in a-"

"Kate darling!" Carl Bertolli called from the doorway.

He waited until all eyes were on him and then rushed into the room with a flurry. Carl did so love to make a grand entrance, no matter what the occasion.

Isabel was thrilled to see him again. She'd only met him once, when he'd stopped by the house to pick up Kate for some sort of important benefit, but he'd made a lasting impression. Carl was so flamboyant, so bigger than life. She told Kate she was sure he must own at least one cape to wear to all his winter social events.

He clasped Kate's hand in both of his and leaned down to kiss her forehead.

"My poor, poor darling. This is a nightmare, a complete nightmare. It's amazing no one was seriously injured or killed in the explosion, and I tell you, if I were not wearing this white suit, I would get down on my knees to thank G.o.d."

Kiera coughed to cover her laughter. Kate tugged her hand away and said, "You remember my sisters, Kiera and Isabel."

"Yes, of course I do." He flashed a smile and said, "I do hope you don't blame me for what happened. I never should have allowed that crazy artist to show her work. I was warned, but I didn't believe anyone would take the woman seriously." He turned back to Kate and added, "And so I guess the blame should should rest on my shoulders." rest on my shoulders."

He wanted to be consoled. Kate was having none of it. "Carl, the police will sort it all out. You couldn't have known someone would go to such extremes."

"It's good of you to say so. Do you know the gallery was untouched? Not a stone was jarred loose. Isn't that astonishing? Of course I have a hole the size of a swimming pool in the lawn that I'm going to have to do something about, but when I think how much worse it could have been . . ." He paused, gave an elaborate shrug, and patted her hand again. "I shall let you rest now that I know you forgive me. If you need anything, anything at all . . ."

"I'll be sure to call you."

He gave her another dazzling smile, bowed to Isabel and Kiera, and left the room.

Kiera and Isabel stared at the empty doorway. The energy in the room seemed to have been sucked out with his departure.

"Carl's an interesting fellow," Kiera remarked. "A bit dramatic, but interesting."

"Aunt Nora was taken with him," Isabel said. "She told me he reminded her of a young George Hamilton. When I asked her who George Hamilton was, she got real mad at me and said she wasn't that old. I have no idea what she meant. Hey, Kate, what about Carl?"

"What about him?"

"Pay attention. We were discussing your love life-"

"No, we weren't. You were."

Isabel ignored the interruption. "And since you don't seem inclined to do anything about it on your own, I feel I should help."

Kiera burst into laughter. "And you think Kate and Carl would be a good match?"

Kate grimaced as she tried to keep from laughing, too. "Not only is Carl not my type, he's engaged. His fiancee is much more suited to his idiosyncrasies than I could ever be."

Isabel blushed. "Okay, maybe not. But, Kate, you need someone more laid-back to balance your uptightness."

"There's no such word," Kiera said.

"Please, have mercy on me," Kate pleaded. "Take Isabel home."

"Okay, we're out of here. Call me in the morning and let me know when I can pick you up."

Isabel wasn't the least offended that Kate wanted to get rid of her. She headed for the door then stopped. "Don't you ever scare me like that again. Promise me, Kate."

Kate responded to the fear in her voice. "I promise."

Isabel nodded. "Okay." She sighed as she added, "Now that you're home for good, things will be back to normal."

Chapter Five.

Kiera drove Kate home from the hospital the next afternoon. They pulled into the driveway just as a messenger from a CPA firm was about to knock on their front door. While Kiera signed for the delivery, the messenger dropped a fat package into Kate's arms.

"Guess what we're going to be doing tonight," Kate said as she opened the door and headed to the kitchen. She took a knife to the envelope and emptied the contents on the table.

Isabel followed her sisters into the kitchen. "What's all that?" she asked. She disappeared behind the refrigerator door as she searched for something to munch on.

Kiera answered her. "Bills. I had Tucker Simmons, the CPA, send over all of the accounts Mom handled."

Isabel shut the refrigerator and walked over to the table with a celery stick in her hand. "So why are they giving us the bills now?"

"When Mom became so gravely ill, she set it up that Mr. Simmons would take over the bills for one year after she was gone. I told her I could handle it, but she insisted it would be too difficult for me to manage from Boston. And you know how persuasive Mom could be."

"Is there enough money left to pay all of these bills?" Isabel asked, waving her celery stick at the pile of envelopes.

"I guess we're about to find out," Kiera said. "Mom was so secretive about her budget. Whenever I asked her how the money situation was, she always said the same thing, 'We're doing just fine.' "

"That's what she always said to me, too," Kate added. "It was so aggravating."

Isabel took exception to her sisters daring to criticize their mother. "She was being thoughtful. She didn't want any of us to worry. Kiera, she wanted you to focus on medicine, and Kate, she wanted you to finish your master's. Neither one of you needed any money because you both had scholarships and grants. Nora and I were dependent on Mom though, and she wanted to make it easy for us. That's why she did what she did. I'm sure of it."

"I wonder how much is left in the trust," Kiera said, ignoring Isabel's impa.s.sioned defense of their mother's financial decisions. "And do we know how much is still to come from Mom's pension?"

Kate shook her head. "I don't even know how much her monthly checks were. She refused to discuss it. Somewhere in these statements we'll get the answers."

"I'm not worried," Isabel said. "Even if we had to use up the money, Kate will figure out something."

"Why me?"

"Because Kiera has to do her last year of medical school, and she'll never get to come home then, and I'm going off to college in a week, so that leaves you. Besides, you and Kiera got all the brains in the family. You know what? I used to think I was stupid because I wasn't in advanced cla.s.ses or got perfect scores on tests, but Mom told me that I was normal. Yes, normal," she insisted, pointing the celery at Kate. "You two are the weird ones. I don't want to hurt your feelings, but you're both kind of . . . nerds."

Kate laughed. "Mom never called us weird or nerds."

Isabel frowned. "She didn't call you normal, either. Kate, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm opening the bills. I want to get started."

"Don't do that now. All of this can wait until after dinner," Kiera said. "You look worn out. Go rest for a little while. These bills aren't going anywhere."

Kate didn't argue. She still had a lingering headache, and she wanted to take a shower and change out of the pair of slacks and silk blouse Kiera had brought to the hospital for her, so she headed to her room.

After her shower, she slipped into a pair of shorts and an old T-shirt, and fell asleep curled up on the bed.

She awoke to the sound of her sisters and aunt maneuvering around the kitchen, the aroma of baked chicken and apple dumplings wafting up the stairs.

The kitchen was directly beneath her bedroom, and she could hear their chatter.

"Kiera, you and Isabel are going to have to do cleanup tonight. I'm running late," her aunt said.

"What is it tonight, Aunt Nora?" Isabel asked.

"My support group, Miss Nosy."

Ever since the sisters could remember, Aunt Nora had been a regular at a support group. For years she attended one in St. Louis, and as soon as she moved to Silver Springs, she joined one at the local church. None of the girls knew what Nora was supporting all those years, but they knew better than to ask. They'd heard her right-to-privacy speech too many times to keep count.

She wouldn't allow them any privacy, though. She wanted to know where they were every minute.

"And where will you be off to tonight, young lady?" Kate heard Nora ask Isabel.

"It's my night to sing at Golden Meadows," Isabel answered.

"The men and women at that nursing home are surely going to miss you while you're away at school."

"I think I'll miss them more," Isabel said. "They've been so sweet."

"You wake me when you get home," Nora ordered.

Isabel argued. "I'm a grown-up, and I don't think I need to-"

Nora interrupted her. "I promised your mother I would watch out for you, and that's what I'm doing. You're grown up when you go off to college."

Kate heard the back door open. "I forgot to tell you," Nora said. "The movers have changed the date on me. They'll be here on Friday. I expect some help packing my boxes."

"Of course we'll help you," Kiera promised.

"Does that mean you'll be leaving on Friday?" Isabel asked.

"Yes, it does," she answered. "But don't think you're getting rid of me for good because I'll be coming to see you as often as I used to visit my daughter. I'll just be living there instead of here. Now enough of this talk. You're making me late. Where's my pocketbook?"

"On your arm," Isabel said.

Kate heard the door close. She got out of bed, splashed water on her face, and went downstairs.

After dinner Isabel rushed off, and Kiera left to pick up some things at the supermarket, so Kate decided to get a start on the papers the accountant had sent over.

She began with a large envelope from Summit Bank and Trust. Kate didn't know her mother had done any business with Summit. The household account she had set up was with a local Silver Springs bank. Kate thought perhaps the papers had something to do with the pension. There were several invoices, copies of a loan application, and a letter on top of the stack from Mr. Edward Wallace, senior loan officer.

She read the letter and looked at the loan papers. "No," she whispered. "This has to be wrong." She read the letter again. She couldn't accept what she was reading, wouldn't accept it.

Yet she knew it was true, for there it was, her mother's distinctive signature.

"Oh, G.o.d," she whispered. "Mother, what did you do? What did you do?"

There was no pension, no trust, no insurance money, no savings. Her mother had taken out a three-year loan with a balloon payment of almost three hundred thousand dollars, and it was due in just four weeks' time.

She had put up everything she owned as collateral, and every a.s.set would go to the bank if the payment wasn't made.

One of those a.s.sets was Kate's company. Another was her name.

Chapter Six.

Kate was frantic. She held the letter from the banker and copies of the loan papers her mother had signed as she paced around the kitchen. She'd read and reread the doc.u.ments at least five times now, and still she couldn't believe what her mother had done.

If the papers were in order-and of course they were; there was no reason to believe they weren't-then her mother had signed everything away. Everything.

"My G.o.d, Mother, what were you thinking?"

Apparently she hadn't been thinking at all, Kate decided. Had her mother realized what she was doing? Had she considered the ramifications?

Kate understood now why her mother would never discuss finances. She hadn't wanted any of them to know the truth.

Kate alternated between anger and sadness as she tried to clear her head and come up with a plan to salvage the future. She paced to the kitchen window and looked for Kiera's car to return. She would give the news to her sister the minute she walked in. Maybe the two of them could make some sense of this.

By the time several minutes had pa.s.sed with no sign of Kiera, Kate had changed her mind. Although it would be nice to dump some of the worry in her sister's lap, it wouldn't change anything. What was done was done. Besides, Kiera had only a few days to rest before her next grueling round of medical school, and she wouldn't get a break for another eighteen months. This news would just pile more stress on her and keep her up all night. There would be plenty of time in the morning to talk to her about this . . . if Kate decided to tell her at all.

And Isabel? If she did tell Kiera, should she tell Isabel? That thought led to another. What about college? Where was Kate going to come up with the tuition money?

There had to be a solution. Kate sat down at the table, picked up her pen and paper, and ran the numbers once again.

The doorbell interrupted her. When she looked through the narrow window beside the front door, she saw a good-looking man shifting from foot to foot.

She opened the door and said, "Yes?"