"You had to confront her," Abra began.

"Wouldn't you? He called to tell me he'd changed his mind and we'd have to put off telling the children together for a few days. Lindsay was upset because she'd fought with you, Eli, and she needed to get away for a few days. He needed to be with her. She needed, he needed. Nothing his family needed. I think they brought out the worst in each other," Eden said. "Their most selfish selves."

"You may be right." Eli turned his hand to hold Abra's, and thought how lucky he was.

"So, yes, I went to confront her, to try to reason with her, even to plead with her. She was angry, very angry still over your confrontation, what you'd said to her. And, I think, looking back, maybe a little guilty. But not enough. She let me in, took me into the library because she wanted to finish it, clear the slate, so she and Justin could move on. Nothing I said made any difference to her. Our own friendship meant nothing, my children meant nothing, my marriage, or the hurt they were causing. I begged her not to take my husband, not to take the father of my children, and she told me to grow up. This was how things were, how things worked. She said horrible things to me, cruel things, vicious things, and she turned her back on me. She dismissed me and my pain as nothing."

After a pause, Eden folded her hands on the table. "The rest blurs. It was like watching someone else, someone else who grabbed the poker and struck out. I lost my mind."

"That might work," Eli said evenly, "if your lawyer's as good as you are."

"He's very good, but regardless, I never went into that house intending to harm her, but to plead with her. And when I regained my senses, when it was too late, I thought of my family, my children, and what this would mean. I couldn't change what I'd done in that moment of insanity, and I could only try to protect my family. So I went home. I took the clothes I'd worn there and cut them up. I bagged the pieces, weighed them down and drove out to throw them in the river. Then I came back home, and I started dinner. When Justin came home, he was hysterical, so I realized we could protect each other, as it should be, as it's meant to be, and we'd try to put it behind us and rebuild our marriage. I felt he needed me. Lindsay would have ruined him. In fact, she did. And what she left me was a man I couldn't fix, couldn't save. I let him go, and did what I had to do to protect myself."

"But you stood by and let what you'd done ruin Eli's life."

"I couldn't stop it, or change it, though I was sorry, sincerely, that someone who'd been betrayed as I had would lose so much more. But in the end, I didn't ruin his life. Lindsay did. She ruined his, mine, Justin's. Even dead, she ruined us all. Now my children will be scarred."

Her voice wavered a little, then strengthened again. "Even when my lawyer makes a deal with the prosecutor I have every confidence he'll make, they'll be scarred. You'll have your balance, your chance for a future. I'll have two children who'll be shattered by what their father's done out of selfishness, and what their mother did out of desperation. You're free, and though I may not be punished to the extent you feel just, I'll never be free."

Eli leaned across the table. "Whatever she did, or planned to do, she didn't deserve to die for it."

"You're kinder than I. But we can take it back to its roots. Your ancestor committed murder out of greed, cast off his own sister, for the same reasons. Without that, we wouldn't be here. I'm really just a piece of all of it."

"Believing that may help you get through the next few weeks." Eli got to his feet.

Once more, Abra put a hand over his as she rose. "For the sake of your children, I hope your lawyer is as good as you believe."

"Thank you. I really wish both of you all the best."

He had to walk out, get out. "Jesus Christ" was all he could say when Abra gripped his hands.

"Some people are twisted, in ways that don't show. In ways they themselves don't see or understand. It may be circ.u.mstances that twisted her, Eli, but she'll never really see it."

"I could get her off," he stated. "I could get her off with five years, and she'd only do two."

"Then I'm glad you're not a defense attorney anymore."

"So am I." His hand tightened on hers as Wolfe walked down the hall.

"Landon."

"Detective."

"I was wrong, but you looked good for it."

As Wolfe kept walking, Eli turned. "And that's it? That's it from you?"

Wolfe glanced back. "Yeah, that's it."

"He's embarra.s.sed," Abra commented, and only smiled when Eli sent her a baffled stare. "He's an a.s.shole, but he's also embarra.s.sed. Forget him, and remember karma comes around."

"I don't know about karma, but I'll start working on forgetting him."

"Good. Let's buy some flowers for Hester and go tell your family this most excellent news. Then we'll go home, and see what happens next."

He had some ideas about that.

He waited a few days, letting it all sink in for both of them. He had his life back, and didn't need the media reports about Eden Suskind's arrest for Lindsay's murder, or Justin Suskind's for Duncan's, to tell him just that.

He had his life back, but not the life he'd had once, and he was glad of it.

He made plans, some with Abra-they'd throw Bluff House open for a major party for the Fourth of July. He showed her the very preliminary plans for installing an elevator so his grandmother could come home and live comfortably.

And some plans he didn't share with her-yet.

So he waited, walked his dog, wrote, spent time with the woman he loved and began to look at Bluff House in a whole new light.

He chose an evening with soft breezes, and the promise of sunset, the antic.i.p.ation of a full moon.

Doing his part, he dealt with the dinner dishes while she sat at the island working on her schedule for the upcoming week.

"I think, if I fiddle a little, I could add Zumba in the fall. It's popular for a reason, and I can get certified."

"I bet you could."

"Yoga's always going to be my core, but I like adding in some other choices, keeping it fresh." Rising, she pinned her new schedule to the board.

"Speaking of keeping it fresh, I want to show you something on the third floor."

"In the pa.s.sage? Are you thinking about trying out Pirate and Wench?"

"Maybe, but there's something else first."

"You know it's too bad we can't throw that floor open for our big bash in July," she said as she walked with him. "It's too complicated, and too full of things right now, but boy, we could rock it."

"Maybe someday."

"I always like somedays."

"Funny, I've realized I do, too. It's taken a while."

He guided her into the old servants' quarters where a bucket held a bottle of champagne.

"Are we celebrating?"

"I sure as h.e.l.l hope so."