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pie. These reassuring scents reminded Margot of the comfort and ease she experienced each time she came to her sister’s home. Being with Lacey, sharing in this particular annual ritual, had always made Margot feel secure, part of a family, safe from the troubles of the rest of the world. Even when they were little girls, Lacey had provided that same sense of security. The sound of Lacey’s book bag hitting the kitchen table, her footsteps coming up the stairs, or the light seeping from under her bedroom door onto the hall floor made Margot feel more relaxed, almost as if a worry she hadn’t known existed had disappeared.
    Now, with the knowledge of Lacey’s illness, it was as if someone had left a window open and a cold draft was blowing in. That lovely, safe feeling of home had been spoiled.
    Kate and Hugh Martin, Alex and Lacey’s friends, were coming at four, and Lacey was planning to serve dinner at five. Hugh was running in a 10K race during the day, so they had decided on an early-evening meal. During the academic year, the Martins lived at Warner Academy, a prestigious boarding school where they both worked. They spent summers and school holidays in New Castle, in a white-shingled house a few blocks away from the Georges’ home.
    In the course of the morning, nothing more had been said about Lacey’s condition. Wink had come into the kitchen around eleven, and she had made the cranberry sauce. Toni appeared an hour later while Wink and Margot sat at the kitchen table sipping tea and enjoying the apple spice muffins that Lacey had made two weeks earlier and frozen to have on hand for the holiday weekend.
    â€œI thought you were never going to get off the phone last night,” Wink said, giving her sister a cool glance.
    â€œIf you needed the phone you could have said something.” Toni glared at her twin. Her long hair, wet from the shower, had darkened the back of her shirt. “Couldn’t you have used your cell?”
    â€œYeah, right.” Wink didn’t bother to say that cell phone coverage was lousy in their area. They all knew that.
    Margot was used to the girls squabbling from time to time. They had the normal adolescent arguments, but now, with the knowledge of Lacey’s illness, she was uncomfortable with their behavior. She wanted Lacey’s day to be as smooth as possible.
    â€œWhy were you on the phone so late?” Lacey asked.
    â€œIt wasn’t a school night,” Toni said. She took a container of yogurt out of the refrigerator. “Ryan is coming to Portsmouth tonight to see some friends. He wants me to go out.”
    â€œNo,” Lacey said. “Kate and Hugh . . . are coming.”
    â€œAfter they leave, Mom. I won’t go out till later.” She pulled herself up straight; she was not as tall as her mother or Wink.
    Lacey shook her head and continued to roll out piecrust. “Aunt Margot’s here too.”
    â€œI don’t mind,” Margot blurted out before she had a chance to think.
    â€œSee,” Toni said.
    â€œBut I understand how your mom feels,” Margot added, regretting how she’d unwittingly become involved in their discussion.
    â€œI know what this is really about,” Toni said. “You don’t like Ryan.”
    â€œI”—again Lacey paused—“never said that.”
    â€œYou don’t like that he’s older.”
    â€œThat’s not it.”
    â€œMom, I’m not running off with him. I just want to go out for coffee. Kate and Hugh will be gone by ten. They’re like you and Dad. They never stay late.”
    Lacey had opened her mouth as if to say something more. Her face was flushed and she shook her head, running her teeth across her lower lip. Margot was saddened to see Lacey upset and wished her daughters knew what their mother was going through.
    Toni took a spoon from the silverware drawer and slammed it closed. She walked out of the kitchen,