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It didn’t make any sense. There had to be an explanation. Maybe someone wanted to murder him . She had to find out who.
    She went over each day before the wedding carefully, again and again. Clint had been more stressed than usual the last few weeks leading up to the marriage. She hadn’t thought much of it then, knew it was normal for tensions to build before the big day. His family only added to the tension, had something to complain about every day. They were upset with everything about the wedding—the seating, the flowers, the band. There was nothing that felt right to them. And they blamed Cindy for all of it. Clint’s mother even had Ralph call and ask Clint if he really knew the woman he was marrying. After all, they’d only been together for a year.
    “Why do they hate me so much?” Cindy’d asked frequently.
    Clint refused to consider that question.
    “My parents don’t hate anyone. They love you like I do. They’re just nervous about me.”
    Cindy didn’t get it. She wondered more deeply now about the extent of their hatred. What kind of action might it have led them to take? Were there secrets she had no idea about? Had he been holding something back from her? And, now that he was gone, would she ever know?
    She broke down sobbing. It’s not fair, it’s not fair , she murmured, he didn’t deserve it . Not Clint. And, with tears uncontrollably pouring down her face, she fell into a torn, fitful sleep. In which followed, day after day, night after night, a parade of restless nightmares.
     

 
     
    Chapter 6
     
    3 weeks later
     
    Even though it was half past ten o’clock in the morning, Cindy was still sleeping . Oblivious to the world around her, she dreamt that it was early winter, the first snow falling, and that Clint was back. They were together, shoveling, making a path up to their home. They had on big fur hats and puffy gloves. Clint’s face was red, brushed by the cold wind. He said that after they finished shoveling, they could build a snowman in front of the house. Cindy was excited. She hadn’t built a snowman for years, and she’d find a funny hat to put on him, like the one Clint wore.
    Laughing, they built a huge, fat snowman, with red buttons in his eyes.
    But as soon as Cindy put its hat on, the snowman began to melt.
    “It’s melting,” she yelled to Clint, who suddenly couldn’t hear her.
    Desperate, she started to scoop up the melting snow, but then awoke abruptly .
    Ann was in her bedroom, pulling open the curtains, letting in the light of day .
    “It’s morning, wake up,” Ann said.
    The light was too bright. Cindy threw her arm over her eyes. “Not yet. Close the curtains.”
    “Time to get up,” Ann was moving briskly around the room, going from window to window. “Come on, it’s getting late. Visitors are coming. Today’s the day.”
    “I’m not up to it, “ Cindy mumbled.
    “You have no choice,” Ann’s voice rose higher. “You told a lot of people they could come today. They want to see you. It’s time, Cindy. It’s three weeks now.”
    Cindy rubbed her eyes and slowly stretched. “I don’t know,” she said.
    “There’s nothing to know,” Ann said. “Just get up, shower and change.”
    Cindy pulled off the covers and dragged herself out of bed.
    The weather had grown warmer as the end of May approached. Ann had opened all the windows in the house, letting the spring breezes in. The forsythia were in full array and the trees in the yard outside were bursting into bloom .
    As Cindy splashed water over her face in the bathroom, she thought of how much Clint loved the springtime. They’d loved waiting for the weather to get warm together, watching the earth come back to life. At her urging, he had even helped plant a garden in the back before they left for their honeymoon. Cindy didn’t know if she could ever go back there and care for the young sprouts that must be shooting up.
    Cindy could smell Ann baking brownies in the kitchen. Time had