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thirsty.” She stared critically at the wood banister Kerry was painting. “And to tell you I think you should—”
    “Laura.”
    “Okay. Sorry,” Laura said guiltily. “Jason told me not to harass you. But I didn't think a few words of advice were harassing. After all, you're a sensible woman who—”
    “Likes to do things my own way.” Kerry smiled. “Get back to the house before you throw up. Now, that I'd consider true harassment.”
    “I'm fine.” Laura wrinkled her nose. “I had crackers before I came out to give you the benefit of my advice. They always help settle my stomach. Besides, I was lonesome. You insisted on coming out here and working right away. You could have been sociable and let me tell you how Pete is mistreating me.” She patted her round stomach. “Kicks me all night long.”
    “You asked for it.”
    “You bet I did.” Laura's radiant smile lit her round, freckled face. “For three years. Asked. Prayed. Took every hormone pill under the sun.”
    “I know you did.” Kerry's eyes twinkled. “Gee, and all just to make me an aunt. I really appreciate it.”
    “There's Jason's car in the driveway.” Laura sprinted toward the house, then yelled over her shoulder, “He's back early. I called him and told him you'd driven down this morning.”
    Kerry smiled affectionately as she heard the screen door slam and Laura calling to Jason as she ran through the house. Even eight months pregnant, Laura was like a whirlwind. A warm, sunny whirlwind . . .
    If such a phenomenon existed. But then, Laura was a law unto herself. She'd always been—
    “I hear you're ruining my wife's gazebo.” Jason was coming out on the back porch. “She wants me to take you in hand.”
    “For God's sake, you know nothing about painting, Jason.” She dipped her brush back in the can. “And Laura knows it.”
    He came toward her. “Where's Sam?”
    “I left him with Edna's kids. They needed him. Now, get out of that fancy business suit and help me with this painting. I'm having a devil of a time with your wife. She keeps coming out and critiquing.”
    “It annoys her that she can't do it all herself. Sorry I wasn't home when you got here. I had business in Valdosta.”
    “No big deal.”
    “How's Charlie's family?”
    “Not good. Coping.”
    “How about you? Are you doing okay?”
    “Coping.”
    “Dad was worried about you. He wanted to help.”
    She stiffened. “How? Did he want to put me back in that sanitarium?”
    Jason frowned. “He thought he was doing what was best for you. You were having hallucinations. You needed a doctor's care.”
    “And it was so much easier to pawn me off on an institution than to work through it with me. Do you know how many times he visited me in that hospital in the year I was there? Twice. If you hadn't come as often as you did, I'd have felt like an orphan.”
    “He was uneasy around you. From the time you were a little girl you were antagonistic, and you were fighting mad after he committed you.”
    “I wasn't crazy. I was just having a few problems. He should have let me work them out on my own.”
    “He was afraid the hallucinations were a result of that coma you were in when you were a kid. He felt responsible.”
    “He felt guilty.”
    “You do blame him.”
    “Maybe. I don't know. I just don't want to deal with him now.” She wished he'd drop the subject. Jason could be a bulldog once he got his teeth into an issue. She sat back on her heels and smiled with an effort. “Now, are you going to go change and help me? The two of us can whip this job in time for supper.”
    “Right away.” He frowned and she knew he wasn't going to let it go yet. “But those doctors did do you some good. After that psychiatrist, Dr. Travis, showed up, you were just fine. Within two months you were out of that place. So maybe Dad did the right thing.”
    She had been released because Michael Travis had told her what to say to the hospital personnel so they would think