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any good standin’ out here. You better come on in, Miss Olivia.’’ Martha’s brisk words brought Olivia back to reality. Even if she were welcome at the hospital, even if Seth had not made it clear that she had no place at Big John’s side, she could not go rushing off and leave Sara on her own among people who were strangers to her. For her daughter’s sake, she had to stay where she was, had to present a calm, controlled exterior, had to deal with the situation as it existed.
    Almost stealthily, Olivia brushed at her burning eyes with her free hand. Then she took a deep breath, looked up at Martha and Chloe, who stood on the veranda—as the downstairs gallery was properly called, some half dozen steps above them—and started to say something to Chloe.
    But Chloe spoke first.
    ‘‘If you’re my cousins, how come I’ve never seen you before?’’ she demanded, scowling down at Olivia and Sara. ‘‘I know all my cousins, and none of them looks like you.’’ She looked Sara over critically. ‘‘You’re fat.’’

CHAPTER 6
    ‘‘SARA IS NOT FAT!’’ OLIVIA RESPONDED INSTANTLY, fixing Chloe with a look that should have shriveled her on the spot. She could feel Sara shrinking against her side, and tightened her own hand consolingly on Sara’s smaller one. Sara’s weight was a sensitive issue for the child. ‘‘Sara is the absolute perfect size for Sara.’’
    ‘‘Miss Chloe!’’ Martha gasped at the same time, her shocked tone a reproof. ‘‘Say you’re sorry right this minute!’’
    There was a moment of silence while the issue hung in the balance. Then, ‘‘I’m sorry,’’ Chloe said sulkily.
    ‘‘Are you Seth’s daughter?’’ Olivia asked in a gentler tone, reminding herself that Chloe was just a child and had almost certainly not meant to be hurtful. She held tight to Sara’s hand as they began to once again ascend the steps. She could sense Sara’s reluctance to continue, but drew her daughter upward anyway. Sara’s retiring nature was totally unsuited for this shattering homecoming.
    ‘‘That’s right,’’ Chloe said, still sulky. ‘‘But you’re not my cousins. You can’t be. Phillip and Carl and Angela are my daddy’s only cousins. And Melissa, and Amanda, and Courtney, and Jason, and Thomas, and Patrick are their children, and Nana says that makes them my cousins, too. But that’s all. So who are you?’’ Her sweeping glance included Sara in what was unmistakably a condemnation.
    ‘‘You’re right, we’re not precisely your cousins.’’ Olivia held on to her patience with an effort. She reached the wide, plank-floored veranda with Sara’s hand curled tightly in hers and Sara herself hovering close against her side. Everything about the veranda was just as she remembered it, from the weathered gray paint beneath her feet to the white wicker swing and rockers at its far end to the leafy ferns that hung in baskets from its eaves. Even the pair of stuffed ring-necked pheasants that Charlie, a skilled taxidermist, had hung by wires from the ceiling as a joke years ago were still there. ‘‘I guess you could call us courtesy cousins, though, if you wanted to.’’
    ‘‘Why would I want to?’’ Chloe asked, looking Olivia and Sara up and down with narrowed eyes.
    ‘‘To be polite?’’ Olivia suggested, in an even gentler tone than before.
    Martha put a silencing hand on Chloe’s shoulder. Chloe made a face at Olivia, but said nothing more. Standing in the column of light that spilled through the open screen door as Chloe was, her hair looked almost platinum and, except for her sullen expression, she was as flawlessly lovely as a doll. Olivia wondered briefly if Seth’s ex-wife was a blonde like her ex-husband and daughter, and as pretty as Chloe. Then Sara’s hand twitched in hers. A glance down at her daughter’s stricken face told Olivia that her silent child was totally intimidated by the other girl. She sighed inwardly— Sara’s lack of