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furniture.”
    “But that and everything else is all stuff neither Nichole nor I wanted.” Most of it was old and outdated and not worth much. What amazed Karen was how emotional and grateful Cassie had sounded. She wasn’t entirely sure, but it seemed she’d heard tears in Cassie’s voice.
    “Are you feeling guilty about splitting the money from the sale of the house with Nichole?”
    Karen sighed again, unsettled and unsure. “I don’t know what I’m feeling anymore. Cassie was Dad’s favorite, you know. It about killed him when she ran off with Duke. She didn’t tell Mom or Dad until after she was married that she was pregnant with Amiee.”
    “Pregnant?”
    Karen could see her husband was adding the years up in his head. She answered his question before he could ask. “Mom mailed her gifts and was all excited about her first grandchild. She hoped to make peace after the way she left, but we never heard anything back.” For the first time, it occurred to Karen to wonder if her sister had even received the baby gifts.
    “What happened with Duke?”
    Karen didn’t know. “They’re divorced. About five years ago, shortly after Dad died, Cassie phoned Mom, looking for help.”
    “Help?”
    “Money. She’d left Duke and wanted to get back to the West Coast. Mom was still dealing with the aftermath of Dad, and she asked Nichole and me to help Cassie.”
    Garth frowned. “You never mentioned this before.”
    She probably should have talked to Garth—he might have had an idea on how to handle Cassie, but Karen had been angry and disinclined to help her. In addition, she was overwhelmed dealing with the aftermath of their father’s sudden death. Those days remained a blur in her mind.
    “At the time nothing had been settled with Dad’s estate and Mom was in a financial crush herself, with the bills piling up. Paying for Dad’s funeral was far more expensive than any of us realized it would be. It fell to Nichole and me to come up with the cash to help Cassie and we simply weren’t in a position to do it. We also felt that she was too irresponsible. To just send her cash after the mess she’d already made would be like throwing it away. Of course, there was the money from the sale of our parents’ house, but that had been set aside as retirement income, and had come well after Cassie’s call, anyway. In retrospect, I wish we had been able to help her more, but it was such bad timing.”
    “What about Nichole? She couldn’t do anything to help Cassie, either?”
    “You’re kidding, right?” Her youngest sister had never been especially good with money and left those matters to her husband, Jake. “Right,” Garth responded with a half-laugh.
    To Karen’s way of thinking, Cassie was simply suffering the consequences of making a bad decision. She didn’t mean to be unkind or unforgiving, but how did anyone learn responsibility iftheir family kept bailing them out? It was like with kids—you had to let them learn from their mistakes or they’d just keep repeating them.
    “That’s all water under the bridge now,” her husband reminded her.
    “You’re right, of course.” Still, Karen remained unsure how best to explain to their children that they had a second aunt that they knew nothing about until now. “What should I tell Lily and Buddy?” she asked, seeking her husband’s advice. “They’re sure to ask, and I feel we should be prepared to explain why she hasn’t been a part of our lives all these years.”
    “Tell them …” Garth hesitated, and then shrugged.
    “See, it isn’t as easy as it sounds.”
    “What did you say to Lily earlier?”
    Again Karen wished she’d handled her daughter’s question with a bit more finesse. “I explained that I hadn’t mentioned Cassie because she wasn’t a good example. Lily would have drilled me with more questions if you and Buddy hadn’t arrived when you did.”
    “Knowing Lily, she won’t let up until she has answers, so you’d