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her mother. “Mom, I can’t go right now.”
    Her mother saw her tears and came to her bed. “Honey, what’s wrong?”
    Deni held up the letter.
    “From Craig?”
    “Oh, yeah.”
    Kay took the letter. “What does it say?”
    “Oh, just the basics. I’m fine, how are you, the weather’s great, how ’bout them Yankees …” She crumpled into tears.
    Kay sat down on the bed and quickly read it. “It doesn’t say that. Well, look. Here he says he’s missed you.”
    “Look at the travelogue, Mom. Ninety percent of the letter is his play-by-play of his own drama the day the outage happened. Did it not even occur to him that I was on a plane ten minutes before the Pulses started? That I could even be dead? No! He didn’t mention that at all.”
    “Honey, I’m sure that occurred to him. But he’s a man. They don’t express themselves that well. That doesn’t mean they don’t feel it. Cut him some slack.”
    She snatched the letter back. “Mom, he blew off our wedding!”
    She knew she had her mother there. Even in all her optimism, she couldn’t soft-sell that one.
    “Maybe that’s not what he meant. Maybe he has every intention of marrying you, but he’s just not sure it’ll happen on that very day. Things are complicated now. They’re not predictable.”
    “Don’t defend him, Mom. There’s no way you can turn this business correspondence into a love letter.” She slammed her fist on the mattress. “The e-mails he used to send me were warmer than this. I’m losing him. I may have lost him already. There’s probably some senate intern who’s cooking for him and pampering him.”
    “Deni, don’t let your mind go there. You’re making things up and making yourself miserable. Think of him as a man who doesn’t express himself well in letters. That doesn’t mean he’s not sick over your separation.”
    Deni knew that wasn’t true. She folded up the letter and put it back in its envelope, then tossed it into the drawer in her night table. She pulled her shoes back on. Roughly smearing her tears, she said, “I’ll go get water. Just let me wash my face so no one will know I’ve been dumped.”
    “You haven’t been dumped, Deni. You’re still engaged. It’s not like he asked for the ring back.”
    “That’s because it’s worthless now. It wouldn’t do him any good.”
    “You’re still engaged, Deni, until the man tells you he’s not going to marry you.”
    “Or until I tell him I’m not going to marry him !” Deni didn’t want to talk about it anymore. She just went into the bathroom where her mother kept a bowl of water and washed the tears off her face.
     
     
    K AY WENT DOWN THE STAIRS AND ACROSS THE HOUSE TO HER bedroom. Doug was changing into his work clothes. “That jerk!” she bit out.
    “What jerk?”
    “Craig Martin. He finally sent her a letter, and it broke her heart.”
    Doug stopped before pulling his shirt over his head. “No way.”
    “She’s up there crying. I’d love to get my hands on him.”
    “What did it say?”
    “It said that he didn’t see how the wedding would come off, but if it’s meant to be, they’ll wait for each other.”
    Doug finished putting the shirt on. “That’s not so bad.”
    “Yeah, well, he couched it between all this stuff about how hard the outage has been for him. After she almost got killed going after him — ”
    “He didn’t know that when he wrote the letter.”
    “Don’t defend him, Doug.”
    He bent over to pull on his work boots. “I’m not defending him. Frankly, I don’t want to see her hurt, but if they break up, it won’t break my heart. I never liked him to begin with. He’s not good enough for her. Not by a long shot.”
    Kay sank down onto the bed. “You’re right, but I don’t want her hurting. She’s been through enough. How much more can she take?” She let out a long breath. “How much more can I take? Where is Jeff?”
    “He’s okay. He’s a tough kid. He’ll be back soon. Probably