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had tackled and thrown her to the ground. And wasn’t this baby important to her father?
    “And quite frankly, we enjoyed our little secret,” Aubrey was saying, looking terribly pleased with himself. “We were able to spend time together, far from the madding crowd.” He wrapped his arm around Heather, cuddling her.
    Carolyn felt the room tip. When had her father become
cuddly
? He’d never cuddled
her,
not even when she was a little girl.
    “We knew we were in love from the moment we met,” her father rhapsodized, “and since I’m not a young man—”
    “Oh, Aubrey.” Heather giggled. “You act like a young man.”
    “That’s because you inspire me.” Aubrey nuzzled his bride’s ear.
    “So you got married,” Carolyn prompted.
    “Yes. We couldn’t wait. I want to live with Heather. We decided to get married without any fanfare, so we organized things and were married yesterday by Judge Lawrence,” Aubrey concluded triumphantly.
    “Wow,” Carolyn said weakly. “Amazing.”
    With a gentle roll of her shoulder, Heather loosened herself from Aubrey’s embrace and leaned forward, her hands on her knees, which, Carolyn noticed, were plump and led straight down like tree trunks to thick ankles. “This must be such a shock for you,” Heather said. “I know you must have a million questions. It’s really important to me that you understand how much I love your father. I’m going to do everything I can to make him happy.”
    “What would make me happy right now would be to take you out to dinner,” Aubrey told his wife. Rising, he said to Carolyn, “Let’s coordinate our schedules and find a time you and Hank and Heather and I can have dinner together, here at the house, so we can have a nice long family evening.”
    “All right, Father,” Carolyn agreed. She stood, too, grateful to find the floor steady beneath her feet. Her father looked at her expectantly. Usually she could interpret his slightest facial twitch, but this look was new.
Oh,
she thought, and leaning forward, gave her father’s new wife a kiss on the cheek. “Welcome to the family.”
    “Thank you, Carolyn. I hope we’ll be great friends,” Heather replied.
    Turning, Carolyn kissed her father’s cheek, noticing how he smelled, for the first time ever, of some really terrible men’s cologne. “Congratulations, Father.”
    He smiled, pleased. “Thank you, dear.”
    Dear,
Carolyn thought. When had he ever called her
dear
? Obviously Heather was having a softening effect on her father. Was that a good thing? Carolyn looked at her watch, wondering if it was too late to phone her lawyer.

4
    Okay, lean mean beauty queen,” Julia chanted, “let’s get this show on the road.”
    Belinda stood quietly by the kitchen table. She was small for her age, and Julia, who was tall and made even taller by her fabulous black boots, had to squat down to be on eye level with the girl. Julia was aware of what a striking contrast they were: Julia, thirty, her short black hair sliced and shaped against her skull like a cap of raven feathers, her black eyes intense as jet, her long, lean body clad in tight black jeans and a sleeveless black tee. And Belinda, seven, a slight elfin princess with long honey-brown curls, large blue eyes, and a penchant for fuss and ruffles that would have thrilled Queen Victoria. A stranger, seeing them, would wonder what they had in common. The answer: Tim Hathaway, Belinda’s father, Julia’s husband.
    “Teeth brushed?” Julia asked.
    Obediently, Belinda curled her lips back, exposing tiny, gleaming white teeth.
    “Hey, those are some sweet mini-marshmallows!” Julia joked. “Backpack? Okeydokey, smiley-smokey, let’s put your lunch pail in.” She opened the pink plastic Barbie box and pointed to each item in turn. “Peanut butter and banana sandwich. Check. Carrot strips. Check. Apple juice and straw. Check. Two Oreos. Check.” She slid the lunch box into the backpack, then, with great care, slipped