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one bit. He ought to be the one asking the questions—and she should be coming up with the answers.
    But somehow, she brought out the truth in him. She made him
want to open up to her, to tell her all the things he’d never told a living
soul. “It was a bad time for me that summer. I was going to get married. My
fiancée dumped me for another guy.”
    Belle made a low sound, of sympathy. “Oh, Preston...”
    He went on, “She married that other guy on the second Saturday
in September, which was right at the end of Anne’s stay in Elk Creek. I ran into
Anne that night, at a certain roadhouse not far from town.”
    Belle drew in a slow, careful breath. “You were with Anne on
the night your fiancée married another man?”
    “That’s right. I was trying to drown my sorrows. Anne was with
her scientist friends, celebrating the end of their dig. She was drinking, too.
Almost as heavily as I was. I’m ashamed to say, I drank enough that my memory of
that night is pretty much a blur. I didn’t go home. I wasn’t safe to drive. I
got a room in the motel adjacent to the roadhouse. I think I remember Anne being
there, in the motel room, with me. But maybe I just imagined that.”
    “Imagined it?” Belle was frowning.
    He raised both big hands, palms up. “I don’t know. I know that
when I woke up in the morning, there was no sign of her and I was alone. I
pulled myself together and came home.”
    Belle studied his face. She seemed to be looking for answers
there.
    He had no answers. And what in the hell was this all about
anyway? It was time—well past time—she came out with
it. “I think I’ve said enough, a damn sight more than enough. And you’ve told me
nothing. What’s Anne Benton got to do with anything? Are you telling me you know
her? Did she mention me or something?”
    “Oh, Preston. Yes. Yes....”
    “What? Yes, you know her? Yes, she mentioned me?”
    “I...both. Anne has been my dearest friend in all the world. We
met at Duke University. She was getting her undergraduate degree and I was
studying nursing. She had no extended family, but her parents had been wealthy.
They adored her. She was their only child and she never wanted for anything. Her
father died when she was eight. And her mother raised her alone—and then died
the year Anne graduated from high school. She was on her own in life by the time
I met her. And I was far from home. She and I...we became like sisters.”
    He still didn’t get it. What did any of this have to do with
him? “What are you saying? Anne wants to talk to me, is that it?”
    “I...oh, I really am trying to explain. I’m not doing a very
good job and I realize that...”
    He felt that need again, the one he seemed to have around
her—to go to her, to hold her, soothe her, tell her that everything was going to
be all right.
    How could he tell her that? He didn’t know that. He was the one
in the dark here. “Just go ahead, okay? Just...continue.”
    “Oh, sweet Lord...” She pressed the back of her hand to her
mouth, steadied herself, lowered it. “I’m sorry to tell you, so sorry. Not long
ago, Anne was diagnosed with ALL—acute lymphocytic leukemia. I went to her, took
care of her, but she didn’t make it.”
    He tried to wrap his mind around that one. “You’re telling me
that Anne is dead?”
    She swallowed, convulsively. Her eyes brimmed. She shook her
head, blinked the tears away. “Yes. She died ten days ago.”
    “My God.” It seemed impossible. “She was such a great woman. So
young, so full of life...”
    “Yes. And she...had a little boy. His name is Benjamin. He’s
eighteen months old.”
    Pres remembered. “The boy folks in town say you brought with
you to Elk Creek?” He watched her head bob with her swift nod. She swallowed
hard again. And right then, as he stared into her wide, wounded eyes, he made
the connection. He raised both hands, palms out, shook his head. “Wait a minute.
I still don’t even know for certain if