“They will, A.J. Black Falls hasn’t changed.”
Her brother turned back to her. “Have you, Rose?”
She hesitated, then said, “It’s been a rough year.”
“You can talk to us, Rose. Sean, Elijah, me,” A.J. said. “Any one of us or all of us together. You know that, right?”
“Always.”
“You know it, but you don’t think you need to talk to anyone.” He let out a heavy breath. “Keep me posted. Be careful.”
“I’m sorry about this, A.J.”
“It’s not your fault.”
She didn’t respond, but she couldn’t help wondering if somehow it was her fault. She watched her oldest brother head down the steps and get in his car, his movements brusque, his concern—his fear—palpable. He’d been quiet during dinner. Even Lauren had been unable to get him to laugh and join in on their talk about winter fest, the sugar shack, the Neals’ return to Black Falls and when Jo Harper and Elijah would get married.
Suddenly aching with the cold, Rose quickly ducked back through the mudroom to the kitchen.
Nick was at the sink, rinsing a bloodstained dish towel. “If the blood doesn’t come out, I’ll buy you a new towel.”
“I don’t care about that,” she said, kicking off her boots.
He grinned back at her. “Mountain woman Rose.”
“I can still take you to the E.R.”
“Nah. I’m fine.” He left the towel in the sink. “I’m glad you weren’t the one who surprised him.”
“Me, too, unless he just wanted to talk to me.”
“Yeah. Talk. He grabbed you this morning, pinned you against a tree and shoved you in the snow.”
“He could have done worse, or tried. I’d have defended myself. I know the woods up here better than he does.”
Nick shook his head. “Not buying it.”
She came closer to him and took a look at his injury, noticing the dark stubble of beard on his jaw, two small scars, his tanned skin. She tried to focus on where he’d made contact with the shovel. “It’s a pretty good scrape,” she said, “but there’s not much swelling. Damn, Nick. You really were lucky.”
“Good,” he amended with a wink. “I was good. I landed a solid kick—”
“It wasn’t hard enough,” she said, amused. “He still was able to run.”
Nick put a palm to his heart in mock hurt. “Cut to the quick.”
Rose laughed and pulled open the refrigerator door. “Can I get you anything? Something to drink? I have orange, grapefruit, tomato, pomegranate juice.”
“So you weren’t kidding about pomegranate juice in your martini. You like that stuff?”
“Yes, especially in a martini.”
“Ha-ha. I’ll just stick with water. I should call Sean back and fill him in.”
“I’ll call him.”
She shut the refrigerator and went into her small back office. She’d arranged her desk to take advantage of the view of a giant, old sugar maple in her side yard. Ranger wandered in and sat at her feet, as if he were mystified as to why Nick hadn’t left yet. She dialed Sean from her landline. Of her three brothers, he was closest in age to her but had left for Southern California ten years ago. She’d been out there more than a dozen times and understood its appeal. Her father never had, but he’d always kept Sean close in his heart and hadn’t treated him any differently from his other children.
Not until last month, when she’d watched him fall in love with Hannah, who’d never lived anywhere but Black Falls, had Rose realized that he’d come to feel as if he stood apart from their family and his hometown. But he didn’t stand apart and never had. She, Elijah and A.J. knew that, even if Sean didn’t.
Elijah had left Vermont at nineteen, but for different reasons. He’d spent long months in war zones, risking his life. He’d butted heads with his father forever, but on some level they’d understood each other. Elijah had always wanted to come home to Black Falls. He’d never felt alienated from his family or his hometown.
Of course, Rose thought, she and her brothers had never discussed any of this among themselves.
Sean picked up immediately, clearly relieved as she updated him. “If Nick just got hit on the head, all’s well. He’s got a hard head.” But her brother’s gallows humor didn’t last. “Do you have any idea what Feehan would want with you?”
“No, I don’t,” she said, aware of Nick leaning against the doorjamb.
“Does Feehan know about whatever went on between you and Cutshaw?” Sean asked her.
She took a sharp breath. “Sean—”
“Elijah and I guessed in January that something happened between you two. Rose, come on. Relax. No one expects you not to have lived. Why should you be perfect?”
“Maybe after this past year we’re not as hard on ourselves as we once were.”
“Or on each other.”
She noticed Nick’s eyes were half-closed as he watched her from the door. She wondered what secrets she was betraying simply by how she stood, how she looked at him.
She smiled into the phone to help keep any self-consciousness out of her tone. “How’s Hannah?”
“Worried,” Sean said. “She’s got on her prosecutor’s face.”
Rose doubted her friend would ever become a Vermont prosecutor. It was the path taken, then changed by circumstance—namely, falling in love with Sean. “I’d like to talk to her.”
While she waited for Hannah to come on the line, Nick withdrew back into the kitchen, giving her privacy. Ranger glanced at her, then, his tail wagging, followed Nick as if they were now best friends.
“Rose,” Hannah said. “What on earth is going on?”
“You don’t have to keep secrets from Sean,” Rose blurted. “Tell him what you know about Derek.”
“He’s already guessed most of it, and I don’t know much. If you’ll recall, you didn’t go into detail.” Her friend sighed. “You’re a very private person, Rose.”
“It’s one reason you and I get along so well.”
“Beth and I can come back—”
“No, enjoy the bougainvillea and the pool. Beth needs a break, and you and Sean have waited a long time for each other.”
Hannah hesitated, then said, “Beth’s hurting over Scott, but she’s doing her stiff-upper-lip thing. We’re having a good time. Devin and Toby are coming by to see her. You should see Devin—he’s getting downright buff. He’s determined to become a smoke jumper. It’s a long route but wherever it takes him, it’ll be better than where he’s been. He has his own apartment now. Toby’s doing well with his host family. He’s in mountain-biking heaven. I think he’ll stay and graduate out here.”
“Going out to California’s been good for all of you,” Rose said.
Hannah had become her brothers’ legal guardian after their mother died when they were ten and eleven and Hannah just twenty-one. Their father had been dead for years. She remembered their lives in the isolated hollow, just downriver from Bowie O’Rourke, better than Devin and Toby did.
“During the bar fight last year,” Rose said thoughtfully, “did you get the feeling Derek was deliberately trying to provoke Bowie?”
“Maybe. Bowie didn’t care. He wanted to shut Derek up.”
“How did Bowie take it when Lowell Whittaker tried to frame him for the pipe bombs?”
“Bowie just wants to get on with his life, Rose.”
“That’s what I thought.” She remained on her feet, restless. “Thanks. I didn’t mean to imply I suspect him of anything.”
“I’m sorry if I sound defensive.”
“Do you know what precipitated Nick coming out here?”