LITMIR.BIZ

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She wedged herself into the opposite corner. Once they reached the cafeteria, the smell of the food made her nauseous. Needing to escape but unable to bear the idea of going back upstairs and seeing Danny hooked to machines and looking like death, she pivoted toward a table by the window. All she needed was five minutes to regroup, then she’d return to her bedside vigil.

      “Don’t you want something?” Madison called.

      “No.”

      She stared at the fountain in the walled courtyard outside. Her life was a lot like the koi’s. More often than not she felt as if she was swimming in circles and getting nowhere. Her existence had no purpose or meaning anymore. Preparing dinner for the boys used to be the highlight of her day. Then after Adam left it was only Andrew and Danny. Now Danny worked all the time. He seemed to prefer the office to their home and his animals’ and his staff’s company to hers.

      She’d been excited when Adam moved back to Norcross, but he had little time for his mother. Come to think of it, his avoidance of home had started soon after Madison and Andrew had become involved. On the rare times he had come home during a school vacation Adam had spent almost no time at the house. He’d preferred going out with his friends to hanging out with his brother—yet another reason to dislike the woman. She’d come between her sons, dissolving the closeness that only identical twins shared.

      Helen closed her eyes, blocking out the voices around her. She tried to remember the good ol’ days when she’d had all three Drake men sitting around her table. Three hungry males willing to try any recipe she served, and more often than not, she’d had a houseful of their friends, too. She’d been happy then.

      What would she do if Danny didn’t make it? The thought darted out of nowhere, catapulting her from her peaceful place.

      Don’t think that way.

      But she couldn’t help it. Other than lunches with the garden club every two months, Helen had nothing to entertain herself with except watching cooking shows on TV. When she experimented with new recipes, she usually ate them alone. Her labor-intensive meals had often turned into congealed messes by the time Danny got home.

      Madison set a lidded cup and a handful of creamers and sweeteners in front of Helen, then lowered into the chair across from her. “I suspect the coffee here is slightly better than upstairs. It doesn’t smell burned.”

      “I didn’t ask for that.” And she wouldn’t drink it. She didn’t want to be beholden to this woman for anything more than her help with Danny.

      “I know. But Adam gave me money and asked me to get you to eat. I didn’t know what you wanted.”

      “I’m not hungry.” Helen scanned Madison’s tray. A grilled chicken and spinach salad and a bottle of some kind of vitamin-fortified water. How could Madison eat at a time like this? If the surgeon hadn’t gotten everything, Danny could die. Even now there could be nasty cells floating around in his body looking for healthy tissue to attack.

      “Are you sure you don’t want something?”

      She battled another wave of fear. “No.”

      Madison stabbed the salad with her fork and put some into her mouth. She chewed, but she looked as if she derived no pleasure from the food. It hadn’t been that way when the two of them had shared the kitchen on weekends when Madison had come home from school. Bitterness welled inside Helen, burning the back of her throat like acid.

      “Do you know what the first questions out of Danny’s mouth were when he came out of anesthesia? ‘Where’s Madison? How’s my practice?’” Helen couldn’t keep the hostility and pain from her voice. She was no actress.

      “Danny defines himself by his job. Most men do.”

      “Danny is more than a veterinarian. He’s a husband and a father first. There’s more to life than his damned animals.”

      She bit her tongue. She never swore. It wasn’t ladylike. Her grandmother had raised her better. But to hear Madison defending Danny got on her last nerve. From what Andrew had said before he’d...passed, Madison was like Danny. Career obsessed and uninterested in mothering their child.

      If Helen’s fears were true and Andrew had done what she suspected he might have done, how angry would a career-driven woman be at having her plans derailed? Angry enough to wreck a car on purpose? Angry enough to cause an injury that might hurt the unborn child he claimed she hadn’t wanted?

      “I know he’s more than a vet, Helen, but there are so many animals in need of help that sometimes when you get home you have nothing left to give.” Surprise then regret filled Madison’s eyes. She ducked her head as if she regretted her confession.

      “Not in your tiny practice.” Not nice, Helen. Shamed by her rudeness, she hid her face by drinking some of the coffee. It was better than the tar upstairs, but it could use improvement. And Adam had paid for it, so she wouldn’t owe Madison anything if she drank it. She opened the lid and added cream and sugar.

      “My practice may be small, but because it’s in a rural area it’s a dumping ground for abused or unwanted animals. It keeps me busy.”

      “Euthanizing the strays?”

      “No.” Madison sounded genuinely shocked by the question. She stirred her salad. “I should. But I can’t unless there’s no chance for quality of life. My farm’s full of them. I try to find homes for each one, but not every animal is adoptable.”

      Helen had always wanted a dog or cat, at first for the boys, then for herself when she discovered she couldn’t have more children, but Danny said he got slobbered on by animals all day. He didn’t want to have to deal with them when he came home.

      After Madison’s family had been killed, Andrew had called her “his little stray,” and Helen had adopted her like the daughter or pet she never had. But Madison had bitten the hand that fed her, so to speak. Helen owed her no loyalty, especially if she’d—

      No, don’t think that. Surely a woman who couldn’t euthanize every stray that crossed her path wouldn’t deliberately wreck her car because she hadn’t gotten her way. Or would she?

      Madison’s golden-brown eyes met hers. There was a hard glint to them that had not been there before Andrew’s passing. “How long has Danny been spying on me?”

      Affronted, Helen stiffened. “He is not spying. He’s interested in your welfare. He invested a lot of time in you.”

      “Yes, he did. And that’s why I’m here.” Madison pushed the green leaves around in her bowl again. “He doesn’t really believe I’ll abandon my practice and move back to Norcross, does he?”

      Helen wished she could say no with certainty, but since his diagnosis, his comments suggesting otherwise had become so frequent she couldn’t ignore them. She gulped more coffee, trying to wash down her worry.

      What if Madison returned and Danny and Adam discovered Helen’s part in the unwanted pregnancy? She’d lose their respect. She might even lose her husband and son.

      “We both know you’re not going to come back.”

      “No. I’m not. How long do you think it will be before your house is livable?”

      “Danny insists on doing all the work, so not until he’s healed enough to do it. Why?”

      “I’d prefer not to inconvenience Adam.”

      “Isn’t his house nice enough? Danny says your farmhouse is nothing impressive.” The ugly words jumped from her mouth before she could stop them.

      Madison flinched. “I’d prefer a hotel.”

      “I’ll talk to Danny and see if we can get you a room, but don’t get your hopes up. He’s not sure he can trust you to keep your promise.”

      Madison laid down her fork and snapped the lid onto her half-eaten meal. “I’m well aware that none of you trust me, Helen. But unlike

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