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"Mommy?" he'd said. "Where's Cole?"
Her back had been to the door and she'd taken a few seconds to steady herself before she'd turned toward him. Her little boy's face had been solemn, his eyes dark.
"Cole had to leave, darling," she'd said. She hadn't bothered with the fiction of his returning in a couple of hours. Instead, she'd rattled off a story about unexpected business developments and forgotten appointments, but Peter hadn't bought any of it.
"He just went away?" he'd said, reducing her elaborate tale to basics. Yes, she'd said, because what else was there to say? "Oh," Peter had said, just that one soft word, but it was enough. His lip trembled and her heart almost broke.
"Come here," she'd said. "Give me a hug."
"No, thank you," her son had answered politely. And when she'd tried to make an occasion of the evening, suggesting they have an impromptu fried chicken picnic in front of the TV-a very special treat, because she never let him watch TV during mealtimes-he'd said, in that same courteous way, that he really wasn't very hungry and could he have P and J, instead?
Peanut butter and jelly had sound just about right to Faith, too. Comfort food, instead of a reminder that Cole had blown through her life again, the proverbial ill wind that did nobody any good. She'd dumped the chicken in the trash, made them sandwiches and chocolate milk, and Peter had gone quietly up to bed without saying more than a couple of words.
A log crackled as hot flames surrounded it. Faith sighed and stared into the flames as if they held the answers to all the questions in the universe.
Peter would get over what had happened. She'd see to that. She'd take him someplace special tomorrow. That big amusement park he liked so much, and to hell with the cost or the distance-and that was another thing to worry about. How would she get around in a town that had no public transportation, once her car was gone?
It wasn't really hers. Ted had leased it and if she wrote the check for the next month's payment, she wouldn't have enough left in the bank to buy groceries and pay the taxes due on the house in a couple of weeks. And, dammit, she had to pay those taxes, had to stay in this house until a judge ordered her out, had to, had to, had to...
She let out a breath.
What she needed was a lawyer who could stand up to Sam Jergen and his client. It wouldn't be easy; she knew that. The Cameron name-Cole's name, because nobody had ever really considered her a Cameron-still had meaning in this town. The couple of phone calls she'd made after she'd tucked Peter into bed proved it.
She'd called three attorneys Ted had listed in his phone directory.
"Hello," she'd said to the first. "My name is Faith Cameron. Mrs. Theodore Cameron. I'd like to stop by your office tomorrow and discuss-"
She hadn't needed to say more. The Liberty gossips were hard at work. A handful of hours had gone by but it seemed that everyone knew that Cole was back, that Ted had left him the house, that he'd left her an almost-empty checkbook.
"You want me to represent you in a lawsuit against your brother-in-law," the man said. "Sorry, but I'm full up."
The second asked, bluntly, how she expected to pay his fee. The third was no less subtle. "Mrs. Cameron," he'd said, "let me be as direct as possible. You can't afford me. And even if you could, what would be the point? Fighting your brother in-law would be a waste of time. There's no way you can win. Not against him."
"Why not?" she'd said.
For some reason, that had struck the lawyer as wildly amusing because he'd burst into laughter before hanging up. To hell with him. To hell with them all. There were other lawyers out there, even if she had to go to Atlanta to find one who'd help her.
Faith yawned and rolled onto her stomach. The fire was warm, the sound of the crackling logs soothing. She knew there were things she should be doing instead of lying here. Draw up a list of attorneys from the phone book. Write down all the reasons she ought to be allowed to stay in Cameron House until she found work. Come up with a way to keep Alice because who else would take care of Peter once she found a job? Once she did, would she be able to afford the car payments or did it make more sense to give up the lease and buy something used?
She was so tired. Her body ached with weariness. A few minutes' sleep, that was all she needed. Just a few...
Faith's lashes drifted to her cheeks. Her breathing slowed and she fell into the darkness of a dream. Someone was weeping. The sound was terrible in its despair. A woman's voice, the sobs torn from the very depths of her soul.
Why? Why did he leave me?
The sobbing woman moved slowly through a landscape of swirling mist.
I loved him so much. I loved him with all my heart.
