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I turn around and instead of emptiness, in my living room I see the faces of my three friends. They are all smiling, the kind of smiles that reach their eyes. For the first time in my life, I think I understand what atrue friend is. It isn’t just someone who likes you; it’s someone willing to take action on your behalf.
“Well?” Mr. Preston says. “That detective just ate so much humble pie I think she might explode. How does it feel, Molly?”
I’m relieved beyond measure, but there’s more to it than that. “I…I’m not quite certain what I did to deserve this,” I say.
“You didn’t deserve any of it,” Charlotte says. “You’re innocent.”
“I don’t mean the crimes. I mean the kindness the three of you have shown me, for no good reason.”
“There’s always a reason for kindness,” Juan Manuel says.
“You’re right,” Mr. Preston says. “And you know who used to say that to me all the time?”
“No,” I say.
“Your good ol’ gran.”
“She never did tell me how you two knew each other,” I say.
“No, I expect she didn’t,” he replies. He takes a deep breath. “We were engaged, once upon a time.”
“You werewhat?” Charlotte says.
“That’s right, I had a life before you, my dear, a life you know very little about.”
“I can’t believe this,” Charlotte says. “I’m learning this only now?”
“So what happened?” Juan Manuel asks. He settles himself into the detective’s empty chair.
“Your grandmother, Flora, she was a wonderful lady, Molly. She was kind and sensitive. She was so different from other girls her age, and I was completely besotted. I proposed to her when we were both sixteen, and she said yes. But her parents wouldn’t allow it. They were well-to-do, you know. She was miles above my station, yet she never acted that way.”
I’m surprised by what I’m hearing, utterly shocked. But perhaps I should have known that Gran had her secrets. We all do, all of us.
“Oh, how your gran loved you, Molly,” Mr. Preston says. “More than you’ll ever know.”
“And you kept in touch with her over the years?” I ask.
“Yes. She was friendly with my wife, Mary. And from time to time, when Flora was in trouble, she’d call me. But the real trouble happened early.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Did it ever occur to you that you had a grandfather?”
“Yes,” I say. “Gran called him a ‘fly-by-night too.’ ”
“Did she?” he says. “He was many things, but never that. He’d never have flown away if he’d had a choice. He was forced. Anyhow, he was known to me. A friend, you could say. And you know how things happen when love is fresh and the blush is still on the rose.” Mr. Preston pauses to clear his throat. “As it turns out, Flora was with child. And when she could hide it no longer and her parents found out, that’s when they really turned their backs on her, for good. Poor girl. She wasn’t yet seventeen. She was just a child secretly running away with a child of her own. That’s why she became a domestic.”
It’s hard to imagine, Gran on her own like that, losing everything, everyone. I feel a heaviness on my shoulders, a sadness that I can’t quite name.
“She was bright, your gran. Could have won scholarships to any school,” Mr. Preston says. “But in those days, as an unwed woman with child, say goodbye to education.”
“Now, wait just a second, Dad,” Charlotte says. “Something doesn’t make sense. Who was this friend of yours? And where is he now?”
“The last I heard, he has a family of his own that he loves very much. But he’s never forgotten Flora. Never.”
Charlotte’s head cocks to the side. She eyes her father in a funny way that I don’t quite understand. “Dad?” she says. “Is there anything else you want to tell me?”
“My dear girl,” he says. “I think I’ve said quite enough already.”
