Rachel’s heart took a direct hit. “Is…is that what Nate wants?”

Patrice eyed her coolly. “Look at him up there with his father, Rachel. What do you think?”

Rachel couldn’t deny it. Never had she seen Nate more in his element; like his father, he was a natural politician.

“He was born for this,” Patrice said.

Rachel couldn’t deny that, either. She half expected Patrice to point out her flaws, her inadequacies as the potential wife of a politician. Rachel bristled, waiting for some dig or slight, but to her surprise Nate’s mother said nothing else. What Rachel discovered was that Patrice’s silence was more reproachful, more uncomfortable, than anything she might have said.

Rachel had been riddled with doubts before. She’d given this weekend everything she had. Nate had been with her almost every minute and while living in the public eye certainly wasn’t her forte, it wasn’t as bad as she’d thought.

Early on Sunday, Nate and Rachel left for the airport together. Both his parents hugged her farewell and repeatedly thanked her for being part of this important event.

Because their flights were going to different cities, she and Nate went their separate ways at the airport. Rachel’s one regret was that they’d had practically no time alone.

Nate kissed her as they prepared to go to their departure gates. “You were terrific,” he said, smiling down on her. “Absolutely terrific.”

“So were you.”

“I didn’t realize how much I missed all of this,” Nate confessed. “Being with the constituents who support our position is invigorating.”

Rachel murmured her agreement.

They talked for a few more minutes and kissed again. By the time she made it to her gate, the flight had already started to board. Settling back with a couple of new magazines, Rachel took a deep breath and tried to relax.

After spending these days with Nate, she was more certain than ever that he’d enter politics. He hadn’t told her of his decision, though, and now she understood why. He’d wanted to see how this visit went. It wasn’t a comforting thought.

On her arrival in Seattle hours later, Rachel found Bruce and Jolene waiting for her in baggage claim. The second Jolene saw her she skipped over to Rachel’s side.

“Rachel!” she cried as if they hadn’t seen each other in years.

Rachel hugged her, twirling her around, although Jolene was almost too big for that now. Hard to believe she’d be in junior high next September.

“So,” Bruce said, hands in his pockets. “How’d it go?”

“Really well.”

He didn’t seem happy to hear it. If anything, he looked irritated and out of sorts. Rachel wanted to confront him, ask what was wrong, but Jolene acted like a playful puppy, demanding attention as they walked toward the parking garage, making serious conversation impossible.

“So how was Lover Boy?” Bruce asked as he set her bag in the car trunk.

Rachel glared at him. “I wish you wouldn’t call him that.”

“Sorry,” he muttered. “Sailor Man, then.”

“He has a name, you know,” she said sharply.

“All right, how’s Nate?” Bruce opened the passenger door for her.

“Very well, thank you.”

“Can we go out to eat?” Jolene asked, clambering into the backseat and searching for her seat belt. “I want to hear about the rally.”

“No,” Bruce said. “We’re not going out to eat.”

A little shocked by the vehemence of his response, Rachel turned around and looked at his daughter.

“He’s been in a bad mood all day,” the girl told her.

“I have not,” Bruce barked. “Didn’t you say you have homework to finish?”

“I do, but it’s no big deal.”

Rachel snapped her own seat belt into place. “We’ll go out another time, okay?” she suggested in an effort to keep the peace.

“Okay,” Jolene said, easily mollified.

Judging by his dark, brooding expression, Bruce had no interest in spending time with Rachel. After those kisses, this was precisely what she’d been afraid of.

The drive back to Cedar Cove seemed to take twice as long as usual. Rachel managed to carry on a somewhat disjointed conversation with Jolene, mostly about sixth-grade gossip, who liked whom and so forth. Bruce ignored them both. When he pulled up in front of her house, he stomped out of the car to remove her suitcase from the trunk.

“See you soon,” Rachel promised Jolene.

“Okay.”

Bruce had already dropped her suitcase on the front step and started back toward the car, head down, his gaze averted.

“Thanks for the ride,” she said.

“It was nothing,” Bruce mumbled as he stepped past her. Her key was barely in the lock when he roared away.

Thirty-Three

Grace couldn’t stop worrying about Olivia and the upcoming biopsy results.

Her friend minimized her fears, but Grace wasn’t fooled. Olivia was afraid. Jack, too. The biopsy had been done and the lab required two days to do an analysis. This was the second day.

Just as she was about to go for lunch, the phone on her desk rang. “Grace Harding,” she answered. “How can I help you?”

“Grace.”

It was Olivia, and she didn’t need to say another word. The tone of her voice said it all. Cancer. “Where are you?” she asked.

“At home. I didn’t go the courthouse today.” She paused. “My doctor called a few minutes ago.”

“Listen, don’t move, I’m on my way.” Grace forgot about lunch. Her appetite had vanished the second she heard Olivia’s voice. For two days she’d eaten practically nothing; all she could think about was her best friend and what she might be facing. “I’m leaving right now.”

Grace arranged to take the rest of the day off, then rushed out the door, almost forgetting her coat and purse. She was outside before she’d even slipped her arms into the sleeves.

Thankfully, the drive down Lighthouse Road

was just long enough to allow Grace to gather her thoughts. When she arrived, Olivia was standing on the porch waiting for her. Wearing only a sweater, she seemed thin and frail, buffeted by the cold autumn wind. Her arms were wrapped around her middle and her face was set in that determined expression Grace knew so well. It was the same look she’d worn the afternoon she announced that Stan, her ex-husband, had decided to move out. The look that said life was hard but you couldn’t give up—that you had to be equal to the pain and the grief.

The sight of Olivia, her lifelong friend, standing alone brought stinging tears to Grace’s eyes. Everything started to blur as she pulled the car to the side of the road and parked carelessly.

The wind whipped her coat around her as she got out. Dashing the tears from her cheeks, she didn’t bother to hide the fact that she was crying. She rushed up the sidewalk and to the porch steps where Olivia stood. She stopped abruptly. They hugged, and the tears in her friend’s eyes brought a sob to her own throat.

“Tell me…”

“It’s cancer.”

Grace tried not to cry. Crying wouldn’t help Olivia. “How…how bad?” she asked.

“We don’t know what stage it is yet. I have an appointment with the surgeon next week. We’ll find out more then.”

Grace swallowed in an effort to control her emotions. Fear sent a chill down her spine. Her friend, her dearest friend, had cancer.

“Grace,” Olivia whispered. “I’m afraid.”

Through the years, Grace had seen Olivia face every tragedy with grit and faith. When Jordan died it was Olivia who held the family together. A few months later, when Stan moved out, she’d dealt with that, too. Never once, through all the grief, had Olivia ever admitted she was afraid.

It took a diagnosis of cancer to do that.

“Let’s have tea,” Grace said and, with her arm around Olivia’s waist, led her back into the house.

While Grace put the kettle on, Olivia sat at the kitchen table looking like a child, lost and lonely in her own home.

“Where’s Jack?” Grace asked, wondering why he wasn’t here when Olivia needed him so badly.

“He…he didn’t take the news well,” Olivia murmured. “I suggested he go and talk to Bob.”

“He shouldn’t have left you.” Grace bit back her anger at Jack, knowing it was really anger at the unfairness of life.

“It’s okay,” Olivia said. “I told him you were coming.”

“Well, I’m here now.”

“Yes,” Olivia whispered and a tear slipped down the side of her face.

“Does anyone else know?”

“Not yet.”

Grace understood. Olivia needed to find her own balance, to consider her own future, before she told her mother or her children.

“I’ll be right here,” Grace promised.

The hint of a smile came to Olivia then. “I knew I could count on you.” She stretched out her arm and they clasped hands.

Olivia had been with Grace when Dan disappeared, and later, too, when her husband’s body was discovered and finally laid to rest. They were friends, would always be friends, no matter what the future held. For nearly all their lives, they’d shared their secrets, their hurts, their triumphs and joys.

“The part I have a hard time accepting,” Olivia said after sipping her hot tea, “is that there’s an invader inside my body. A disease that wants to steal my life away. I keep thinking about it.” She placed one hand over her heart. “The enemy is inside me,” she repeated. “In the past I’ve had to deal with forces outside me. What I’m confronting now is in here.” Her hand formed a fist and she closed her eyes.

Grace bit her lip.

“I wish I could explain it better,” she said. “With everything else, I could close a door and retreat. Take a break from it, you know? I can’t with cancer. There’s no escaping my own body.”

Grace merely nodded, having no comfort to offer except her presence.

She spent an hour with Olivia, and they drank two pots of tea before Jack returned. Whatever his problem had been earlier, apparently it was now resolved. He seemed confident and matter-of-fact, answering Grace’s questions quickly and clearly.

Olivia went to lie down, and Grace was grateful for the opportunity to speak to him privately.

“Call me anytime, night or day,” she said.

“I will,” he promised.

“If you and Olivia need anything, call me.”

He agreed. After a brief silence, he spoke again. “I don’t mind telling you, I wasn’t prepared for what this would do to me,” he admitted. “I thought I was. You might remember that my son had cancer years ago, and I assumed I knew what it’d be like to hear that verdict a second time. I wasn’t even close.”

“Olivia’s a strong woman.”

Jack’s eyes took on a resolute look. “Olivia needs a strong husband who’ll stand at her side while she’s going through this. I’m here and I intend to stay.”