Kate laughed. "Mom never called us weird or nerds."

Isabel frowned. "She didn't call you normal, either. Kate, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm opening the bills. I want to get started."

"Don't do that now. All of this can wait until after dinner," Kiera said. "You look worn out. Go rest for a little while. These bills aren't going anywhere."

Kate didn't argue. She still had a lingering headache, and she wanted to take a shower and change out of the pair of slacks and silk blouse Kiera had brought to the hospital for her, so she headed to her room.

After her shower, she slipped into a pair of shorts and an old T-shirt, and fell asleep curled up on the bed.

She awoke to the sound of her sisters and aunt maneuvering around the kitchen, the aroma of baked chicken and apple dumplings wafting up the stairs.

The kitchen was directly beneath her bedroom, and she could hear their chatter.

"Kiera, you and Isabel are going to have to do cleanup tonight. I'm running late," her aunt said.

"What is it tonight, Aunt Nora?" Isabel asked.

"My support group, Miss Nosy."

Ever since the sisters could remember, Aunt Nora had been a regular at a support group. For years she attended one in St. Louis, and as soon as she moved to Silver Springs, she joined one at the local church. None of the girls knew what Nora was supporting all those years, but they knew better than to ask. They'd heard her right-to-privacy speech too many times to keep count.

She wouldn't allow them any privacy, though. She wanted to know where they were every minute.

"And where will you be off to tonight, young lady?" Kate heard Nora ask Isabel.

"It's my night to sing at Golden Meadows," Isabel answered. "The men and women at that nursing home are surely going to miss you while you're away at school."

"I think I'll miss them more," Isabel said. "They've been so sweet."

"You wake me when you get home," Nora ordered.

Isabel argued. "I'm a grown-up, and I don't think I need to-"

Nora interrupted her. "I promised your mother I would watch out for you, and that's what I'm doing. You're grown up when you go off to college."

Kate heard the back door open. "I forgot to tell you," Nora said. "The movers have changed the date on me. They'll be here on Friday. I expect some help packing my boxes."

"Of course we'll help you," Kiera promised.

"Does that mean you'll be leaving on Friday?" Isabel asked.

"Yes, it does," she answered. "But don't think you're getting rid of me for good because I'll be coming to see you as often as I used to visit my daughter. I'll just be living there instead of here. Now enough of this talk. You're making me late. Where's my pocket-book?"

"On your arm," Isabel said.

Kate heard the door close. She got out of bed, splashed water on her face, and went downstairs.

After dinner Isabel rushed off, and Kiera left to pick up some things at the supermarket, so Kate decided to get a start on the papers the accountant had sent over.

She began with a large envelope from Summit Bank and Trust. Kate didn't know her mother had done any business with Summit. The household account she had set up was with a local Silver Springs bank. Kate thought perhaps the papers had something to do with the pension. There were several invoices, copies of a loan application, and a letter on top of the stack from Mr. Edward Wallace, senior loan officer.

She read the letter and looked at the loan papers. "No," she whispered. "This has to be wrong." She read the letter again. She couldn't accept what she was reading, wouldn't accept it.

Yet she knew it was true, for there it was, her mother's distinctive signature.

"Oh, God," she whispered. "Mother, what did you do? What did you do?"

There was no pension, no trust, no insurance money, no savings. Her mother had taken out a three-year loan with a balloon payment of almost three hundred thousand dollars, and it was due in just four weeks' time.

She had put up everything she owned as collateral, and every asset would go to the bank if the payment wasn't made.

One of those assets was Kate's company. Another was her name.

Kate was frantic. She held the letter from the banker and copies of the loan papers her mother had signed as she paced around the kitchen. She'd read and reread the documents at least five times now, and still she couldn't believe what her mother had done.

If the papers were in order-and of course they were; there was no reason to believe they weren't-then her mother had signed everything away. Everything.

"My God, Mother, what were you thinking?"

Apparently she hadn't been thinking at all, Kate decided. Had her mother realized what she was doing? Had she considered the ramifications?

Kate understood now why her mother would never discuss finances. She hadn't wanted any of them to know the truth.

Kate alternated between anger and sadness as she tried to clear her head and come up with a plan to salvage the future. She paced to the kitchen window and looked for Kiera's car to return. She would give the news to her sister the minute she walked in. Maybe the two of them could make some sense of this.

By the time several minutes had passed with no sign of Kiera, Kate had changed her mind. Although it would be nice to dump some of the worry in her sister's lap, it wouldn't change anything. What was done was done. Besides, Kiera had only a few days to rest before her next grueling round of medical school, and she wouldn't get a break for another eighteen months. This news would just pile more stress on her and keep her up all night. There would be plenty of time in the morning to talk to her about this… if Kate decided to tell her at all.

And Isabel? If she did tell Kiera, should she tell Isabel? That thought led to another. What about college? Where was Kate going to come up with the tuition money?

There had to be a solution. Kate sat down at the table, picked up her pen and paper, and ran the numbers once again.

The doorbell interrupted her. When she looked through the narrow window beside the front door, she saw a good-looking man shifting from foot to foot.

She opened the door and said, "Yes?"

He took a step toward her, and she instinctively stepped back to get away from the smell of stale beer. He reeked of it. His eyes were bloodshot.

"Is Isabel here?"

"No, she isn't," Kate answered.

"Where is she?" he belligerently demanded.

"Who are you?"

"Reece. My name's Reece Crowell. Now where is she?"

The man standing in front of her was in his mid-twenties. He wore khaki pants and a button-down shirt with the cuffs rolled up to his elbows. His dark hair was slicked back from a rather angular face, but he was handsome in a soap opera way. Kate had never met him and was surprised that Isabel had dated someone so much older. They were definitely going to discuss this later.

Reece took another step closer. Kate hadn't opened the door wide enough for him to step inside… unless he walked through her. From his angry expression she thought he might just do that.

"I know she's here," he muttered. "I want to see her."

"She is not home," Kate said. She kept her voice firm. "And Isabel has said she doesn't want to see you again."

"We're getting married."

The guy was definitely out of it. "No, you're not. Isabel is going to college, and you're going to leave her alone."

His hands balled into fists. "It's your fault. Isabel wouldn't do this to me. It's you. She said you wanted her to go to college. She's throwing away her career because of you and your bitchy sister."

She wasn't going to argue with him. "Isabel has moved on, and you need to do the same."