“That’s why I called,” Alexa said, sounding exhausted. “You can’t bring her home.” She told him what had happened, and he was as concerned as she was. She tried to reassure him, but it wasn’t a good situation, and it was impossible to predict.

“What about you, Lexie? Are you going to be okay?” He hadn’t called her that since she left, not even by e-mail.

“I just want to convict the bastard. I owe it to all those families to send him to prison for the next hundred years. But I don’t owe them risking my own kid.”

“No, you don’t,” he said solemnly. “Are you sure you don’t want to get off the case?”

“I’ll be okay. It’ll be over soon. The trial is set for May. She’d have to stay with you till then.” She said it in a flat, unhappy voice.

“I understand. If it’s safer for her to stay longer, that’s fine too.” It was the only conversation they’d had in ten years, but he was being more human about it than she’d expected, and he sounded concerned for both of them, and upset.

“Can you really do it?” She didn’t want to ask him about Luisa, but they both knew what she meant.

“I’ll work it out,” he assured her. “What do you want me to do about Savannah? Do you want to tell her or should I? It may be easier for her to take it in person than on the phone.” Alexa hated to admit it, but she thought he was right. “And then I think we should go home. I was on a nine o’clock flight, but it doesn’t get in till nearly midnight. I’d rather drive back this morning and get an earlier flight.” Showing up at one o’clock in the morning with his daughter would be even harder with Luisa. He’d rather get home earlier and settle Savannah in. The house they lived in was enormous, it was the same one he had shared with Alexa, and Luisa before that, the first time he had married her. There were several guest rooms where he could put Savannah. Alexa’s stomach turned over when she thought about it. She didn’t want Savannah there, but she didn’t want her back in the apartment in New York now either. This was the best they could all do.

“Do you think you can get her into school?” Alexa asked him.

“I’ll take care of it next week. I’ll call you and let you know what time our flight is.”

“I’ll meet you at the airport, and bring her things. I can say goodbye to her there.” It was going to be hard for both of them, and Alexa’s eyes filled with tears as they hung up. They were tears of relief that Tom was willing to help her and keep their daughter safe, tears for Savannah for what she’d have to go through, and for herself for how lonely she would be without her.

Savannah called her half an hour later, and she was crying too. “I can’t go, Mom. I can’t. I want to finish senior year here…and I don’t want to leave you.” She was sobbing, and listening to her, Alexa felt sick.

“You have to, sweetheart. You don’t want to live here like this, worrying about some lunatic sending you scary letters. I know it’s hard, for both of us, but I’d rather know you’re safe.”

“I don’t want to go to Charleston.” She said it softly. She didn’t want to hurt her father’s feelings, he’d been really nice, and tried to make her feel better. But it was upsetting for them all.

“I’ll come to visit you. I promise,” Alexa said, trying to be grown up about it. But she felt like a sad, scared kid herself, and she was so sorry for Savannah. This was the most upsetting for her, to be uprooted like that, with no notice, to go to a place she didn’t know, with a father she scarcely knew.

“You won’t come to visit,” Savannah said, sobbing. “You hate it there. You said you’d never go back there again.”

“Of course I will, silly, if you’re there. You won’t be there for long, and it might be fun. You can go to school.”

“I don’t want to miss the rest of senior year at home.” But she was rapidly figuring out that there was no arguing about it. Her parents, both of them, for the first time in ten years, had made up their minds and had made a unilateral decision. Savannah was leaving New York until after the trial, and that was it. Savannah just sat there and cried for five minutes while Alexa tried to soothe her, and then told her she’d come to the airport that afternoon to say goodbye.

“What should I pack?” Alexa asked, and Savannah started giving her instructions. She was still crying, but not quite as vehemently as she had before. “I’ll give you both of my pink sweaters,” Alexa said, smiling through her own tears.

“And the new black high heels?” Savannah was almost smiling. More than anything, she was in shock. They all were. Things were moving very fast.

“Okay, okay,” Alexa conceded about the shoes, if it would help. “You can have them too. You drive a hard bargain.”

“What if his wife hates me? I’ve never even met her. She probably won’t like having me there,” Savannah said, panicked. That sounded like a major understatement to her mother. Luisa was a bitch on wheels, and Savannah had heard her say it for years.

“Daddy will take care of it. You’re not staying forever. It’s only for three months. I’ll try to come down next week.”

“You’d better, or I’m running away and coming home.”

“Don’t you dare!” Alexa said sternly, but she knew Savannah wouldn’t do that. She had been reasonable all her life. And she was being reasonable now too, even if it was a hard situation for her. “I’d better go pack now. I’ll see you later, sweetheart.”

Tom called her ten minutes later, and said he had gotten them on a six o’clock flight that would land in Charleston at eight-thirty, and they were leaving Vermont right then. He hoped to be at JFK by four or five.

“I’ll be there at four with her bags. Call me on my cell phone when you get to the airport.” She gave him the number, which he had never had before. All he had was her e-mail, but they had to work together now. “I’ll be at the United terminal.”

“I’ll try to get there as soon as I can, so you have a little time together. She’s pretty upset.” He could hear that Alexa was too. But none of them were half as upset as Luisa when he called and told her the news.

“Are you crazy? You’re bringing her here? You can’t do that. Daisy doesn’t know that she exists.” Daisy was the ten-year-old daughter she had conceived to break up his marriage to Alexa and get him back. She hadn’t given a damn about their boys during his marriage to Alexa-she had abandoned them for eight years. She had left him for an oil tycoon in Texas, and left the boys with their father, but as soon as her new husband died, she came running back. She had used a baby to get him, and he had stupidly fallen into her trap. He had bitterly regretted it in the years since. But it was too late to do anything about it now. All he could do was try to make it up to Alexa by taking care of Savannah. He owed her at least that-Savannah was his child too.

“Well, you’d better tell her,” Tom told Luisa coldly, referring to Daisy’s not knowing she had a sister and that her father had been married to someone else. “We’ll be home tonight, and I’m not going to have Savannah pretend to be someone else. This is hard enough on her as it is.”

“Hard on her? What about me and Daisy? Did you think about that? Or have you been screwing around with her mother? Is that what this is about?”

“I just saw Alexa for the first time in ten years. Our daughter’s life is at risk here. I’m bringing her home, Luisa, like it or not.”

“You sonofabitch. I always knew you’d go back to Alexa someday.” She knew Tom didn’t love her. It didn’t matter to Luisa. She had wanted her old life back, and him, when it was convenient for her. It was always and only about her.

“She wouldn’t go near me with a ten-foot pole, and she’s absolutely right,” he said about Alexa. “I screwed her over ten years ago. The only reason she’s talking to me now is because she needs someplace to send Savannah. Someone is threatening our daughter. Probably related to the case her mother is working on. I have to bring Savannah home. Her life may be on the line.” It made him sick that he even needed to argue with her about it. Luisa didn’t have a drop of human kindness in her, or compassion. She would never have done what Alexa had for her boys. It was ironic that now Luisa was in the position of having to take care of Alexa’s child. Alexa had done it for Luisa for seven years.