Chapter 4

“You think I’m wrong?” I asked Vera. “Then tell me which part of that music you wrote.”

She stared at me. Her free hand found Wyatt’s and squeezed it.

Wyatt looked down at their hands. “Mildred’s right about the music,” he said. “Keep your mouth shut, Vera.”

Eight years ago, he’d called a press conference to tell the country I couldn’t play the piano. Now he could admit whose music it was, out here with nobody to hear him but the two women who already knew.

Vera let go of his hand. For a second, I could see how angry she was. Then she laughed and leaned into him.

“I was only teasing. Honey, we haven’t seen Mildred in years. Maybe we ran into her for a reason.” She kissed his cheek. “Come on. Let me do something nice for her.”

Wyatt looked at me. “She’s thought about you over the years, Mildred. She’s told me more than once how much she looked up to you.”

I wondered which one of them had thought of me the last time Vera played one of my pieces.

“I’m judging a new televised piano competition called Rhythm,” Vera said. “I could get you on as a contestant. You wouldn’t even have to audition.”

She glanced down at the gloves I was pulling back on.

“And I’d be on the panel, so you’d have somebody looking out for you.”

I laughed. She’d seen my hands at their worst. She knew what she was asking me to do in front of a live audience.

My husband had created Rhythm for me. The producers had announced a guest judge with an international reputation. At my request, they were keeping the name quiet until the first taping.

It was my name they were holding back.

Morris Dickerson pulled up at the curb.

“No, thank you,” I told Vera. I smoothed the sleeve where she’d had her hand. “And the next time we see each other, you can keep walking.”

“Wait. Where do you live now?” She caught my arm again. “Wyatt can drive you.”

I pulled free and went straight to Morris’s car. He got out and opened the rear door for me.

Behind me, Vera said, “Honey, I think she’s married. Look, her husband came to pick her up.”

She paused long enough for Wyatt to get a good look at Morris.

“He’s a little older. I’m sure he treats her well enough, though.”

Wyatt pulled his arm out of hers. I was already in the car when he reached us and caught the edge of the door.

“Mildred Fox. Is this your husband?”

Morris looked at me. I gave him a small shake of my head, and he stepped back.

“This is what you call doing fine?” Wyatt said. “Marrying a man like him? You used to be too proud to settle for anybody.”

He hadn’t asked a single question before deciding I cleaned floors at Harmony Academy. Now he’d gone ahead and picked out my husband, too.

“He’s not good enough for you,” Wyatt went on. “Divorce him. If it’s money you need, tell me how much. I’ll wire it.”

I reached for the inside handle. Two of my fingers wouldn’t close around it.

“If you really think you owe me something, Wyatt, give me back my hands.”

He loosened his grip. I caught the door with my other hand.

“Mildred,” Vera called. “If you’d listened to my husband when he tried to help you back then, you wouldn’t have ended up like this.”

“Vera. Enough.”

I shut the door and told Morris to drive.

Lily Abbott’s name flashed on the screen. “Mommy, are you home yet? I have a surprise for you!”

She was the one who’d won first place. I looked out the window so Morris wouldn’t catch me tearing up in the mirror.

“I’m almost there, sweetheart. Give me a few more minutes.”

Morris stopped in the forecourt inside the gate. Another car pulled in behind us before the gate finished closing. I recognized Wyatt’s headlights as I stepped out.

They’d followed us all the way home.

Vera got out first, but waited for Wyatt so she could take his arm.

“It was my idea to come,” she said. “I wanted to make sure you were all right.”

She looked past me at the house. The lights were on in the front rooms.

“Are you giving a piano lesson here at this hour?” She tilted her head. “I suppose with that plagiarism story following you around, you can’t be too particular about who hires you.”

Wyatt had gone quiet. He knew whose driveway he was standing in.

“This is Mr. James’s home,” Vera said. “You do know who he is, don’t you?”

Of course I did. James Group owned freight terminals and warehouses well beyond Riverton. Most of the region’s importers needed something from it sooner or later. So did the crews moving cargo that never made it onto a manifest. I’d heard Wyatt call men twice his age by their first names. He always said Mr. James.

“If he finds out you’ve lied about your qualifications, Wyatt and I won’t be able to smooth it over,” Vera said. “You’d be better off telling him the truth before somebody else does.”

My phone rang again. Lily.

“Mommy! I saw you from the window. Why are you still outside? It’s all ready!”

“I’m coming in, sweetheart.”

When I lowered the phone, Wyatt was staring at me.

“Was that your daughter?” he asked. “Mildred, you have a child?”

I didn’t get a chance to answer. The front door opened, and Lily came tearing down the steps in her slippers. She ran straight past Wyatt and wrapped both arms around my leg.

“Mommy! You have to come inside right now. If I keep it a secret any longer, I’m gonna burst!”