“What makes you think I have a sense of humor about this?” Coop asked.

“I just want to say one thing, Cooper,” Jack said. “I think I did the only thing I could do back then. If what Luke thinks of you is accurate, you’d have done what I did—try to take the woman to get medical help, call the police. What happened after that was completely out of my hands. I shipped out the next day—I was just there with a Marine squad for Airborne training—we don’t hang around Army posts that often. You’d have done the same thing.”

“Might’ve,” he relented. “I don’t know that I would’ve thought the worst of someone I knew nothing about.”

“Why’d she tell me she was in a bad relationship? Abusive?” Jack asked, a curious frown drawing his heavy brows together.

“Maybe because we dated for a while and fought like crazy,” Coop said. “Arguing, that’s all—nothing physical. She wanted to get serious, wanted to come with me to Ft. Rucker, and she also wanted to hang out with a lot of different guys, so we stopped going out but she kept calling me and I slid back a time or two, so—”

“Slid back?” Jack asked. And to add insult to injury, he laughed.

“I was twenty-two!”

Jack ran a hand around the back of his neck. “Yeah, I vaguely remember twenty-two…” He chuckled a little. “I’m a big enough man to admit, my brain was not between my ears.”

“I never hit a woman in my life,” Coop said.

“Wish I could say the same,” Jack said. “I grew up with four sisters and the two older ones… Hell, they tortured me. If I could get one off on one of them, I did—but that stopped when I was about twelve.”

“I have two older sisters,” Coop said.

“I have two younger, too.”

“I have one younger,” Coop said. “But she’s a doll. And I grew into the older ones eventually.”

“What the hell were you doing at her house fifteen years ago?” Jack asked. “Sliding back?”

“Hell if I know. I woke up on a picnic table in the park across the street with the biggest headache I’ve ever had. I was probably looking for any familiar place because I was not driving anywhere. And everything went to hell from there.”

“Yeah,” Jack said. “Well, hell. Listen, about these town parties, it’s a good time. Not long after Halloween it gets too cold for things like that and right up until Christmas, we’re driven inside. The Riordans who don’t already live here usually show up now and then. You shouldn’t let me keep you away. And you’re welcome at the bar anytime.” Jack glanced at Luke who was smiling faintly. “No need to have an escort.”

“Neighborly of you,” Coop said.

“But you should know,” Jack went on. “I’m trying to check a few facts. If it turns out I jumped to all the wrong conclusions, an apology will be forthcoming.”

Coop was quiet for a second. “I won’t hold my breath.”

“How’d you hurt your hand? Back then?”

“No idea,” Coop said. “I hope I hurt it on the face of the son of a bitch who beat her. But the truth is, I have no idea.”

“Buddy,” Jack said. “You couldn’t have planned that any worse.”

“Tell me about it.”

“It was pointed out to me, in a very sincere and sarcastic way, that I am not without flaws. Let’s just hope to get it cleared up before you leave town.”

“How does it matter?” Coop asked.

Jack looked at Luke. “We have mutual friends who matter.” And with that he got back in his truck and drove away.

Chapter Fourteen

Maxie’s friends, Penny and Rosalie, arrived on Thursday afternoon. They brought very little luggage and a trunk full of sweets they’d spent the previous two days together baking at Rosalie’s Santa Rosa home. Both were widowed, gray-haired, of indeterminate ages and when the three silver-haired women were together, laughing and hugging and breaking out the wine, they called themselves the Merry Widows.

Nora loved them instantly.

“Guard yourself,” Tom whispered to her. “They’re sharp-tongued and relentless.”

Nora didn’t take him seriously at all. She loved being in the kitchen with them and her children took to them immediately—both were experienced grandmothers.

When Tom was not in the house, Penny asked, “When does that woman arrive?”

Nora’s ears perked up.

“Tomorrow afternoon,” Maxie said. “And be very cautious what you say around her. She can be hard to take, but Tom is very protective of her. Her husband was killed in Afghanistan in Tom’s command and he feels a certain—you know—responsibility for her. If you say anything critical or offend her, he might lose his head and marry her.”

“Us?” Penny said. “Critical?”

“Does she have a name other than Miss Picky Pants?” Rosalie asked.

Nora laughed suddenly. Miss what? she wondered.

“Darla,” Maxie said. “Darla Pritchard.”

“Is she good in the kitchen?” Penny wanted to know.

“I couldn’t tell you. All I’ve seen her do is read, change clothes several times a day and pick at her food. If Duke gets near her, she shies away so he won’t get dog hair on her.”

“But wait till you see her,” Nora said. The women all turned and looked at her. “She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

“My dear child,” Rosalie said, “have you looked in a mirror lately?”

“We should get out the old pictures,” Penny said. “Show this girl we were once hot young chicks.”

“Have you all been friends your whole lives?” Nora asked.

“We met when we were young mothers,” Maxie said. “Right here on the orchard. Rosalie and Penny came to pick apples. Rose lived in Garberville then, Penny in Willet. And we did the one thing people never do anymore—we wrote letters to each other. And got together once, maybe twice a year.”

“Maxie, did you live on the orchard all your life?”

Silence hung in the air for a moment, followed by laughter that only confused Nora.

“No, Nora—I came to the orchard when I was eighteen, looking for work. I was a dirt-poor farm girl from Idaho. I got stranded near here and this was the only place hiring.”

“How’d you get stranded here?” Nora asked.

“The usual way, darling. I was following a man. A logger. He was killed in a logjam and I had no way to get home, not that home had much to offer anyway. So—I asked for work here. The old man didn’t want to hire me, but his wife took me on. I started picking apples but ended up working in the house.”

“Like me?”

All three women hummed and laughed under their smothered chuckles.

“Like you,” she said. “Now, are you going to bring the children this weekend? Between the four of us here, we can make sure they’re watched every minute.”

“I thought I should ask Noah and his wife if they could help out, since I’ll be needed here all weekend. And on Sunday afternoon, my father will bring them. I’m so anxious for him to meet everyone.”

“And we’re all looking forward to meeting him. Tell Rosalie and Penny that story, darling—of how your father came back into your life recently.”

Nora gave them the quick version, trying not to make her mother look too terrible in the telling. It wasn’t long past that story that Tom came into the kitchen, ready for dinner and the family atmosphere resumed around the big kitchen table.

It was still drizzling on Friday and Tom and Junior pulled out tarps they’d erect as tents on the weekend if the weather didn’t improve. On Friday afternoon Darla arrived and as the Fridays before, it was like the arrival of royalty. Tom carried her luggage up the stairs while Maxie introduced her to everyone. The women had been sitting around the table fashioning sachets out of dried apples, cinnamon sticks and cloves. They’d be given out to anyone who wanted them over the weekend festival.

“It was a long drive,” she said after meeting all the women. “I’m going to change into something more comfortable.”

Maxie said nothing, though she peered at her friends from under lifted brows.

Momentarily Darla returned with a rather surprised look on her face. “There seems to be a child in my bedroom.”

“Oh!” Nora said, jumping to her feet. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize—”

“Is she asleep, Darla?” Maxie asked, cutting Nora off.

“On my bed,” Darla said, clearly shocked.

“Then perhaps you can change clothes in my bedroom,” Maxie suggested. “That’s Nora’s two-year-old, Berry. She’s napping. The baby is in a port-a-crib in Tom’s room. Also napping.”

“Will I be sharing my room with someone?” Darla asked uncomfortably.

“No, dear, Nora lives in town and will be going home after dinner. Tomorrow at naptime, I’ll put Berry on my bed. I told you, we have a full house and demanding schedule during the festival weekends. It’s pretty much every man for himself.”

And then Darla did something that positively stunned Nora. When Nora would have expected her to ask how she could help or pull up a chair to visit, she said, “I’ll grab a book and go to the other room to read. Will you tell me when the child no longer needs my room?”

“Certainly, dear,” Maxie said. Then with sarcasm Darla clearly did not hear, she asked, “Can I get you anything?”

“No, thank you. I’ll be fine.” And she left the kitchen.

* * *

Saturday dawned bright and clear, the sun burning off the morning mist early. Nora had arrived at the orchard to help set up, having left Adie at her house until the children woke. The plan had been for her to go into town and fetch Adie and the little girls after they’d had a chance to wake up and have breakfast, but Nora was not feeling right about it.

“Maxie,” she whispered, “I have a feeling my girls are going to be an imposition. It might not be too late for me to get help from Ellie Kincaid. Her daughter is nearly old enough to babysit and she loves playing with the girls.”

“I want them here,” Maxie said. “They are not the imposition.”

“We all want them to come,” Penny said. “And Adie looks forward to this. She’s counting on being here both days this weekend and next.”

“Are you absolutely sure?”

“Absolutely. Sure.”

Nora actually winced. Having the kids here both days would put her in the house often, checking on them to be sure they weren’t getting in the way. While that wasn’t ordinarily an issue, she couldn’t help feeling like a beat-up old shoe next to Darla.

On the upside, she didn’t have much time to indulge her feelings of inferiority—crowds began to descend on the orchard at once. The minute Nora got Adie and the little ones back, she was needed to hand out bushel baskets, help people with ladders, pull out crates and bags for them to take their apples home.

More and more familiar faces appeared, many of them clearly intending to stay for hours. She saw some boys throwing a Frisbee through the trees and others throwing one for the dogs. The wraparound porch on the big old house was full of people and Nora caught sight of Maxie and her friends holding court. Great thermoses of tea and lemonade were set up, gallons of fresh cider opened up and tables of baked goods stood in the yard. People spread blankets in the yard to sit on and lawn chairs were pulled out of truck beds. A couple of big grills were set up and Nora saw that it was the team from Jack’s bar serving up hamburgers and hot dogs while Rosalie and Penny were busily opening huge bags of chips.