problem with which they’d been wrestling.
“When we were at the cemetery, we noticed that this arm of Lawyers’ Bay was right across the lake,” Gracie said. “We thought it would be neat to build this Inukshuk with a sight hole that pointed towards that huge cottonwood tree at the edge of the cemetery.”
“My father says that, judging from its size, that tree must have been there forever,” Isobel said.
Gracie rolled her eyes. “I thought we were going to be here forever trying to get the angle right,” she said. “This is the third time we’ve had to take down what we’ve built and start again, but I think we’ve got it. Maybe you’d like to have a look, Mrs. Kilbourn.”
“I’d be honoured,” I said.
The girls came with me as I walked out to the Inukshuk and peered through the sight hole.
“Third time’s the charm,” I said. “You’ve got it.”
They barely had time to exchange high-fives before we heard the squeal of brakes and the slam of a car door behind us. All day I had been carrying an image of Lily Falconer as frightened and vulnerable, a broken child who grew into a damaged adult. The wrathful woman who exploded out of the front seat of her Jeep and ran towards us was a shock.
Lily’s face was contorted with rage and her voice was acid. “Put those rocks back,” she said. “You don’t know what you’re destroying.” She didn’t give the girls a chance to obey or explain. Instead, she went to the Inukshuk and ripped out a flat stone from the base. Within seconds, the meticulously planned and executed structure collapsed.
Clutching her prize, Lily dropped to the beach and began exploring the support under the gazebo. She was desperate, as if she had to slide the rock into place before everything fell apart. She narrowed her focus on her daughter.
“Where did you take this from, Gracie?”
The colour had drained from Gracie’s face. Her freckles looked painted on, like a doll’s. I was afraid she was sliding into shock. I stepped between Lily and her daughter. My hands were shaking, but my voice was steady. “No one destroyed anything, Lily. We bought the rocks in Fort Qu’Appelle. I drove the girls in myself to get them.”
Lily looked at me with loathing. “It’s so easy for you to be the good one,” she said. Her comment stunned me. So did the fact that she was still holding the rock she had ripped from the Inukshuk. For a moment it seemed entirely possible that she would hurl the rock at me. Instead, she dropped it on the beach, walked back to her Jeep, threw it into reverse, and sped off.
Gracie watched her mother’s car disappear from sight. “Welcome home, Mum,” she said. Then she picked up the stone her mother had dropped, placed it back where it belonged, and began patiently to restore the Inukshuk.
I stayed with the girls while they rebuilt what had been destroyed. Without discussion, they realized the importance of their task, and they worked silently and deliberately. Finally, it was done.
One by one the girls checked the sight hole, then Gracie nodded to me. “Your turn,” she said.
I stared across the lake at the graveyard. When I spotted the cottonwood tree, I said, “Better than ever. Why don’t we call it a day and go home?”
Gracie’s smile was battle-weary. “Good plan,” she said. “But can I go to your home, not mine?”
CHAPTER
12
Not long after the girls had settled down with a video, Rose appeared at our door.
“I’ve come for Gracie,” she said.
“She’s in the living room with Taylor and Isobel watching a movie,” I said. “Before you get her, we should probably talk for a minute. There was… an incident.”
Rose stepped inside, closing the door behind her. “Lily told me,” she said. “How bad was it?”
“Pretty bad,” I said.
Rose’s small body sagged with defeat. “More unravelling.” She took a deep breath. “I’d better get my girl, see what we can salvage.” She frowned, seeming to turn something over in her mind. “Do you think it would be easier for Gracie if Taylor and Isobel came back with her? I could give them all dinner.”
“Makes sense to me,” I said. “When in doubt, proceed as if life is going on as usual.”
Not long after Rose and the girls left, Zack drove in. I walked out to the driveway to meet him. He was pale and clearly exhausted.
“Bad day?” I asked.
He grimaced. “You don’t want to know.”
“Would a large gin and tonic help?”
“I’m not certain,” Zack said. “But I’m willing to give it a try.”
We took our drinks out to the porch, where there was at least the chance of a breeze. The scent of nicotiana, heady and seductive, drifted through the screened windows.
Zack sipped his drink and sighed contentedly. “On the drive back I was thinking about how nice it is to have someone to come home to.”
“Whoa, there,” I said. “What’s my favourite colour?”
He laughed. “You don’t think I know enough about you to move in?”
“I don’t think we know enough about each other to pass a couples’ quiz in Cosmopolitan magazine.”
“We can remedy that,” Zack said. “After the Friends of Clare Mackey leave tonight, come sit on my deck. We’ll watch the sunset – no sex, just the sharing of information. What do you say?”
“I’ve never been a big fan of either-or.”
“Neither have I. So let’s do both. Now, how was your day?”
“About as grim as yours,” I said. My account of the scene with Lily was brief, but I didn’t gloss over the punch-in-the-stomach gratuitous ugliness of Lily’s attack.
Zack was visibly shaken. “How did Gracie take it?”
“She was stunned, of course. She was trembling and so pale that I thought she might be on the verge of shock. Lily either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Her only concern was where the rocks for the Inukshuk came from.”
“Why would it matter?” Zack said. “The kids showed me what they’ve done. It looks like good work to me.”
“I agree,” I said. “And if there’s a happy ending to this story, it’s that Gracie didn’t let her mother destroy what she and the other girls made. As soon as Lily left, Gracie started building again.”
Zack’s smile was faint. “Way to go, Gracie,” he said.
“Kids have amazing resources,” I said.
“But no one’s resources are inexhaustible,” Zack said. “Lately, Blake has been running on empty.”
“There aren’t many things more draining than a bad marriage,” I said. “Lily’s clearly miserable. Why doesn’t Blake just accept the truth?”
Zack shrugged. “He’s in love with her, and once in a while she loves him back.”
“And that’s enough for him.”
“I guess it is. I know he’s absolutely faithful to her.”
“I underestimated him,” I said. “When I met Blake, I didn’t like him. I had him pegged as a ladies’ man.”
“How did you have me pegged?”
“As the prince of darkness,” I said.
“So you were wrong on both counts.”
“Was I?”
Zack laughed. “Probably not entirely. But I have the rest of the summer to convince you that you were wrong about me.” He finished his drink and placed the glass on the wicker table.
“Can I get you a refill?”
