Keeper of the Light

be thrilled. I am thrilled, but at the same time…”

“What?”

“It’s my husband. He doesn’t want to stay here.”

“I thought…you’re separated, aren’t you?”

“Yes, but I keep hoping…” She shrugged. “Well, I guess this will be the big test. I’ll tell him I’ve got the offer and see what happens. Maybe he and I need a crisis—we just plod along, not together, but not totally apart either. I suppose this will move us in one direction or another. May I have a few days to decide?”

“Absolutely.” He leaned back in his chair. “I’m not one of those people who thinks you should put career over family, Olivia, regardless of what sex you are. So whatever you decide, I’ll understand.”

“Thanks.”

“At the same time, though, you’re the one the ER needs. It’s going to expand—it’s got to—and we need someone there who can handle the changes.”

She felt a hunger in her that had been missing for a long time. There was a challenge in front of her, tempting her, waiting for her to grab it. She wished she could say yes and be done with it.

“Mike, there’s one more thing you should know.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m pregnant. The baby’s due in January.”

Mike’s eyes widened. “Wow.”

“I don’t intend to take much time off, if everything goes well. Maybe I should have told you before, but I…”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t change anything with regard to the offer.”

She smiled, relieved. “Good.”

“Well.” He leaned back in his chair. “I’m supposed to bring you home with me for some dessert when we’re through with dinner, on order of the director of my household. Okay with you?”

“I’d love it,” she said.

For the first time, Paul was looking forward to the meeting at Alec’s. It might give him a chance to really get a look at Lacey, and sure enough, she was standing in the kitchen with her father and Nola when he arrived. She was drinking a Coke from the can, and she looked at him with more than a passing interest when he walked into the room. Could she possibly know? Was there a chance Annie had told her something?

He said hello to the three of them, unable to take his eyes from Lacey’s face. He tried to imagine her without the Halloween hair. She was Annie, through and through. He could see no one else in her features; certainly there was no trace at all of Alec.

“Wine’s already in the living room, Paul,” Alec said as he walked past him, with Nola close on his heels.

“I’ll be there in a second,” Paul said. “I just want to get a glass of water.” He reached toward the cabinet over the sink and looked at Lacey, who had boosted herself onto the countertop. She was wearing a short, hot-pink T- shirt and white shorts. Her feet were bare. “Glasses in here?” he asked.

“Next one,” she said. “To your right.”

He filled the glass with water and took a long drink. Then he leaned back against the counter to study her. “I checked the notes I made when I interviewed your mother, Lacey, and for some reason she did say you were twelve.”

Lacey wrinkled her nose. “That is totally weird,” she said.

“Maybe she was a little nervous about being interviewed.”

The girl shook her head. “She never got nervous over anything.” She swung her bare legs out in front of her and studied her pink toenails. “Your wife is really nice,” she said.

He frowned at her. “How do you know… Oh. You met her at the hospital the night your mother died.”

“Yeah, but that’s not really how I know her.” Lacey took an annoyingly long drink from her can of soda, and when she finally set the can on the counter, there was a coyness in her smile. “Actually,” she said, “I talk to her every night.”

“To my wife? To Olivia?”

“Yeah. She insisted. See, what happened was, one night I slept over her house and…”

“You stayed at her house?”

“Uh-huh, and then she said I had to call her at midnight every night, and she somehow talked my father into making all these rules for me.” Lacey grinned, rather happily. “She’s positively wrecked my life, but she’s kind of hard to stay mad at.” She held up her hand to show him a black and silver watch. “She bought this for me.”

“Paul?” Alec called from the living room. “We’re about to get started.”

“I’ll be right there,” he called back, but he didn’t make a move toward the door. “Why did you sleep over her house?” he asked.

“Because my father had to take my brother to college and was going to be gone all night. So Olivia is, like, really close friends with my father and she said I could stay there.”

Paul stared at the cloisonne horse on the other side of the room. “I didn’t realize she was friends with your… I guess she’s helped him with the talks he gives on the lighthouse, right?”

“Well, they only did that once.” Lacey held the can to her lips again, leaning back to swallow the last of the soda. “They go out sometimes,” she continued. “You know, to dinner or whatever, and sometimes she comes over