“Up to three years, but likely just eighteen months.”
“I’ll almost be a senior in high school by then,” Violet said. “She’ll miss everything.”
Polly pulled Violet to her, wrapping her in the hug she’d been wanting to give her ever since the first moment she saw her. “Not everything, honey,” she consoled her, smoothing her hair as she spoke. “She won’t miss everything. We’ll make sure of it.”
Violet pulled back and looked at Polly. “We?”
Polly smiled. “Well, sure, we.”
“You’ll stay with me? For that long?”
Tears filled Polly’s eyes as she looked at her granddaughter. For the first time she didn’t see herself when she looked at her. She saw someone else, someone different, changed by all that she’d been through. Someone stronger, smarter, tougher. Someone who didn’t need the Beaucatcher legacy to define her. Violet, Polly understood, would write her own definition.
“I will stay for as long as you’ll have me,” she told her.
Violet smiled and her eyes shone with unshed tears. In the kitchen the alert signaled the back door had been opened. That sound still made Polly jump. Each time she heard it, she recalled Calvin walking through that door with the gun in his hand. She shuddered at the image.
Violet squeezed her shoulder. “It’s OK, Polly,” she said, understanding without explanation. “He’s gone now.”
“I know,” she said, and gave Violet a brave smile. They started to walk toward the kitchen to see who had arrived, but Violet stopped short and looked at her. “Can I ask you one thing?” Violet said. “About that day?”
Polly’s heart picked up speed. Violet hadn’t talked much about what had happened, and Polly had let her process things at her own pace, in her own way. But she’d known that, eventually, Violet would have questions. “Sure,” she said.
“When he talked about the money. It’s money from my mom’s business, isn’t it?”
Polly wanted to lie. Telling the truth—if Violet ever told anyone—could undo all that Norah had done to protect her and the others. But she wouldn’t lie to her granddaughter. She’d have to trust Violet to keep the secret. “Yes,” she said.
“But I thought you and my mom didn’t speak?”
Polly laughed in spite of herself. “We didn’t,” she said. “And then one day she contacted me. Found me on Facebook and asked to meet. So we did, and she told me her plan. Asked me to join her. She wanted . . .” Polly felt the words swell in her throat, choking her. “She wanted to help me become financially independent so I could stop relying on men. Because she’d seen me do that her whole life. It was part of why she was so angry at me. She thought it was only because of money that I kept a man around. But with me it wasn’t that simple. It wasn’t just about money. If I didn’t have a man, I felt like half of a whole.”
“That’s why you stayed with Calvin even though you had all that money,” Violet said, taking it in and, Polly hoped, learning a thing or two.
“Yes,” Polly said. “I thought he made me better, more valid somehow.” She thought about it. “Well, I used to think that. When I got the call from your dad, I’d been thinking about leaving Calvin, was figuring out my next move.” She winked at Violet. “Then you came along and gave me just that.”
Violet grinned. “So you’re Lois?” she asked.
Polly raised her eyebrows. “Actually, I’m not. I have no idea who Lois is. That was by Norah’s design. She wanted anyone associated with her to have no further knowledge of the operation. Then if we were ever questioned, we’d have plausible deniability. So whoever Lois is, she got off, and she’s somewhere living her life, I guess. Which was the way your mom wanted it.”
“So you and my mom have been in touch all this time?” There was a note of accusation, and hurt, in her voice.
Polly shook her head. “No. That was also part of what Norah called ‘the beauty of it.’ Since we were estranged, I was the last person anyone would suspect. It was hard, knowing it meant we weren’t going to reconcile, but I was glad just to be in her life to whatever extent. I was always hopeful that one day it would lead to more.”
“And now it has,” Violet said.
“Now it has,” Polly said, and squeezed Violet’s hand. In the kitchen their guests laughed, reminding them of their hosting duties.
“Why don’t you go rescue Micah from making awkward small talk, and I’ll be right there. Just going to make sure I locked the front door.” Violet threw her arms around Polly for a quick hug, then darted away, leaving Polly to stand there stunned, and thrilled, for just a moment.
In the kitchen she heard Violet greet Micah and Bess. She heard Casey’s voice and realized that must’ve been who had come in the back door. They were all there. They were all OK. She exhaled and walked back to check the front door. She was headed back to the kitchen to deliver the good news about Norah to everyone else when she heard Casey pose a question, “So are we doing a scary face or a funny face on this pumpkin?”
“Scary,” said Micah.
“Funny,” said Casey, Bess, and Violet in unison.
“Hey,” she heard Micah concede. “That’s three to one. The ladies win.”
Indeed, Polly thought, they do.
Bess
Two Years Later
Bess took off the headset and put it on the desk. She reached up and finger-combed her hair, resisting the urge to put it into a ponytail like she often did. She still needed to get used to her long hair. Her girls loved it and begged her not to cut it back into the pixie style she’d had for all those years.
“It’s a new you,” Casey always told her.
Bess agreed that it was. She was still getting
