He took another swig then went into his study where he set about the business of getting seriously drunk.

Jane knew she couldn’t leave until she’d said good-bye to Annie. Neither could she give in to her grief right now, so she blinked her eyes and took big, shuddering gulps of air as she drove to the top of Heartache Mountain. Lynn’s car wasn’t in sight, and she was grateful she could say good-bye to Annie without a hostile witness.

The house looked so different from when she’d first seen it. Cal had painted it white. He’d fixed the crooked shutters and the broken step. As she entered and called out Annie’s name, she pushed away the memory of the laughter they’d shared while they’d worked.

When she reached the kitchen, she saw Annie through the screen door. She was sitting outside in the sun snapping green beans from a pottery bowl on her lap. As Jane watched the rhythmic motion of Annie’s gnarled fingers, she wanted to take the bowl from her and snap the beans herself. Bean snapping was one task that hadn’t been influenced by technology. It was performed exactly the same way now that it had been hundreds of years ago. It suddenly seemed to her that snapping those beans would bring something solid into her life, a link with all the women who had come before her, all the women throughout history who’d snapped beans and survived the heartache of men who didn’t love them back.

She bit her lip, then stepped outside. Annie turned her head. “ ’Bout time you decided to stop by.”

She sat down in the tubular lawn chair next to Annie and regarded the bowl that rested in her lap on top of a piece of newspaper to collect scraps. At that moment, its contents seemed precious and utterly necessary to her well-being.“Can I do those?”

“I don’t like waste.”

“All right.” Her hands trembled as she took the bowl. With utmost concentration, she bent her head, pulled out a bean, and carefully snapped off the ends. Apparently she didn’t take off too much because Annie didn’t criticize. She let the ends drop into her lap and focused on breaking the beans into bite-sized lengths.

“Those is store-bought beans. The ones from my garden’ll be a lot better.”

“I wish I were going to be here long enough to see them come in.” Her voice sounded almost normal. A little toneless, maybe. A shade tight. But almost normal.

“They’ll be ready long before Cal has to leave for trainin’ camp and the two of you head back to Chicago.”

Jane didn’t say anything. Instead, she picked up another bean, pushed her thumbnail into the end, and tore it off.

For the next few minutes she applied herself only to the beans, while Annie watched a bluebird hop from one branch to another in her magnolia tree. But instead of bringing her peace, Annie’s quiet and the warmth of the sun on her skin, along with the peaceful repetition of this woman’s task, made her defenses too complicated to keep in place, and they slowly crumbled.

A tear slipped over her bottom lid, trailed down her cheek, and splashed onto the bodice of her cotton dress. Another fell and then another. A shuddering little hiccup slipped out. She continued to break the beans and stopped fighting her grief.

Annie watched the bluebird fly away and then followed the path of a squirrel in the same tree. One of Jane’s tears dripped into the beans.

Annie began to hum softly under her breath. Jane finished the last bean, then searched frantically through the bowl for one she might have overlooked.

Annie reached into the pocket of her old apron, drew out a pink tissue, and handed it over. Jane blew her nose and began to speak. “I-I’m going to miss you's-so much, Annie, but I can’t stand it anymore. I have to go away. H-he doesn’t love me.”

Annie pursed her lips with disapproval. “Calvin, he don’t know what he feels.”

“He’s old enough to have figured it out by now.” She gave her nose an angry blow.

“Never knew a man who hated getting older so much. Usually, it’s women who’ll fight the years.”

“I couldn’t leave without saying good-bye.” She had to get away, and she nearly dropped the beans as she stood.

“Set those right down before you spill ’em all over the ground.”

Jane did as she said. Annie struggled out of her chair. “You’re a good girl, Janie Bonner. He’ll come to his senses soon.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Sometimes a wife needs a little patience.”

“I’m afraid I’m fresh out.” More tears rolled down her cheeks. “Besides, I’m not a real wife.”

“Now that’s plain nonsense.”

She didn’t have any words left to argue, so she wrapped the small, frail-boned woman in her arms. “Thanks for everything, Annie, but I’ve got to go.” After a gentle hug, she pulled away and turned toward the house.

That was when she saw Lynn Bonner standing on the back step.

Chapter Nineteen

“You’re leaving my son?”

Lynn looked angry and confused as she stared at Jane. She moved down into the yard, and Jane’s heart sank. Why had she stayed so long? Why hadn’t she simply said her good-byes to Annie and left? She quickly turned away and dashed her hand across her damp cheek.

Annie stepped into the breach. “I got snap beans for dinner, Amber Lynn, and I’m makin’ ’em with fatback whether you like it or not.”

Lynn ignored her and walked toward Jane. “Tell me why you’re leaving Cal.”

As Jane turned to face her, she tried to slip back into the cool persona Lynn expected. “Be grateful,” she managed. “I’ve been a terrible wife.”

But those dishonest words threatened to unleash a fresh flood of tears. She’d been the best wife he’d ever have, damn it! The best wife she’d known how to be! She turned away.

“Have you?” Lynn sounded deeply troubled.

Jane had to get out of here before she completely shattered. “I have a plane to catch. It would be best if you’d talk to Cal. He can explain better.”

She began moving toward the side of the house, but she’d barely taken two steps before Lynn’s astonished exclamation brought her to a halt.

“My God, you’re pregnant!”

She whipped around and saw Lynn staring at her midsection. Automatically, her gaze dropped, and only then did she notice the protective hand she’d unconsciously placed there. The gesture had pressed her dress against her body and outlined her gently rounded abdomen. She snatched it away, but she was too late.

Lynn looked bewildered. “Is it Cal’s?”

“Amber Lynn Glide!” Annie snapped. “Where are your manners?”

Lynn seemed more shaken than accusatory. “But how am I supposed to know if it’s his or not when I don’t understand anything about this marriage? I don’t know what they see in each other or how they got together. I don’t even know why she was crying.” Her voice caught. “Something’s very wrong here.”

The final threads of Jane’s badly frayed emotions unraveled, and as she saw the lines of suffering etched into Lynn’s face, she knew she had to tell her the truth. Cal’s desire to protect his parents had been well-meaning, but now it had grown destructive. If she’d learned anything in these past four months, she’d learned that deception only led to hurt.

“It’s Cal’s baby,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry you had to find out like this.”

Lynn’s hurt was obvious. “But, he never- He didn’t say anything. Why didn’t he tell me?”

“Because he was trying to protect me.”

“From what?”

“From you and Dr. Bonner. Cal didn’t want either of you to find out what I’d done to him.”

“Tell me!” Her expression grew as fierce as a mother lion whose cub had been threatened, never mind that her cub was now king of the jungle. “Tell me everything!”

Annie picked up the pottery bowl. “I’m goin’ inside and fix my beans the way I like. Janie Bonner, you stay right here till you get this settled with Amber Lynn, you hear me?” She shuffled toward the back porch.

Jane’s legs wouldn’t hold her any longer, and she sank down into the lawn chair. Lynn took the other chair and sat facing Jane. Her jaw was set, her manner confrontational. Jane found herself remembering the scrappy young girl who’d baked cookies at two in the morning so she could support her husband and her baby. The expensive yellow linen dress and chunky amber jewelry didn’t hide the fact that this woman knew how to fight for her own.

Jane clasped her hands in her lap. “Cal wanted to spare you and his father pain. You’ve been through so much this past year. He thought-” She dropped her gaze.“The bald truth is that I desperately wanted a child, and I tricked him into getting me pregnant.”

“You did what?”

Jane forced her head back up. “It was wrong. Unconscionable. I didn’t intend for him ever to find out.”

“But he did.”

She nodded.

Lynn’s lips had grown thin and taut. “Whose decision was it to get married?”

“His. He threatened to take me to court and sue for custody if I didn’t do what he wanted. Now that I know him better, I doubt that he’d have carried out his threat, but I believed him at the time.”

Taking a deep breath, she described the morning she’d opened the door to Jodie Pulanski, then told Lynn about the men’s plan for his birthday. She explained her own yearning for a child as well as her concern about finding someone to father it. She spoke without embellishment, refusing to justify her behavior in any way.