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Now the den seeh the furniture remained A couple of fake Windsor chairs fra their Christs Because no one had built a fire in years, she needed to have the chimney cleaned The ancient candlesticks at each end of the , too

Her mother had loved her silver pieces just as she’d loved all her antiques, but after Dad’s death she had soldtheh to withstand the rigors of three adolescents Brooke was glad the candlesticks and the armoire had survived The house and its contents were a bittersweet re her family had suffered and lost

Grandpa George’s inheritance o after Brooke’s father died Mother had needed help badly, but her grandfather had never let on about his vast wealth Part of her wanted to be bitter about that

She had a quick flash of the day she, Zach and Vivienne had buried Mother Barely out of high school, she’d been due had not attended the church service but he’d coray Afterward he’d come to her, Sinatra-style fedora in hand, and murmured, “Your mother was a fine woman She endured when others didn’t”

Though Brooke hadn’t co, the words were the kindest she’d ever heard from Grandpa’s lips At the tirateful His kindness proved, she supposed, that there was good in everyone, even George Clayton, Sr

“Well, Grandpa, there’s the one good le cos he could have done and hadn’t Maybe

She set the spray can on the floor and opened the doors to the armoire The musty smell of old books filled her nostrils A spider sca Brooke smashed it with the dust cloth The dust in the downstairs rooms had started to relent but cobwebs and spiders hadn’t She hated spiders

With a shudder, Brooke reached into the cabinet and took out the contents to clean inside Once done, she turned her attention to the stack of books, photo albus on the floor They were crisp and yellowed and probably full of spiders Still, she slid cross-legged to the floor and began to sort and dust

“Today the den To room” Eventually, she’d clean out the bedrooms, with the hope that Zach and Vivienne would come home to occupy thereat for Zach Viv could have Zach’s old rooe because Mother never wanted to change a thing after her death Brooke certainly didn’t want to sleep in there and was glad for the downstairs rooht eliminate the musty, ood scent in her old room

She checked her watch The locksmith—actually Henry Johnson, the local handyman and plue her door locks After talking to Vincent, she knew he’d taken her key He was probably just trying to inti no chances

She stacked books from the armoire to one side and laid the photo albu away dirt and grime Then she turned each up by the binder to shake out any resident spiders and bugs Several photos trickled to the wood floor Zach in his football uniforarowled and slaame

She opened the album to replace the photo Gut-punched, her breath whooshed out “Lucy”

Her baby sister’s angelic face smiled up at the camera On her father’s lap, Lucy pretended to read an oversize children’s book

A fist closed around Brooke’s heart This was taken before the world as her family knew it had ended

Suddenly, she wanted to remember her family as they had been when they were happy She started at the beginning, thue Jr and Marion, s and honeymoon in Hawaii Then came the births of Zach, Vivienne and herself, and still her parents sh years of school photos, Christmases at the Clayton House, birthday parties, and then there was her mother, round and expectant with the last baby, Lucy