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The woman smiled at Ethan "Hello"

"Hi"

Liz separated herself fro from one to three, then fro time, but Montana had insisted Now that Liz saw the crowd, she had an idea that

"I think the lines are going to be long," Liz continued "Did you bring a book with you? If so, I can sign it now"

The woar wants to get hohed "You kno ot a pen out of her purse She took the offered book "What’s your naned the book and handed it back Patricia patted her arm

"You’re lovely I knew you would be" She winked at Ethan "And your husband is very handso children"

"Thank you," Liz said

Patricia excused herself and left

"Why did she say that?" Tyler asked "Dad isn’t your husband You should have told her"

Liz crouched in front of hi to be nice Sometimes it’s easier to accept the compli"

"Jason’s parents are married," Tyler declared

She stayed where she was, eye level with her son "Yes, they are"

"You and Dad aren’t et a divorce"

"That’s right"

She could feel Ethan hovering, sensed that he wanted to help But as there to say? Eventually Tyler was going to figure out that she and his dad hadn’t followed a traditional path

"You didn’t get married at all" The words sounded like an accusation

"It’s co Liz to her feet and putting his hand on Tyler’s shoulders "There were extenuating circuued stubbornly

Abby looked uncoly

"You should be roan "An interesting idea," she said lightly "But not one we’re going to discuss right now and certainly not here"

"But I--"

"You heard yourThis isn’t the time to deal with the subject We’ll talk later"

"I want to talk now!"

"Coht with you?"

She nodded and Ethan led Tyler away

Abby hovered close by "Should I go?"

"I thought you wanted to be withIt’s okay Really Why don’t you come with me until you meet with your friends at one-thirty?"

"Okay"

They walked toward the booths at the far end of the park

"Tyler’s mad," Abby observed

"I know"

"He said he alanted a dad, but you wouldn’t talk about his He didn’t kno to ot really sad and stuff"

Liz didn’t know if she wanted to hear more or not "I remember he would ask a lot It’s complicated"

"Grown-ups always say that, but if you don’t tell us stuff, how can we learn?"

Liz srinned

The preteen’s point was a good one Maybe it was time to explain the truth to Tyler That Liz hadn’t exactly pressed for Ethan to know about his son, and later fate, in the form of Rayanne, had intervened She would discuss the idea with Ethan later

Liz saw the signs pointing toward the signing area and was surprised at how h the crowd, she and Abby went around, down by the lake, then back up through the trees

"Do I have leaves in h several bushes and ca "I don’t want to look--"

She came to a stop and stared at the stacks of boxes from her publisher There were at least a dozen Maybe roan Montana seereat, but if a significant percentage of the books didn’t sell, Liz’s publisher wasn’t going to be happy

She saw her assistant Peggy waiting by the table and hugged her "You careat book signing caper This is a lot of inventory"

"Tell y and Abby

"I was feeling guilty about wanting to look at the quilts," Peggy conceded with a laugh, "but you’re going to be busy for a while"

"Yes, there’s plenty of ti up to greet her "I think we should start a little early The lines are so long Hey, Abby" She hugged Liz, then the girl and introduced herself to Peggy "I have water and pens We’re going to take turns holding the books open for you to speed things along"

Liz couldn’t seem to tear her eyes away froot a little ahed "Trust "

"I’ve never sold thatbefore Not even close"

"Then we’re going to break a record, aren’t we?" She patted Liz’s arm, then turned to Abby "Want to take the first shift with holding open the books? I’ll show you how"

"Okay," Abby agreed cheerfully