Page 128 of Eight Years Gone

Grace covered Bea’s hand. “I don’t know what we would have done without you, especially after we lost Mom.”

“It was always my pleasure to step in and help, not that I could ever take her place.” Bea gave her a gentle squeeze. “Eat up your lunch and tell me what it’s like to have Jagger back in your life. It was the best kind of shock to see him at the funeral.”

Grace couldn’t help but grin. “It’s wonderful to have him home. Everything about our life together is so good. We’re going to Montana soon for our first real vacation.”

Bea smiled. “I knew he would be back. It was just a matter of time. I’m glad you found your way back to one another after all these years.”

“Me too.” She dug her spoon into the melted cheese, grabbing a crouton with a bite of the soup, blowing before she sampled. “It’s as amazing as I remember.”

Bea beamed. “I’ll send you home with some of the extras. I’ll pack up the cheese and croutons so you can make a proper lunch tomorrow.”

“I won’t turn you down.”

Bea ate several bites of her own.

Grace set down her spoon, clearing her throat. “Bea, can I ask you a question about my parents?”

Bea set down her spoon. “Of course, sweetie.”

“Jagger and I went to the mansion last week. I was looking around and found Mom’s journals in the attic.”

“I forgot about those.”

“Me too.” She cleared her throat again. “Do you remember them being happy together? Mom and Dad?” That wasn’t exactly what she’d wanted to say, but it seemed better than blurting out what she’d read in her mother’s troubling last entry.

“More than they weren’t from what I saw during the years. Your mother always brought out your father’s softer side. She made him laugh. He loved her dearly. Our precious Rose.”

Grace couldn’t bring herself to ask if Bea thought her father could have been unfaithful. Bea had loved him like her own son. “Do you remember the summer you had to go to Washington? My mom had a college girl watch us. Jessica.”

Bea nodded as she sipped her tea. “She was a lovely young woman. Great with you kids. Quite a pretty one she was.”

Grace swallowed. “She was from the neighborhood, right? In the suburbs?”

“Yes. Just a block or two away. The Sawyer family, if I remember correctly.”

Grace perked up. “Jessica Sawyer?”

Bea nodded. “They were a lovely family—a little strict with their girls.”

Grace tucked her hair behind her ear. “Jessica had a little boy?”

Bea frowned. “No, I don’t think so. She was in college at the time. The family moved away the following spring. I didn’t see her again after that.”

“Oh.”

Bea looked at her now. “What has you thinking about Jessica?”

Grace shrugged. “I’d forgotten about her until I read about her in Mom’s journals. I remember her being a good babysitter, but I don’t remember much else.”

“Eat more of your soup, sweet girl. It’s cold out today.”

Grace nodded, deciding that she’d poked and prodded enough, but as she occasionally sipped at her soup, she wondered about Jessica Sawyer from down the block.

* * *

Grace turned the key in the lock on the twentieth floor, taking a steadying breath as she stepped inside her father’s condo.

Hesitating by the door, she debated whether to leave it ajar as her gaze tracked around the gloomy space on the cloudy afternoon.

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