Part 3 (1/2)

”Come in the sitting room and get warm.” A fire was already lit in the wide, age-blackened hearth. ”Here, sit,” said Dawn.

Tess flopped down into the sofa and gazed at her mother, who was adding a log to the fire and adjusting it with a poker.

”Are you feeling all right, Mom?” she asked.

”Fine, dear,” Dawn said absently.

”You must be dreading this press conference tomorrow,” Tess said.

Dawn gazed into the fire. ”Actually, I'm not...I'm not planning on going, Tess. I can't face all that again. I think I'll wait here. I'll stay here with Erny.”

Tess was taken aback. She had a.s.sumed her mother would go. ”Are you sure?”

Dawn looked at her daughter and shook her head. ”I don't think I can,” she said.

Tess got up and put her arms around her mother, who stood stiffly, her gaze vacant. Dawn seemed numb, as if she were encased in bubble wrap, looking out at the world with detachment. Even as she held her in her arms, Tess mourned for her feisty, exuberant mother, a woman who was just a memory. ”It's all right. Don't worry about it. Jake and I will do it. Leave it to us. We'll represent the family. In a strange way,” she said grimly, ”I'm looking forward to it.”

At the sound of the front door opening, Dawn pulled away from her daughter's embrace. ”Well, speak of the devil,” she said.

Tess turned and saw her brother, in a worn engineer's jacket, his thick blond hair speckled with dried paint, entering the room His skin was weathered, his hair thinning, and there were lines around his mouth and eyes, but he still retained his rugged good looks.

”You just missed your wife,” said Dawn.

”No such luck,” said Jake. ”I pa.s.sed her coming up the road. She stopped long enough to tell me what a jerk I was. Hey, Tess.” Brother and sister embraced briefly and Jake sat down in a spindly-looking Windsor-style armchair by the fireplace. ”How was the trip?” he asked.

”Not bad,” said Tess. ”Erny's putting our bags in the room. He's excited to be here. He doesn't really understand what this is all about.”

”He's better off,” said Jake.

”Apparently, this is going to be quite a scene tomorrow.”

”a.s.shole,” Jake muttered.

Jake was angry. Nothing unusual there, Tess thought. He had been angry for years. He always had a story about what was currently infuriating him, but Tess suspected that it all stemmed from that long-ago night when his decision to go to town, and leave his sisters alone, led to catastrophe. ”Who's an a.s.shole?” Tess asked.

”Governor Putnam. This is all about politics. This is a career move for him. He thinks Lazarus Abbott is going to be exonerated and he's gonna be on the national scene as the great hero of the antideath-penalty set. I can't wait until this backfires in his face. And that attorney that Edith Abbott hired. Ramsey.” Jake shook his head.

”It said in the paper that he's a local guy,” said Tess.

”Well, he's local, but he's new,” said Dawn. ”He just moved here a year or two ago. Didn't he, Jake?”

Jake nodded. ”Yeah. He was a big-shot Philadelphia lawyer and his place here was a vacation home. Then his wife died and he moved up here full-time. I guess he decided to chuck the rat race and come live among 'the little people.'”

”Oh Jake, now, you don't know that,” Dawn said.

”Anyway, he no sooner arrived than he got involved with that nut job, Edith Abbott. I guess he figures we're such hicks that we must have convicted the wrong man. Why don't people like that mind their own f.u.c.king business?”

”Jake,” Dawn admonished him. ”Erny's coming.”

They all glanced toward the door of the sitting room and saw Erny edging into the room. Jake's face lit up. ”Hey. How's my guy? Come 'ere.”

Erny grinned and went over to his uncle, high-fiving him and giggling as Jake squeezed him in a bear hug. ”Yeah, you and me will have a good time while you're here. We'll go honky-tonkin'. Get us a couple of tattoos. Whaddya say?”

Erny grinned, wide-eyed, at his mother. ”Can I?” he asked.

”No,” said Tess, bemused.

”I'm going to the kitchen. I made these cookies...” said Dawn. ”Erny, you want to help me?”

”Okay,” said Erny. He was a child with energy to spare and never minded having a job to do. It was one of many things that made Tess proud of her son.

Just then the front door opened again. ”I'll go see who it is,” Erny called out and ran for the front door before anyone could stop him.

Tess heard murmurs in the front hallway and Dawn went out to see if there was a prospective guest in the foyer. A minute later she returned to the parlor. ”We have company,” said Dawn, her eyes widened in warning.

”Who?” asked Tess.

”It's Nelson Abbott. Come in, Nelson.”

Tess looked at Jake. ”Abbott?” she whispered.

”Lazarus's stepfather,” said Jake in a low voice.

Tess looked up warily at the man who was following her mother through the door. He removed his John Deere cap and crushed it in a large grimy hand. He was a craggy-faced man in his sixties shaped rather like a hedgehog, with a small mouth, angry black eyes, and a gray, military-style haircut. He was wearing work boots caked with mud and a fleece vest.

”h.e.l.lo, Nelson,” said Jake.

”This is my daughter, Tess,” said Dawn. ”And you've met her son, Erny. Nelson, why don't you have a seat? We were just going to get some cookies from the kitchen.”

Nelson glanced from Tess to Erny, frowning with disapproval as he seemed to note the ethnic difference between them. Then he cleared his throat and shook his head. ”I ain't stayin',” he said stiffly. ”I just come over here to tell you all that I don't want no part of this circus tomorrow. I won't be there. My wife won't listen to reason about her son. I can't help that. But Lazarus was not right mentally. It's a well-known fact. I did the best I could with him.” Nelson sighed.

Jake nodded. ”Thanks, Nelson. It's good of you to come by and say that.”

”Never wanted any part of this...crusade of hers.”

”I know,” said Jake.

”Can't you sit down for a while? At least have something to drink?” Dawn asked.

”Nope. I've got to get back to work. Winter's comin', you know. I got rosebushes to wrap. And the leaves don't rake themselves. I just wanted you to know my thinking.”

”Thank you,” said Tess. ”We appreciate it.”

”Are you sure you won't stay?” said Dawn. ”We have plenty.”

Nelson shook his head sharply. ”Nope. I've said what I came to say.”