of the schoolhouse where she wanted to be. It squatted in the clearing, gloomy and unwelcoming, no light on to greet her. She tried to get out of the car, but she couldn’t face this place, not on a night when so much had happened. She backed out and drove up to the schoolhouse. Only for this one last night. And only with a clear head.
The white clapboard walls and old wooden floors embraced her. She was dirty, dog-tired, yet too full of energy to sleep. She lit a fire in the potbelly stove and poured herself a glass of wine. But she’d barely settled before the door burst open and a distraught Ava Winchester rushed in.
“Tess!” Ava raced across the room and threw herself into Tess’s arms so suddenly that Tess nearly upended her wineglass.
“Oh, honey . . .”
Ava sobbed against her shoulder, her words running so closely together that it was impossible to make out what she was saying. Tess stroked her the same way she stroked Wren. She thought about how the people of this town had woven themselves into the fabric of her life. How this new life with all its warts and uncertainties felt so right.
Ava wept with the desperation of a teenager who believed her life was over. When she finally lifted her head, her cheeks were blotchy from crying, and her words came out as hiccups. “. . . awful, and . . . can’t go back . . . pocket . . . kill me . . . stay here . . .”
“Shhh, sweetheart. Give yourself a minute. It’s okay.”
“It’s not!” Her chest convulsed. “My dad is going to . . . he’s going to kill me! He found . . . Connor—”
Tess jumped as a fist thundered at the door. Ava gasped and sprang up from the couch. The door flew open, and Brad Winchester stormed inside. “Ava! Come here right now!”
Kelly appeared in the doorway behind him, ashen-faced and trembling, still wearing the same clothes she’d worn at the Broken Chimney. Ava cowered. Tess wrapped her arms around the teen and confronted Winchester. “Stay where you are.”
“Don’t tell me what to do! You’re responsible for this!” He opened his fist and revealed a pair of wrapped condoms. “I found these when I came home from that meeting of yours. They fell out of her coat pocket. My daughter!” His eyebrows drew together like silver lightning bolts. “Do you know what the penalty is for giving birth control to a minor without the parents’ permission?”
She managed to sound calmer than she felt. “There is no penalty, Mr. Winchester, and I suggest you settle down before I throw you out.”
You and what army? He didn’t say it, but that’s what she heard in her head because he was so intimidating.
He pointed his finger at his daughter. “I don’t know what this woman’s told you, but this is not how you were raised. You’re going home right now. If I have to ground you for the rest of your life, I’ll do it. I hope to God it’s not too late.”
“Dad!”
“I know what’s best for you, and I don’t want to hear another word.” His eyes locked onto Tess even as he spoke to his daughter. “Go with your mother right now.”
Kelly rushed forward. Ava sank into her mother’s arms. “Mom . . .”
“Get to the car!” He pointed his finger at Tess. “And you . . . You’ve ignored my warnings right from the beginning, and now this. Do you have any idea how difficult I can make your life?”
“Brad, don’t,” Kelly said.
“Go to the car. Both of you.”
Kelly clutched her daughter tighter but didn’t move. He spoke coldly, methodically. “You hardly pay any property taxes on that place of yours. I think the county assessor needs to take a fresh look.”
“Brad!” Kelly exclaimed.
“And the road up here. If the county falls down on the job, it’ll be nearly impossible to get a car through. As for your job—”
“Brad, stop.”
“This doesn’t concern you, Kelly.” He raised his chin. “That woman who died having the baby you’re so attached to—”
“That’s enough!” Kelly said.
“Maybe it’s time somebody other than Freddy Davis took a closer look into the—”
“I gave Ava the condoms!” Kelly cried.
Brad barely seemed to have heard. “What?”
She released her daughter. “I’m the one who gave Ava the condoms.”
He shook his head, confusion replacing his smugness. “You? You’re the one who gave our baby—”
“Yes, me! Because she looks at Connor the same way