“Nope. I didn’t even tell the nuns at the home. I said I didn’t know who the father was. There were lots of girls there who really didn’t know, so it wasn’t a big deal,” Harper said. “Have all y’all been baptized? I was thinking of that this morning when I went down to the lake.”

Brook shivered from her hair to her toes. “No, ma’am. In our church they sprinkle the babies. I can’t imagine letting some man put my head underwater.”

Harper wrapped her long arms around her petite niece and hugged her. “Well, I was baptized when I was ten. Mama believed in takin’ us to church, not as much for the religious aspect as the social part. We got all dressed up and had to sit up straight.”

“And not yawn or wiggle in the pew,” Tawny said. “I remember when the preacher ducked you under the water. Part of me hoped that he drowned you.”

“What does any of that have to do with today? And shame on you, Tawny,” Dana said, her tone shrill.

“I felt guilty about that feelin’ for years.” Tawny whispered. “I thought maybe it was why you never came home from that girls’ school, that you could read my mind.”

“Had no idea how you felt. We were sisters, but we sure weren’t friends. But anyway, the preacher said that I left my sins in the water, and I wondered if I walked out into the lake if the water would help me get rid of the guilt. I know it sounds crazy, but I feel more at peace right now than I have in ten years. So don’t judge me.”

Tawny hated confrontations. She’d let her sorry-ass boyfriend pin the majority of the rap for a drug deal on her because she didn’t want to stand up to him and tell him that she wouldn’t carry them in her purse.

“I’ve always hated both of you because you had a father and I didn’t,” Dana said bluntly.

“But you have a wonderful mother,” Tawny said.

Dana finally slumped into a chair. “I can truthfully say that I never doubted that she loved me, but wonderful might be pushing the envelope quite a ways.”

“Granny Lacy is . . . well, she’s never grown up. I love her, and we get along real good, but she’s a teenager at heart,” Brook explained.

“Trust me, Dana,” Tawny said. “The way I see it is that Daddy carried so much guilt about the way that he treated your mama that he allowed our mother to walk all over him. I guess in reality we all got the short end of the stick.”

“Which brings us to this morning,” Harper said. “So what do we do from this point forward?”

“Well, I’ll tell the bunch of you one thing.” Brook bounced up off Harper’s lap. “If you don’t start acting like family, I’m going to divorce the lot of you. Now, I’m hungry and I bet breakfast is ready, so I’m going in the kitchen. If y’all got some more fightin’ to do, I don’t want no part of it. And if anyone throws a punch, I’m sending Uncle Zed out here.”

“Out of the mouths of babes. Sometimes they see things clearer than all the adults in the world put together.” Tawny pushed the chair back. “I’m starving. All this drama has built up my appetite.”

“I was wonderin’ if maybe I should go down to the lake and baptize myself,” Tawny said softly.

“For what?” Harper looked up at Tawny.

“Just makin’ a statement.” Tawny felt a tightening in her chest, but she couldn’t make herself tell them about getting kicked out of college or about the drug charges or being so scared in court that she couldn’t stop shaking.

Dana was so busy wrestling with what lay ahead in her own personal world that she didn’t even see Harper get up or Wyatt come out of the kitchen. But a movement caught her eye, and she looked up in time to see Wyatt throw an arm around Harper’s shoulders and kiss her on the forehead.

“I’ve got to go now, but I’ll be back later. Want to go to dinner with me?”

“Maybe I’ll just pack us a picnic supper, and we’ll have a visit down at the edge of the lake,” she said.

“That sounds good to me,” Wyatt said. “See you at seven, then.”

When he’d disappeared out the door, Zed came out of the kitchen. “Y’all through fightin’ out here or do I have to line three time-out chairs up against the wall?”

“They’re done with it,” Brook answered for them. “Right, Aunt Tawny?”

“Okay, okay,” Tawny said with a huff.

“Mama?”

Dana shrugged and headed over to the coffee machine and poured three cups. “What a week. This is enough.” She rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. “I’m expecting the rest of this month to be smooth sailin’.”

“I don’t think you get to tell God what to do,” Zed said. “If you are lucky, he might tell you what he’s goin’ to do, but mostly he just likes surprises.”

“Amen,” all three sisters said at the same time.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Dana was more nervous on Friday night than she’d been when Payton picked her up for their first date. She made one more walk through the small house. Throw pillows were fluffed; no games or shoes littered the freshly swept hardwood living room floors. Bathroom was sparkling clean, with no bras or panties drying on the shower rod for the first time.