Chapter 1
The base housing office called to tell me my request for a new house had been approved, and they asked how big I wanted it.
I had no idea what they were talking about.
I lived at the Institute of Advanced Research most of the week, and the house held nobody but my husband and our daughter.
His mother's whole family could move in and there would still be room, so why did we need a bigger place?
When I asked my husband about it, he said the operator had written the request down wrong.
"I couldn't bring myself to bother you when you're this busy. Our daughter's getting older, and she's been begging for a bigger room.
"Put in a word with the higher-ups for us. Get us the biggest place on the base, best location. Love you, babe."
I hung up, filed for leave to go home for the first time in my life, and called my father, David Quinn.
"Dad, Richard Stone is cheating on me. Draw me up a divorce filing, and make it the fastest one there is!"
*****
Once word got around that the busiest researcher at the Institute had a fire in her own backyard, the driver put his foot down and had me from the city to my door in half a day.
I was in a hurry to find out whether I was right, and I went straight for the gate, and the MPs at the Military Officers' Residence stopped me.
"Ma'am, I need to see your identification."
"I'm Mr. Stone's wife," I said.
I moved to walk past them, and two arms came up hard in front of me.
"We have one Mr. Stone here, and his wife is Ms. Cross from the base elementary school. Everybody knows her.
"If you're passing yourself off as somebody, don't expect us to be polite about it."
I pulled in a breath. So Richard did have something going on.
I didn't want a fight at the gate, so I took my institute credentials out of my bag, and the MPs let me through.
I didn't go home. I went straight for the school.
I wanted to see for myself how much nerve Mr. Stone and Mrs. Stone actually had.
With the institute's top-level clearance in my hand, I walked into the principal's office, and nobody asked me a thing.
"I'm Emily Stone's mother. She's in second grade. I'm here on an inspection," I said.
The principal looked like somebody had unplugged him.
"Emily's mother is Ms. Cross. Lillian Cross, one of our teachers," he got out.
She was so eager to be my daughter's mother as though I had died out there somewhere.
"Where is Lillian? I want her in front of me," I said.
In the classroom, the woman they all called Mrs. Stone was up at the board with the pen turned the wrong way around, putting misspelled words on it, and it made me frown.
Through the glass she turned and saw me standing outside, and her hand jerked, and the chalk dragged a long screech across the board.
Lillian didn't even finish the lesson. She came out fast and took hold of my arm, as though she were afraid of what I might say.
"Grace, what are you doing back? This isn't the place for it. Not here," she got out.
She clearly knew what she had done.
Lillian pulled me back to the house with her hands shaking, and I finally got a proper look at the woman who had moved into my life.
She had on my old dress, my jewelry at her throat and on her wrists, and even my favorite pair of earrings.
She caught me looking and shrank back and explained it under her breath.
"I'm from Mr. Stone's hometown. He felt sorry for a widow with a child, so he brought me in to keep house. Ms. Quinn, please don't take it the wrong way."
She didn't want me to take it the wrong way.
I knew what she really meant was, "Please don't tell anyone."
I let out a sigh and turned to look at my house.
All my favorite orchids had been replaced with tacky roses, and the carefully arranged landscaping was gone.
The anger came straight up in me. I went for the house to see what else had changed, and my key wouldn't turn in the lock.
I ground my teeth hard enough to crack them and looked at Lillian.
"Open the door," I snapped.
Lillian's eyes filled up, and she didn't move. She only kept begging in a low voice.
"I can't open it. Please don't make this difficult for me. I'm just a housekeeper ."
I had come home, and the housekeeper wouldn't open my own door for me.
There was no version of that which made sense.
Since Lillian wouldn't move, I nodded, pulled my sidearm, and put a round through the lock.