“I remember what you did, so I wasn’t taking any chances.” His tone was cold enough to give them all frostbite. “Gerald was the one who told me this would be a good idea.”

“I just bet he did.” Diana’s tone wasn’t a bit warmer than his. “So where are you going? Moving in with the new woman?”

“We’re going to Kentucky to live close to her folks,” Eli answered. “We’ve got a U-Haul loaded with her things, and we’ll be pulling the truck behind it.”

“Are you still coming to Natalie’s graduation?” Carmen asked.

“Probably not. She’ll need some time to process this whole thing. When she’s ready, she’ll get in touch with me,” Eli said. “Kate and I are getting married as soon as the divorce is done. I’m hoping that Natalie understands and keeps in touch.”

“Why so soon?” Joanie asked.

“Because.” Every one of them could hear Eli suck in a lungful of air. “Kate and I both are getting out of the service. I put in my twenty-year papers last week. She’s already got an offer for an IT position in a firm not far from where we’ll be living in Kentucky. I’ve been offered a job in a security firm.”

“So she’s been in for twenty years, too?” Carmen asked.

“No, she’s only been in for two hitches, but it was time for her to reenlist or give it up, and since she’s got a ten-year-old son and . . .” He took another long breath. “Since she’s pregnant, we decided to get out now.”

Carmen heard the word, but processing it was such a shock that she picked up the phone and hurled it across the room. “You son of a bitch,” she screamed.

Diana crossed the room and picked it up. “How can you do this to her over the damned phone? You could’ve been a man and told her months ago.”

“I don’t need any of y’all’s opinions,” he said.

“How could you?” Carmen yelled.

“That’s why I want the divorce. We’d like to be married by Christmas. The baby is due in February,” Eli said.

“Sweet Jesus.” Tootsie moved over to put both her arms around Carmen.

“That means you knew she was pregnant that last night you were home and had sex with me.” Carmen’s voice was barely audible now, and tears ran down her cheeks. “Does she know you did that?”

“No, she does not . . .” He paused.

“When I get home, I’ll sign the papers, and good luck to Kate. She can have you, but she’ll wonder where you are every single time you walk out the door, because if she got you this way, then someone else can steal you from her the same way,” Carmen said.

“That’s a mean thing to say. I was hoping we could be civil, for Natalie’s sake,” Eli said.

“Goodbye, Eli, and good luck with colic, diapers, and selling Girl Scout cookies or whatever. You’ve never had to do much of that before because you were gone all the time,” Carmen said.

“I’m ready to enjoy all that now. Kate is having my son, and I’m adopting hers, so they’ll both be mine,” he said.

“I don’t ever want to see you again, or talk to you, or hear anything about you, so this is the final goodbye.” Carmen ended the call.

“I’m so, so sorry,” Diana kept saying over and over again.

Carmen hopped off the bed and began to pace. “I wanted more children. I wanted to try to give him a son, but he said one child was enough since he was gone so much of the time. I can’t believe this—and he’s adopting her kid—and she was pregnant when he was home last time? God, I’m such an idiot. Looking back, I can see that something wasn’t right, but I thought I was doing something wrong. How do I ever tell Natalie all this? And how’s she going to feel when her dad, the man she loved so much that she signed her name on the dotted line for six years of a life like his, isn’t even there for her graduation?”

She threw herself on Diana’s bed and covered her eyes with a pillow. “I can’t think. I can hardly breathe. I need to chop wood or bake cookies or do something. I damn sure can’t sleep.”

“Okay, then.” Tootsie got off the bed and shoved her small feet into her slippers. “Let’s go clean house. I try to do a deep cleaning every year, and if none of us can sleep, then we can get on with it. I’ll clean out my closet, and you girls can wash windows and woodwork.”

“I’ll do the ceiling fans since I’m the tallest,” Diana offered.

“And I’m volunteering for the woodwork.” Carmen tossed the pillow to the side. “But y’all don’t have to stay up all night working just because I can’t sleep.”

“You think we can rest knowing that you’re in turmoil?” Joanie asked. “We’ll all work until we drop, and then we’ll have a living room slumber party.”

“I can’t”—Carmen’s voice broke, and she sobbed—“even begin to thank y’all for standing by me.”

“Just payin’ you back for doin’ the same for me,” Diana said.

Luke awoke while it was still dark. He laced his hands behind his head and stared at the shifting patterns the clouds made on the ceiling as they moved across the moon. Joanie was putting her house up for sale, and it was on the same block as Diana’s. He could locate his new business anywhere, even in the living room of his house, to start out with. And he’d be close to Aunt Tootsie if she needed him.

Would it be awkward if you and Diana had a fling and then it didn’t work out? That was clearly Uncle Smokey’s voice in his head.

“You’re probably right, Uncle Smokey,” he said out loud. “I can’t imagine living in the same town with Amelia.”

It had taken five years to get over that woman—after he’d gotten down on one knee with a three-carat diamond in his hands and visions of circumnavigating the globe with her on a honeymoon, and she’d said, “I’m still in love with my old boyfriend, and we’ve decided to give it another try.”

The sun was rising over the top of the trees off to the east when he stepped out into the yard. He’d gone only a few steps when he heard a noise out in the back. He eased around the side of the house to find Carmen out there with an ax in her hands, chopping wood into fireplace logs.