She went with him while he bought some magazines, and she bought him a book that she thought he'd like.

“Thank you for feeding me, and taking me out.” She smiled gratefully at him. “I had a wonderful time. I'm going to miss you a lot.”

“I'll be calling you. Just make sure you behave. Eat, go to school, don't work too hard. Don't let Alex drive you nuts. Do what your lawyer says… brush your teeth … wash your face … don't get marshmallows all over you … be good to yourself, Fred.”

“You too,” she said, looking like a lost child as he hugged her good-bye, and kissed the top of her head.

“I'll call you tomorrow. It'll be too late to call when I get home.” He wouldn't be at his house until two A.M. New York time, and he hoped she'd be asleep by then.

“Thanks for everything,” she said again, and clung to him. Saying good-bye to him was like feeling Jack slip away from her again. There was a moment of panic, and then a wave of sorrow and despair. She felt foolish hanging on to him, and then finally let go.

He gave her a last hug, and then followed the other passengers down the gangway to the plane, and as they turned the corner, he smiled and gave her one last wave. She stood in the terminal, watching the plane as it taxied away, and then walked outside with her head bowed, and hailed a cab.

The drive home seemed interminable, and the house was like a tomb when she got home. It was still snowing, and the house had never seemed as quiet. She didn't even eat dinner that night, she missed him so much. She just went upstairs and went to bed. And she was sound asleep when the phone rang at two A.M. For a minute, she didn't even know where she was.

It was Eloise calling from London, before she left for work. She sounded agitated, and Faith was still half asleep when she answered.

“… huh … what? … oh … Ellie … hi, sweetheart … no, no, I was awake.” She didn't know why she always lied when people woke her up, but she always did. It took her a minute to gather her wits, and then she realized it was early for Eloise. It was seven A.M. for her. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I am,” she said angrily. It was obvious as soon as Faith came awake that her oldest daughter was enraged. “I spoke to Dad yesterday,” she said importantly. “He told me what you did.”

“What I did?” Faith looked blank, and then a tremor of fear ran over her like a cold hand. She wondered what he had said. “What did I do?”

“He told me that you decided you didn't want to be married and go to school.”

“He said that?” Faith looked horrified. How could he lie to their children that way? At least Zoe knew the truth.

“Yes, he did. Mom, how can you destroy our family that way, for a stupid law degree? Don't you care about us? Or about him, after all these years? How can you be so selfish and so disloyal?” Halfway through what she said, she had burst into tears, and at her end, Faith was crying too.

“Ellie, that's not how it is … or how it went. This is complicated. It's between Daddy and me.” Faith felt honor bound not to air their dirty laundry with the girls. No matter how rotten he'd been to her, and was being now, she didn't want to stoop to the same games as he. And she trusted her daughters to see the truth in the end. Faith clung to decency like a life preserver in the storm.

“Don't you think it affects us too? Don't you think it matters to us? We're not even going to have a place to live when we get home. He says you want to sell the house.” There was her answer about the house. And as usual, he was blaming it on her.

“We haven't even talked about the house. And no, I don't want to sell it. But maybe that's what he wants. I never wanted this divorce. He did.”

“That's a lie. He says you did. He says you forced his hand by going back to school.”

“I didn't force anything. I even offered to quit school.”

“I don't believe a word you say. Daddy says you've been planning this for a long time, and you told him a year ago that you wanted a divorce.” Listening to her, Faith felt sick, and she could see the game plan now. If he could convince them that she had told him that a year ago, it would make more sense once they knew he was seeing Leslie James, if they found out. It was a clever plot. And so far, it had worked. With Eloise at least. And the two vastly different stories would even set the two girls at each other's throats.

“Eloise,” Faith said, fighting to stay calm, “I don't want to say your father isn't being truthful with you, but he's not. I never asked him for a divorce. I never wanted to end our marriage. This has been his move, and what he wants. I don't. And I don't want to sell this house. He hasn't said a word to me about it.” She felt certain that if she stuck to the truth, without maligning him, in the end Ellie would understand. But Ellie wasn't making it easy for her.

“You're a liar, Mom. And I think it stinks that you're abandoning him. I hope you flunk the bar, and flunk out of school, because you've ruined my life!” And with that, she hung up, and Faith sat there, stunned, with tears rolling down her face. It had been a rotten thing for him to do, to poison Ellie against her. And it was bound to cause tremendous strife between the girls. Because Zoe knew the truth. At least about Alex walking out on her, she just didn't know why. Faith had wanted to protect them from that. And she knew the truth would destroy Alex in his daughters' eyes. And Faith felt that wasn't fair. But Alex knew nothing about fair. What he had done was the cruelest blow he could have dealt, to separate Eloise from her. And now Faith was worried about the house as well.

She lay wide awake in bed for an hour, and then, feeling guilty, she dialed Zoe. Faith knew she stayed up late, and she answered the phone on the first ring.

“Hi, Mom,” she said, sounding pleased to hear her mother's voice.

“Did I wake you?” Faith asked nervously.

“Of course not. I was up. Are you okay?”

“No,” Faith said honestly. “Ellie just called.”

“Did you tell her?” Zoe asked, sounding subdued. She had been upset about the changes in her parents' lives since she'd heard, and she'd had a brief conversation with her dad. But he hadn't said much, particularly after Zoe said she'd spent the weekend with her mom. He had given her the bum's rush off the phone after that.

“No, I didn't. Dad did,” Faith explained. She was seriously worried that her own stance for decency and playing fair was going to backfire and damage her relationship with Ellie forever.

“How was she?”

“Crazed. She hates me. Your father told her that I didn't want to be married and go to school, so I asked for the divorce. He even told her I asked for it a year ago,” Faith said, blowing her nose.

“Why would he say a thing like that? Is it true?” Zoe sounded surprised. But she was on her mom's team, and had always been.

“Of course not. I think I know why he did it, but that's beside the point. The point is that he made Ellie think that I wanted this, and I pushed him out. That's so unfair.” Fair was no longer in Alex's vocabulary and perhaps never had been, Faith realized now.

“So what else is new? Dad never plays fair.” Zoe said she had known for a long time that he lied. He had lied to her, about numerous small things. It mattered to her, and had contributed to her not trusting him. “She'll figure it out. You wouldn't be this upset if you were the one who wanted the divorce. That's just plain common sense.” But Faith was not reassured. Ellie was being completely manipulated by her father.

“She doesn't even know how upset I am. She never gave me a chance to talk. She just told me what a monster I am, and that I ruined her life.” She didn't tell Zoe about the house. She wanted to talk to Alex first. She wanted to know where he stood, because if he forced them to sell the house, it would upset everyone, not just her.

“Just let her calm down. I'll talk to her. You can talk to her when she comes in.” Eloise had planned a visit in March, but now Faith was wondering if she would come home.

“Maybe I should go over there,” Faith said, sounding worried.

“Let her cool off first. Write her a letter or something. Mom, she'll figure it out. It's obvious you don't want this divorce.” What wasn't obvious to Zoe yet, and her mother hadn't said, was why her father wanted out. But it was clear to her that her mother didn't want to say. She had a feeling there was more to the story, and as usual, she was right.

“I feel sick over this,” Faith said, relieved that she could talk to her. Zoe was becoming a friend as well as her daughter, and she was sensible and wise beyond her years.

“Ellie always reacts first. And then she makes sense later on. I think Dad was a total shit for saying that stuff, but I'm not surprised.” And neither was Faith anymore. There was no limit to the depths Alex was willing to go to, to destroy her relationship with her daughter.

“I'm going to call him tomorrow,” Faith said, sounding agitated. She still thought she could reason with him, which was naive.

“Get some sleep, Mom. Try to forget about it. At least for tonight. Did you do anything this weekend?” She had meant to call her, but felt guilty that she hadn't. She hadn't had time.

“My friend Brad was here from the West Coast,” Faith said vaguely. All she could think of was Ellie now. The visit with Brad seemed to have faded like a dream.

“Did he come to see you?” Zoe sounded impressed.

“No, he had business here. But it was nice to see him.” Zoe wondered about that, but decided it wasn't the time to tease her mother about him. She had enough on her plate. And whatever his feelings were for her mother, she knew that to Faith, he was nothing more than a friend. But at least he had distracted her for a couple of days. That was something at least.