“That’s what mothers do,” Hope said.

Maggie swiped a tissue across the trail of her tears and gave Hope a tremulous smile. “Giving him up was a scar on my heart. I thought our other babies would help it heal, but they didn’t.”

“I understand, Maggie.”

Hope didn’t know if the note of sincerity in her own voice tipped Maggie Romano off, or if the woman just had a sixth sense about lost children, but she gave Hope a sudden, sharp look. “Do you? Have you given up a child, Hope?”

Hope’s mouth went dry. Up until now, the only person in Eternity Springs with whom she’d shared her story was Lucca. “This conversation isn’t about me. Continue with your story, Maggie. I will tell you mine another time.”

“All right. I just … you are a mother?”

Her heart twisted. “I am.”

Maggie nodded. “Then maybe you’ll understand that as much as I loved my husband, I resented him. I carried the burden all by myself, and even though it was my choice, I held it against him. It was always there, a constant, low-level hum beneath the surface, and it was destructive. So when the twins were eight and I discovered that he was cheating, my bitterness had a foundation.”

Hope actually gasped. Lucca’s father had cheated on Maggie? Whoa. From everything she’d seen, the Romanos worshipped their father.

“I couldn’t leave him. I had four children at home. I believed in my marriage vows … for better, for worse—forever. He said he’d ended the affair, swore he’d never do it again. Stupid me, I believed him.”

“He didn’t end it?”

“He ended that one, but a year or so later, I discovered he had a new mistress. And then another. He wasn’t faithful to them, either. He was a faithless husband, a serial philanderer, a cheat. But I loved him. And I despised him.”

“I’m so sorry, Maggie. Men can be such jerks.”

“That they can. Marcello Frances Romano was such a handsome jerk, so charismatic. His children thought he walked on water. I think he thought so, too.”

“Your kids never knew about his infidelities?”

“No. I couldn’t do that to them. He was a lousy husband, but he was an excellent father. He certainly didn’t want them to know. It would have devastated them. Why destroy their opinion of him? I’d had all the destruction I could handle. Marcello did a number on my self-esteem. My forties were especially hard because he never took a mistress over the age of thirty-five. And by then he’d stopped trying to hide the affairs.”

“The bastard.”

“I did have some pride. I quit sharing his bed. I was seriously thinking about leaving him when we received word about Lucca’s accident. After that, well, it wasn’t the right time. Marcello and I actually got along better during those months than we had in years. A crisis with their children can bring a couple together.”

Or drive them apart, Hope thought.

“Yet, when he died …” Maggie’s voice cracked a little, and Hope reached across the desk and took her hand. “Part of me was glad. It shames me to admit that, but it’s true. I was happy to be free of him and our sham of a marriage. Yet, I ached for my children, so I did mourn him. I mourned the loss of our family, and the young love we’d shared. But at the same time I felt reborn. Of course, that made me feel guilty as sin.”

“We know that life is complicated, Maggie. It’s pretty silly to think that death won’t be complicated, too.”

“That’s a good way to put it. It was complicated. My children were suffering, and I was angry. He’d been so disrespectful of me and of the vows we’d made to each other. Disrespectful of our family. And he never had to pay for it. He never had his comeuppance. He died and dodged that bullet, and I was pissed. And, I had to pretend to mourn him.”

“Complicated,” Hope repeated.

“I was so tired of pretending. They thought I was depressed and maybe I was. More than that, I think I was lost. My sister took me on a cruise, and you know what I did? I had a fling! I had sex with someone other than Marcello Romano for the first time in my life. It was exciting and thrilling and fulfilling—and those wounded pieces of me began to heal. I didn’t want to come home.”

Oh, wow. TMI, Maggie.

“But I did come home and my kiddos brought me here; they brought me Zach, the missing piece of my heart. It was the greatest gift ever. I started feeling better. Life took on a new vibrancy for me.”

“Eternity Springs has a way of doing that for people.”

“And I’m so thankful my children loved me so much that they helped me find my way here. I have the best children in the world, and I never wanted to hurt them, but they are adults now, and they have their own lives. And I’m only fifty-four years old. I don’t want to live another twenty or thirty or even forty years alone, moving forward but gazing backward.” Her expression beseeching, Maggie asked, “Is that so terrible?”

“Of course not.”

She closed her eyes. “I shouldn’t be dumping all this on you.”

“I’m your friend, Maggie. You can talk to me. That’s what friends are for.”

“You are a dear, Hope Montgomery. I want you to know that I didn’t go looking for a man here in Eternity Springs. I came here to concentrate on my family. But one day, there was Richard. He made me realize how much I missed being sexy. How much I missed being teased and openly desired. How much I missed foreplay.”

Hope smiled weakly. She really, really didn’t want to be discussing foreplay with her lover’s mother.

“Richard is good for me,” Maggie continued, her gaze pleading for understanding. “I don’t know where our relationship is going, if we’re looking at something long-term or not. But I don’t need to know it yet. What I need—what we need—is to have a little time to figure us out.”

She shook her head and sighed. “It’s hard to keep anything confidential in Eternity Springs.”

Hard, but not impossible, apparently. Hope was now convinced that Maggie didn’t know that her relationship with Lucca had gone beyond friendship. No way would she be spilling all these personal beans if she knew that Hope and her son were more than co-basketball coaches.

“Your children love you, Maggie.”

“I know that. I know they want me to be happy, too. Just happy by their definition.”

“They were caught off guard.”

“To put it mildly, I suspect.” Fresh tears welled in her eyes. “I knew they wouldn’t be thrilled when they first learned that I was dating, so I had planned to introduce the subject slowly and carefully. So much for plans.” Maggie rubbed her eyes, wiping away the tears. “What I wouldn’t give to be able to go back and change things. What do I do now? I don’t know. These are my children, and I don’t have a clue what I should do.”

“What do you want to do?”

She laughed without amusement. “Run away.”

“To Austin?”

“Farther. Gabriella just returned from France. Maybe I should take the hint. Where exactly is Timbuktu?”

“Actually, Maggie, I think a strategic retreat is just what you need right now.” When her friend looked at her in surprise, Hope elaborated. “Go to Austin. Give your children some time to digest the change in your circumstances. Then when you come home, they’ll be ready to listen.”

“I’m not telling them about their father. That would be selfish of me, and it would only hurt them.”

“Then skip that part. Speak to them as adults and communicate your feelings.”

“But what if they still won’t listen? What if they continue to dodge my calls and avoid me?”

“Then pull the mom card. Call a family meeting and demand their presence. If you make attendance compulsory, they’ll show. Remember, they do love you.”

“Yes. Okay. That sounds like a plan.” Having made her decision, Maggie nodded. “I’ll go to Austin, and I won’t try to contact them. Well, except, maybe I’ll send them an email with a date, time, and place for a family meeting and tell them they’re expected to attend. If they try to contact me, well, we’ll just be taking a break. Give everyone a chance to cool down.”

“Sort of like kindergarten time-out.”

Maggie laughed. “Yes. Every one of my children has had experience with time-outs. Lucca was the worst.”

Hope glanced at her clock. Her conference period was almost over. “You’d better call Richard and tell him plans have changed again. What time is your flight?”

“Four.”

Hope winced. “You’ll be cutting it close, but I think you can still make it.”

Maggie hopped up, full of energy and purpose, and went around the desk to give Hope a big hug. “Thank you. You are such a dear friend. I know you’re Gabi’s friend, too, and now that I’m thinking clearly again, I realize I’ve put you in the middle by burdening you with some sensitive information.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve already forgotten seventy-five percent of what you told me.” Especially the part about foreplay. “I’m sure the rest will be gone by the time basketball practice begins. Selective dementia, don’t you know.”

“God bless you, Hope Montgomery. I think you might have saved my family.” Maggie pulled her phone from her purse and hit redial.

“No. The Romanos are strong. You’re just reorienting your stars.”

“What?” But before Hope could explain, Maggie’s call connected. She waved good-bye and rushed from the classroom as she brought Richard Steele up to date.

“Well, now,” Hope said moments later to her empty classroom. “That was interesting.”

When she went to practice that afternoon, she didn’t mention Maggie’s visit to Lucca. For the next several days, he and Gabi both stayed far away from the subject of their mother.