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“Barbara always was one to hold a grudge. But I didn’t exactly steal Jimmy, Raine. She’d already left him to go off to college in Hawaii.”

She might not have dated all that much in high school, but even Raine understood that in the world of teenage romance, the going-away-to-college excuse was a mere technicality. The guilty look in her mother’s not-so-vivid eyes told her that Lilith knew it too.

“I thought Cooper Ryan was your high school boyfriend,” Raine hissed.

“This was later. After Cooper was drafted.”

Terrific
. The love of her life was about to be shipped off to Vietnam and Lilith was stateside, blithely stealing the boyfriend of a girl who’d grow up to be the judge who’d hear the most important case in Ida Lindstrom’s life.

“This is just goddamn great,” she muttered again as she retrieved the aspirin bottle from her briefcase.

The judge had returned her attention to the case in front of her. But Raine could feel her antipathy linger like heat lightning hovering on a nearby horizon.

R
aine had barely gotten into her opening statement, when BANG!—the judge pounded her gavel, silencing her in midsentence.

“If you’re going to keep using those big words, Counselor,” Judge Patterson-Young said with heavy sarcasm, “I’ll be forced to move this case to the city. Where they indulge in that type of legal gobbledegook.”

Raine felt her blood rise, but suspecting the judge would just love to slap her with a contempt charge, she relentlessly schooled herself to calm.

Her argument hadn’t been wrapped in legal jargon. Even so, Raine took extra care to keep it short, sweet, and simple. She’d also arranged for Ida’s neighbors, her doctor, and the pastor of the Lutheran church Ida had attended for more than half a century to speak on her grandmother’s behalf. Even Jack testified that at no time during the standoff had the girls posed a threat to themselves or others.

But as each of Coldwater Cove’s sterling citizens provided glowing testimony to Dr. Ida Lindstrom’s stamina, her lifetime of community service, and her generous heart, Raine knew she could have had a choir of gilt-winged angels take that witness stand and it wouldn’t make a bit of difference. Because the judge had made up her mind the moment Lilith entered the courtroom.

“It is the court’s opinion,” Judge Patterson-Young stated after all that testimony, “that Dr. Lindstrom, her admirable reputation for being a caregiver not withstanding, is not capable of handling three teenage girls. Especially ones who have been in trouble with the law.

“On the other hand, since two of the girls are already scheduled to move out of Dr. Lindstrom’s home, I’m not inclined to take the third from what just may be one of the few stable environments she’s known. Especially since she’s due to deliver any day. However, if the teenager is to remain in the Lindstrom home, I’ll require the presence of a responsible adult. A younger one than Dr. Lindstrom.”

Ida tugged on Raine’s sleeve. “You should remind that girl that age discrimination is against the law,” she hissed.

“Let me handle this.” Raine put a firm hand on her grandmother’s shoulder to keep her from leaping up to protest.

“If the court pleases,” she said carefully, “there
is
another adult living in the home.”

“Good try, Counselor.” If a snake could smile, Raine thought, it would look exactly like Judge Barbara Patterson-Young. “But I doubt if there’s a judge in this county who’d be inclined to declare Lilith Lindstrom Cantrell Townsend”—she spat out the lengthy name as if it had a bad aftertaste—“to be a responsible adult.”

Raine privately agreed. As Lilith’s daughter and Ida’s sort-of attorney, she felt obliged to answer the unflattering charge against her mother. “May I ask on what the court is basing that opinion?”

The cold, reptilian smile disappeared, replaced by a warning glare. “It’s not your place to ask the questions, Counselor.”

“I understand that, Your Honor. But if the court is judging my mother by some past behavior—”

“That’s enough!”

BANG! The gavel slammed down again, making Raine decide the judge had missed her calling. The unpleasant woman would have made a terrific hanging judge back in the days of the Wild West.

“Any further argument from you, Ms. Cantrell, and I’ll be forced to hold you in contempt.”

“If it pleases the court,” Raine spoke carefully, reminding herself that she wouldn’t be able to do anyone any good if she landed behind bars in Sheriff O’Halloran’s Olympic County jail, “I’m not here in the capacity of Dr. Lindstrom’s attorney today. I’m merely a concerned family member, speaking on my grandmother’s behalf.”

“You went to law school, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but—”

“Harvard, right?”

“That’s right.”

“And you passed the bar?”

“Yes, Your Honor.” Raine suspected she knew where the judge was headed with this line of questioning.

“And you became licensed to practice?”

“In New York, yes.”

The judge ignored the pointed qualification. “Well, in my book that makes you Dr. Lindstrom’s attorney. Unless,” she tacked on evilly, “you’d prefer to have your grandmother address the court herself?”

“No, your honor. I don’t believe that’s necessary in this case.”

“You’re right.” The judge surprised Raine by agreeing on something. “Because it wouldn’t change my ruling. I’m allowing the girls to stay in Dr. Lindstrom’s home—”

She was interrupted by Gwen’s and Renee’s jubilant screams. They began jumping up and down and hugging each other.

BANG! The gavel crashed down again. “There will be no disruptions in my courtroom!”

Oh, yes, Raine confirmed, refusing to cringe even though the sharp sound felt like an ax blade to her aching head. Definitely a hanging judge. She had no problem picturing Barbara Patterson-Young smiling with grim satisfaction as a Stetson-wearing sheriff—who looked discomfortingly like Jack O’Halloran—put a thick rope around Lilith’s neck.

The room instantly went silent. The girls obediently sat down again. “That’s better.” The judge nodded. “I’m setting a one-month trial period, during which time Dr. Lindstrom will be given an opportunity to prove herself up to the task of guardianship. I am also requiring that an adult other than Dr. Lindstrom’s daughter reside in the home during this time.”

As everyone turned to look directly at her, Raine had a sinking feeling she knew what adult they all had in mind.

“Your Honor,” she protested, once again feeling as if she were walking across a legal minefield, “I can’t possibly leave my law practice for a month.”

“Fine. Then the three probationers in question are returned to Ms. Kelly’s control.”

Ida was on her feet in a flash. “You can’t do that! Why, in case you’ve forgotten, Babs Patterson, I just happen to be the doctor who treated your chicken pox when you were five.”

BANG!

On a roll, Ida ignored the sharp warning crack of the gavel. “I also got rid of your acne when you came crying to me that no boy would ask you out, and don’t forget that I was the one who wrote your first prescription for birth control pills when you came home for Christmas vacation your freshman year of college and wanted to sleep with Edna Young’s boy Jimmy.”

BANG! BANG!

“Gram!” Raine grabbed hold of Ida’s shoulder once again and forced her grandmother back down onto the bench. “Shut up.”

“It’s not fair, Raine,” Ida protested, her voice ringing out over the laughter and buzz of excited conversation in the courtroom. “The only reason she’s doing this is to get back at your mother for having sex with her boyfriend the minute her back was turned.”

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Raine slapped a hand over her grandmother’s mouth. “I apologize, Your Honor. It’s just that Dr. Lindstrom feels very strongly about this issue.”

“I understand that, Counselor.” Scarlet flags were waving in the judge’s cheeks. Raine figured they were sunk. “And it’s only because of my longtime affection for your grandmother that I’m going to overlook her outburst. This time,” she tacked on, shooting Ida another icy warning glare. Ida, uncowed, set her chin and glared back.

“However,” the judge continued, “there’s no room for emotion in the law. The fact that your grandmother obviously cares about these teenagers has no effect on my ruling.”

She couldn’t do it, even if she wanted to. Three days was one thing, Raine thought. There was absolutely no way she could stay away from her caseload for an entire month.

“May I make a suggestion to the court?”

Judge Patterson-Young sighed dramatically, then waved her manicured hand in a go-ahead gesture.

“May I suggest that I stay at the house for the next fifteen days.” With no court appearances scheduled during that time, by utilizing the phone, fax, and e-mail, she and the always efficient Brian should be able to manage. “After which time my sister, whom I’m certain the court will find exceptionally responsible, will take another fifteen days.”

Raine knew Savannah wouldn’t hesitate to help their grandmother. Oh, she might have a bit of trouble getting away from her job as chef at that
chichi
Malibu resort hotel, but since her husband was resort manager, surely he wouldn’t protest his wife taking a brief leave of absence for a family emergency. Even if she suspected that he may have sensed that the family in question did not consider him the right man for Savannah. Personally Raine had always privately thought him too slick. Too smooth. Too untrustworthy.

“The court will agree with that schedule,” the judge said. “On the condition your sister proves herself to be a suitable guardian.”

“Thank you, Your Honor.” Raine didn’t bother to hide her relief.

“Thirty days. And if there’s a single instance of trouble during that time, Counselor, all bets are off.”

BANG! With a final, swift rap of the wooden gavel, Judge Barbara Patterson-Young signaled the guardianship hearing concluded.

“You won’t have that much to do,” Raine assured her sister when she phoned her after they’d all returned home. “Since the court just wants a warm, responsible body in the house until Gram proves she’s up to handling things.”

“The day Gram runs into something she can’t handle will be the day the world comes to an end. Do you ever wonder what we would have done without her?”

“I try not to. Which is why I decided not to fight her too hard on this one. It’s more than obvious that Gwen needs her. But I think Gram needs Gwen, too. I get the feeling that she misses having family around.” Which was why, Raine understood, Ida had created her little flock in the first place.

“Actually, your timing couldn’t be better,” Savannah said. “Since I just quit my job yesterday afternoon.”

“You quit? But I thought you loved working at the resort.”

“I do. I did,” she corrected. “But that changed.”

“I’m sorry.” Raine decided not to press. Savannah would fill her in on the details when she was ready.

“What does Kevin think about this change?” she asked, wondering if her sister could possibly be pregnant. Although she couldn’t picture Savannah’s husband as a doting father, Raine nevertheless liked the idea of being an aunt.

“Other than the fact that he has to find a new chef just before the summer tourist season really takes off, I doubt he much cares.” She paused. “I’ve left him, Raine.”

“Oh, Savannah.” Raine was standing by the kitchen window, watching a pair of red-breasted robins playing musical branches in the huge monkey puzzle tree that dominated the front lawn. “I’m sorry. I’d sensed the two of you were having problems when you came to New York last fall. But I was hoping you could work things out.”

“I’d hoped the same thing. But I’ve come to the unhappy conclusion that the resort business was the only thing we had in common. We certainly had a different view of marriage.”

“Oh?”

“I thought monogamy was a given. Kevin thought he should be allowed to date. I, naturally, disagreed. When I caught him playing hide the torpedo with a female lawyer from the hotel’s legal division, I decided that I’d come to the end of my rope.”

“You should have put it around his neck and tossed him off the nearest pier,” Raine declared heatedly. “He’s a fool. And a bastard.”

“That’s pretty much what I told him after he admitted to what he referred to as his little indiscretion. Since this wasn’t the first time he’s wandered, I threatened to hack off said little indiscretion with a rusty cleaver.”

“I didn’t know.” Raine hated thinking that her sister had been suffering through such pain alone.

“That’s because I didn’t want you to. I didn’t want anyone to know. I realize now that I shouldn’t have hung in there for so many years, but I was trying so damn hard not to follow in Lilith’s footsteps. If that makes any sense.”

“Absolutely.” Hadn’t she spent her entire life trying to avoid the same thing?

“It was also embarrassing to admit that the perfect marriage I’d always dreamed about wasn’t so perfect after all.”

Raine knew all too well how Savannah had always longed for a perfect,
Leave It to Beaver
family life. Being more realistic, or perhaps more cynical than her sister, Raine had preferred to devote herself to her work, rather than depend on any man for her happiness.

Savannah sighed. “So, I moved into the Beverly Wilshire, arranged to have my calls forwarded from the resort, unless they were from the rat, and ordered a bottle of ridiculously expensive champagne to celebrate my freedom. After which I proceeded to get drunk, which took my mind off the horny, unfaithful little prick for a while. Until I woke up this morning with the mother of all hangovers. Then you called.”

“I really am so sorry, Savannah. This is a horrible time to ask any favors of you.”

“Don’t be silly, the timing couldn’t be better. I’m still so furious—and, dammit, hurt—I could use a little distance and distraction to prevent me from following through on the cleaver threat.”

If nothing else, Raine decided that Ida and the girls would definitely prove a distraction.

“Not that I’d ever recommend violence, but if you were to take matters into your own hands, so to speak, I just happen to know a good lawyer who’d take your case
pro bono
.”