It was Jane.
Even from where she stood, Nora recognized Hailey’s T-shirt and the long blonde hair. Her legs felt wobbly as she was swept back in time. She recalled the statement she’d given police when she woke up in the hospital. She’d said, “I saw headlights, and then everything went black. But I know whatever happened was my fault. I did it. It was me. I’m so sorry.”
In the following months, as her parents dealt with lawyers, she would toss and turn in bed at night as voices reminded her that she’d killed a little boy and his parents and as punishment, she would never have children of her own.
Years later, when she found out she was pregnant with Hailey, Nora had been shocked and relieved. But the accident stayed with her.
She never liked getting behind the wheel of a car after that. She drove slowly and uncertainly. She would often see nebulous figures in the road, slam on the brakes, and then realize that nobody was there. An insect or a pebble hitting the windshield would send her into a panic. She didn’t know how to act around happy people because she didn’t deserve to be happy. And the voices in her head always confirmed what she already knew: How could she think about being happy when she had killed a family? She learned to live with the voices as best she could, but she never talked about it.
As she continued to watch search and rescue, it saddened Nora to know she would never have the chance to try to help Jane. Despite everything Jane had done, Nora understood her anger. If she had lost Trevor in the pool incident, there was no doubt in her mind she would have spent a lifetime trying to put the pieces together and find a way to make sense of it all.
Jane would never truly know how sorry she was.
Trevor was staring out at the water, his mouth quivering. He turned to Nora and said, “I would have saved her if I could have.”
She put an arm around his shoulder. “I don’t doubt it for a minute.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Nora and her mom were the first to awaken on Christmas morning. Figuring Jane had put something in the coffee yesterday, since Hailey was the only one who drank it and she ended up getting sick, they tossed the coffee beans and the coffee maker and settled for eggnog instead.
Nora’s mom began the process of making homemade cinnamon rolls. She made a tsking noise whenever she happened to glance Nora’s way. “You should go sit down.”
Every muscle in Nora’s body felt achy and bruised, but she refused to let her mom do all the work. “I’m fine,” she said. Nora stood at the stove, cooking bacon and scrambling eggs. She put most of her weight on her good leg, while favoring the other. She had multiple cuts and bruises from when the SUV had jostled her about and then when she had jumped out. Mom had driven her to the hospital after search and rescue left. It had taken fifteen stitches to close the knife wound in her arm. She’d been lucky it wasn’t much worse. Both eyes were now black and blue. Her ankle throbbed, but she would put it up later. “I got a call from a Detective McDougle in Sacramento.”
Mom arched both brows. “What did the detective want?”
“I was told the sheriff here in Whispering Pines contacted him about Jane. Detective McDougle got a warrant and went to her house. He and his team found an entire bedroom devoted to the accident. The walls were covered with articles, highlighted pages pulled from the court transcripts, and pictures of our family taken by the PI she’d hired. The detective said the room was dedicated to her search for Nora Williams so she could make me pay for ruining her life.” The police had also found pictures of Levi Hale, the competitor Jane had screwed over a few years ago. His eyes had been scratched out in the photo. They had contacted Levi, and it turned out that everything Nora had heard in Paris had been true.
“I wonder. If she’d been loved and cared for after her parents died, would she have seen things differently?”
“I wonder, too,” Nora said, both of them falling silent, deep in thought. Grief was inevitable when losing a loved one. But losing a loved one because of a senseless tragedy must have locked Jane in a vise grip of misery. She must have yearned for the hurt to stop and for things to go back to how they were. But that wasn’t possible, so she’d found another solution.
Nora tucked thoughts of Jane away and concentrated on cooking. Eventually, it was the smell of bacon that awoke everyone, their footfalls sounding like a herd of elephants as they made their way downstairs.
Trevor made a fire, which warmed up the living room, and Hailey put on Christmas music. After they ate, Nora brought out a two-thousand-piece puzzle for anyone who might be in the mood. But the truth was, Christmas Day at the Harmons’ looked more like an emergency room lobby decorated for the holidays than anything else.
Nora had insisted David stay seated. He looked pale. She slid the pulse oximeter she was carrying in her pocket onto his finger to check his oxygen levels. Concerned about David’s smoke inhalation, she had called the doctor last night. He told her to monitor him closely, and that’s exactly what she was doing. He was supposed to get a lot of rest. And they needed to keep an eye out for headaches, hoarseness, and difficulty breathing. If David showed any of those signs, she would bring him in. So far, so good.
Hailey’s boyfriend, Alex, had followed Nora and Mom to the hospital, since his plan had been to drive home afterward. X-rays showed that he had a broken nose and a broken rib. After he was bandaged, he ended up returning to the lake house, since the drive to Sacramento would be too long.
Makeshift beds and cots had been set up last night in David and Nora’s office: one room for her parents and one room for Alex. Alex’s family thought it was best he stay the night if he wanted to, since they would be driving to his aunt’s house in Elk Grove, a house she shared with not only her husband and three children but her in-laws, too. They were happy he was okay and would celebrate the holidays when he returned home.
While they all commiserated last night, eating whatever they could find in the refrigerator, Nora had talked about searching the internet to see if there were any pizza places open on Christmas Day. That’s when Gillian offered to cook. In fact, she insisted. The real surprise was when she showed up at noon with her mom, Rosemary.
Rosemary looked nothing like the scared woman Nora had seen at the café. She smiled and said, “I have a surprise.” When she walked inside, Tank followed. A big red bow hung around his neck.
Despite Tank’s swollen eye and the stitches across his forehead, he bounced into the room, his back end moving frantically back and forth and his tail wagging as he sniffed one person and then another until he got to Trevor, who was on his knees, arms extended. Trevor buried his face in Tank’s fur. After a moment, he looked across the room at Rosemary. “Thank you,” Trevor told her. “You’re my hero.”
“No,” she said. “Any one of you would have done the same. The doctor said he suffered a concussion and would need to rest, but he expects a full recovery. I’m just happy I was able to help.”
Trevor came to his feet, his eyes watering as he hugged her.
Gillian, her mom, and Hailey went straight to the kitchen to make a charcuterie board with an assortment of meats, cheeses, crackers, fruit, nuts, olives, and dipping sauces. Lasagna and garlic bread that Gillian and her mom had already made was kept warm in the oven and would be served later.