Every Precious Thing

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Diana wanted to trust Harper. More than anything, she wanted to believe he could actually help.

Unfortunately, the past few years had taught her the only ones she could truly trust were Sara and Richard, her sister and brother.

Anyone else was suspect.

Yet she couldn’t deny that the man on the other end of the phone call had been Sara’s husband. The address had been correct. Then, as if that hadn’t been enough, Logan had pulled out the letter Sara had written for her husband.

She didn’t know what to do.

She needed time to think it through, work it out.

She sat on the edge of the tub, and unzipped the side pocket in her purse. From it, she withdrew the photo that had been taped to the bottom of her nightstand in Braden. She looked at the kids in the photo.

Though he was only eleven at the time, Richard was already well on his way to six feet tall. Seven-year-old Sara was on his shoulders, smiling and laughing. And spraying them both with water from a hose was Diana. She’d been thirteen, and so grown-up even then. Fifteen minutes later, their aunt had come home and scolded them about making a mess in the yard, but for that precise moment, that little slice of time captured on camera by one of Diana’s friends, she and Richard and Sara had been happy.

She touched the image, her finger tracing the outlines of her brother and sister, and herself.

Finally, she put the picture away, pulled out her Blackberry and sent Richard a text.