Chapter 3

By the time I reached the cabin, the wooden sign Mom had put up had been split down the middle into two.

The foreman recognized me and hurried over to explain. "Mr. Zahn told us to clear out all the old things. We didn't know this belonged to you."

I crouched down and picked it up. A splinter pierced my fingertip, drawing a tiny bead of blood.

When Mom handed the inn over to me, she wrote a sentence on the back of the sign. "Whenever Wanda gets tired, she can come home and sleep for a night."

The rain had faded the ink over the years, but I still recognized every letter.

Lizzie followed me there but stopped at the doorway instead of coming in. "Don't be mad at Blaine, Wanda. I was the one who said I wanted a place to paint winter landscapes. He thought this place was perfect, so he had them fix it up."

I snarled, "Get out."

"I can find somewhere else," Lizzie said, but her eyes swept over the brand-new easels and carpet already installed inside. "Blaine already paid for a year's worth of renovations to help me. If we stop now, all that money will go to waste."

Blaine walked in behind her. He took off the coat he had draped over Lizzie and placed it over my shoulders.

He asked, "What happened to your hand?"

I pulled away from his touch. "Get everyone out."

Blaine responded in exasperation, "Wanda, don't take your anger over the necklace out on the house."

I argued, "This isn't a house. It's the home Mom left me."

Blaine glanced at the broken wooden sign and instructed the foreman, "Make a new one."

The foreman asked, "What about the words behind the sign?"

"Copy them," Blaine said.

"The words aren't by her hand if you carve them," I said disapprovingly.

Blaine's patience finally ran out. "It's just an old piece of wood. If you don't like the renovations, I'll have everything restored after Lizzie's winter art exhibition."

He was asking me to wait again.

I had to wait until the banquet ended to get my necklace back. Now, I had to wait until the exhibition was over to get back the cabin.

In his life, I would always come after everything else was finished.

The resort manager hurried over and informed, "Mr. Zahn, there are reporters outside. They're asking whether the police are investigating you for abandoning your wife."

Lizzie's face went pale. "Someone must have deliberately leaked the story. I just announced I'm going to have an exhibition. I can't have a scandal like this attached to it."

Blaine looked at me. "Did you contact the media?"

I replied curtly, "No."

"You're the only one who knew the details about the road being closed."

"The police know. The doctor knows. Everyone who rescued me knows."

Lizzie lowered her voice. "Blaine, let it go. Wanda's feelings were hurt. It's understandable if she wants to embarrass me a little."

"She's not that kind of person," Blaine said without hesitation.

I clenched my hands slightly.

But in the very next moment, he instructed the manager, "Have her speak to the media as my wife. Tell them it was a private argument between husband and wife and had nothing to do with Lizzie."

He believed I would never hurt anyone, and he was certain I would keep cleaning up his messes.

The reporters were blocking the front entrance.

The Zahn family's elders had arrived as well.

Blaine's mother, Esther Rowling, pulled me aside and scolded me with a frown. "I'll admit that Blaine had gone overboard when he left you there. But you came back safely, didn't you? Lizzie's brother risked his life to save Blaine. Can't you just give in a little?"

I countered, "Why should I give up my necklace and the cabin?"

Esther answered like it was the obvious thing in the world, "You're married into the Zahn family. You have everything. Lizzie is all alone. How can you compare yourself to her?"

I looked at Blaine. He didn't speak up for me. He simply placed a cup of warm water beside my hand.

"Deal with the reporters first. I'll talk to you when we get home."

The cup was warm against my fingers.

Seven years ago, when Mom died, I had stood outside the funeral home shivering from the cold. Blaine had done the same thing then. He had pressed a cup of warm water into my hands and sat beside me until dawn.

For a moment, I almost wanted to trust him again.

Just then, Lizzie suddenly came out of the restroom with a bare neck.

"Where's the necklace?" I asked.

She touched her neck and said, "Blaine just took it. He said he was putting it in one of the resort's display cases."

I was taken aback. "What display case?"

Blaine didn't answer.

The manager happened to walk past carrying an exhibition checklist. At the very top was the title of Lizzie's winter exhibition—"Sterling".

In the exhibit deion, my seven-star necklace was listed as a keepsake left behind by Lizzie's brother, Sirius Sterling. Under the "Provided by" column, Blaine had signed his name.

I placed the exhibition checklist in front of Blaine. "Explain this."

He glanced at it and said, "I'm only lending the necklace as the opening exhibit. Lizzie's brother's name was Sirius, so the theme fits perfectly."

I said coldly, "You know perfectly well whose keepsake that is."

Blaine reasoned, "I didn't change its ownership. You'll get it back after the exhibition."

"The deion says it's Sirius' keepsake."

Blaine looked at the manager.

The manager hurriedly explained, "Ms. Sterling's agent provided the copy. We haven't had a chance to verify it yet."

"Change it now," Blaine said.

But Lizzie walked over with tears in her eyes. "Don't change it. I'm not exhibiting anymore. As long as Wanda is convinced I'm trying to take her things, she'll think anything I do is wrong anyway."