“Glenn came to me, at that time, and he was, naturally, quite embarrassed about the, um, child. We drew up a confidential document that would provide financial support for the child’s mother, and the child, of course. And at that time, Glenn determined that he wanted that unborn child to have an equal ownership share in the family company.”

“Unbelievable!” Sallie cried. “He wanted some bastard to have what belonged to my children, his real family? And you went along with this lunacy, Norris?”

“Dad would never do anything like that,” Davis said. “He would have never cheated on Mama. Never! This is the biggest cock-and-bull story I’ve ever heard.” He looked to Pokey. “Are you gonna let Mason sit there and defame your father like this?”

“But Daddy did cheat on her,” Pokey said sadly. “Mason and I caught him, years ago. And that’s why I can believe he cheated on her again.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Davis said fiercely. “He would never. Goddamn it, Pokey! Are you in cahoots with Mason now, too?”

“It’s true,” Pokey said, watching her mother’s drawn face. “It was years and years ago. Mason and I went down to the house at Wrightsville Beach on the spur of the moment. Daddy was there, with a woman. I was just a kid, but even I knew what they were up to.”

“I don’t believe it,” Davis said. “You’ve got no proof.”

“The Chevelle,” Pokey said, blinking back tears. “Dad said he was giving it to Mason as a twenty-first-birthday gift. But it was a bribe. So he wouldn’t say anything to Mama about that girl.”

“Not that I would have,” Mason said. “I hoped she’d never find out. About any of this.”

“Mama?” Davis said.

“I will not have this,” Sallie said, her voice strained. “I will not have you children dishonor your father’s memory this way. Do you two hear me? Do you?” Again, she didn’t raise her voice. She didn’t have to.

Sallie fixed Norris Thomas with a withering stare. “How dare you? How dare you make these grotesque allegations about a man who is not here to defend himself? Norris, I would never have expected this of a man of your reputation.”

“This bullshit trust won’t fly,” Davis added. “We’ll hire our own lawyers and challenge it.” He thrust out his chin aggressively in Mason’s direction. “That bastard kid of yours won’t get a nickel of Dad’s money.”

Thomas opened the folder in front of him and brought out a single sheet of paper. “Davis, I can’t stop you from doing what you think is best. But you should know that your father was very specific about the trust agreement. I did try to convince him he might provide for his unborn child in other ways, but he was adamant that each of his children would have an equal share in Quixie. And I should also tell you that we’ve done DNA testing, and it absolutely proves that Glenn Bayless was Sophie’s father.”

He handed the paper across to Davis, who angrily batted it to the floor.

Thomas retrieved the paper without comment. He’d been a small-town estates and trusts lawyer for five decades. He’d witnessed more colorful dramas than this. He coughed, and his face colored slightly. “After Glenn’s death, I contacted the child’s mother, to let her know about the provisions of Glenn’s will. Unfortunately, it was the first she knew that he’d passed away.”

Pokey winced.

“The mother’s pregnancy was normal and seemed to be going smoothly,” Thomas went on, “but the baby was born somewhat prematurely.”

“Sophie was in the neonatal intensive care unit at University Hospital in Jacksonville for six weeks,” Mason said. “They really weren’t sure she would make it and, even if she did, whether or not she would have lingering developmental problems.” He reached across the table and took Annajane’s hand again.

“Norris, uh, thought that somebody in the family should be aware that this baby, our half sister, was fighting for her life in the neonatal unit,” Mason said. “It was a risk, but he confided in me. I went down to Jacksonville several times to check on her.

“She was so tiny,” he marveled. “I’d never seen a baby that small. Theoretically, I could hold her in the palm of my hand. Except I couldn’t, because they had her hooked up to all the tubes and monitors. They wouldn’t let me hold her until shortly before they released her. But the first time I did, I knew she was ours.”

He gave his weeping sister a pleading look. “She had Dad’s blue eyes. My damned high forehead, and just the barest fuzz of blond curls. Just like Pokey’s baby pictures.”

“Stop it,” Davis shouted, pounding the tabletop with his fist.

Sallie stood abruptly, pushing her chair back with such force that it went crashing to the floor. “I won’t listen to another word of this,” she said. She got to the door and looked over her shoulder at Davis.

“I’m leaving, too,” he announced. The conference room door slammed behind them.

“Pokey?” Mason asked.

She shook her head and settled back in her chair, arms crossed over her chest. “I want to hear it. All of it.”

Mason got up and walked around to the chair next to hers, the one Davis had just vacated.

“Kristy, that’s Sophie’s mom, isn’t a bad person,” he said. “She was only twenty-six when she got pregnant.”

Pokey buried her head in her hands. “Oh God, Daddy,” she moaned. “A twenty-six-year-old? How could you?”

“She looks a lot older,” Mason said. “I thought she was about thirty-five when I met her. She’s divorced, and she’s smart, but she hasn’t had an easy time of it. I think she really cared about Dad. He was good to her, you know?”

“Go on,” Pokey said, sniffing. “How long do you think he was seeing her?”

“Kristy told me they’d been dating for about a year,” Mason said. “He met her at the Hertz counter at the airport in Jacksonville, and he’d call her whenever he was in Florida on business, which was pretty often that last year he was alive, because we were chasing that Maxi-Mart deal. But I was totally in the dark about her. He knew I wouldn’t put up with that crap.”

Pokey wrinkled her forehead. “Wait—back up a minute. Uncle Norris, are you sure Dad told you he’d been diagnosed with heart problems?”

“Yes, Pokey,” the lawyer said. “We had the same cardiologist. Blaine McNamara. Max Kaufman referred both of us to him. Glenn and I talked about it several times.”

“But how could Mama not know Daddy was sick?” she asked, looking bewildered. “He wouldn’t have kept that a secret from her, would he? I mean, was he on some medications?”

Norris Thomas looked distinctly uncomfortable. “We discussed the prescriptions he’d been given. He was, uh, worried about potential side effects.”

“What kind of side effects?” Pokey asked. “Could that have been what killed him?”

Thomas tugged at his collar. “Well, um, I don’t know that would be something he’d want me to discuss with his daughter, Pokey.”

“He’s been dead five years now, Uncle Norris,” Pokey said flatly.

Mason chuckled. “I think Norris probably doesn’t want to tell you that Dad didn’t like the fact that his heart meds affected his sexual performance,” Mason said. “Does that about sum it up?”

“Well, uh, in a manner,” Thomas said. His face was the shade of a glass of Quixie.

Pokey turned her attention to her older brother. “You two traveled a lot together. Did he talk to you about having a heart condition?”

“No,” Mason said. “I know he had a bunch of pill bottles in his shaving kit, but we usually didn’t share a hotel room.” His face darkened. “His excuse was that he snored too much and didn’t want to keep me awake. In hindsight, I suppose the real reason was that he had company in his room some of those nights. Like Kristy.”

Pokey’s eyes softened. “Tell me how you ended up with Sophie.”

“The medical bills were pretty steep,” Mason said. “But Dad had taken care of that. He’d put Kristy on the company payroll, so she’d have insurance coverage.”