“I can understand that. And . . . and I think you made the right decision.”
“Then you’re a better person than I am. Every day I wanted to get in touch. And then the months and then the years went by and whatever courage I had to face you was just gone. You should hate me. I deserve that.”
“I finally found my sister,” said Pine. “And you found us. I don’t really have room left for hate, Mom.”
Julia smiled sadly. “I wish your father could be here to see you girls. He loved you so much. Every waking moment of his life, it was all about his girls.”
Pine glanced at Jack and then said, “He was a wonderful dad.”
Then she turned to Blum and introduced her to her mother.
The women exchanged a hug and Julia said, “Jack has told me that you have been a wonderful friend to Lee. I thank you very much for that.”
“I’m the lucky one, actually,” said Blum.
Mercy said, “So I have to know—why did you name me what you did?”
“Because, honey, you were the first one to come out after two days of excruciating labor and an epidural that never took. It was just the first word that came to my mind.”
Julia and Blum exchanged a knowing look.
Mercy smiled. “Yeah, I guess I can understand that.”
Julia gripped her daughters’ hands. “Would you like to see my little flower shop? It’s close enough to walk.” She smiled. “It’s called ‘Twin Pines.’ I guess you know where that name came from.”
“That sounds wonderful, Mom,” said Pine.
Mercy nodded. “Yeah, it does.”
“Carol and I will meet you there,” said Jack.
“You can walk with us,” said Julia.
Blum stepped forward. “No, it just needs to be the three of you right now, Julia.” She smiled, her eyes full of emotion. “For a lot of reasons.”
She and Jack walked back to the SUV.
The trio of women turned to the west, where the sun was just starting to set, throwing the sky into luxurious eddies of red and gold.
And they slowly walked arm in arm toward that luminous glow.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Michelle, finally, the truth about Mercy. Thanks for all the help with this series! Atlee could be you!
To Michael Pietsch, Ben Sevier, Elizabeth Kulhanek, Jonathan Valuckas, Matthew Ballast, Beth de Guzman, Anthony Goff, Rena Kornbluh, Karen Kosztolnyik, Brian McLendon, Albert Tang, Andy Dodds, Ivy Cheng, Joseph Benincase, Alexis Gilbert, Andrew Duncan, Bob Castillo, Kristen Lemire, Briana Loewen, Mark Steven Long, Thomas Louie, Rachael Kelly, Kirsiah McNamara, Nita Basu, Lisa Cahn, Megan Fitzpatrick, John Colucci, Alison Lazarus, Barry Broadhead, Martha Bucci, Rick Cobban, Ali Cutrone, Raylan Davis, Tracy Dowd, Melanie Freedman, Elizabeth Blue Guess, Linda Jamison, John Leary, John Lefler, Rachel Hairston, Tishana Knight, Jennifer Kosek, Suzanne Marx, Derek Meehan, Christopher Murphy, Donna Nopper, Rob Philpott, Barbara Slavin, Karen Torres, Rich Tullis, Mary Urban, Tracy Williams, Julie Hernandez, Laura Shepherd, Jeff Shay, Carla Stockalper, Ky’ron Fitzgerald, and everyone at Grand Central Publishing, for running on all cylinders for me.
To Aaron and Arleen Priest, Lucy Childs, Lisa Erbach Vance, Frances Jalet-Miller, and Kristen Pini, for making my life so much easier.
To Mitch Hoffman, for continuing to make me dig deep.
To Anthony Forbes Watson, Jeremy Trevathan, Lucy Hale, Trisha Jackson, Alex Saunders, Sara Lloyd, Claire Evans, Sarah Arratoon, Laura Sherlock, Stuart Dwyer, Jonathan Atkins, Christine Jones, Leanne Williams, Andy Joannou, Charlotte Williams, Rebecca Kellaway, and Neil Lang at Pan Macmillan, for upping your game with every book.
To Praveen Naidoo and the stellar team at Pan Macmillan in Australia. When I see what you’ve done for me there it is truly amazing. I am so grateful.
To Caspian Dennis and Sandy Violette, for being absolutely pefect at what you do.
And to Kristen White and Michelle Butler, without you, things would not be nearly as much fun. And I’m not just talking about the margarita machine!
About the Author
David Baldacci is one of the world’s bestselling and favourite thriller writers. A former trial lawyer with a keen interest in world politics, he has specialist knowledge in the US political system and intelligence services, and his first book, Absolute Power, became an instant international bestseller, with the movie starring Clint Eastwood a major box office hit. He has since written more than forty bestsellers featuring, most recently, Amos Decker, Aloysius Archer, Atlee Pine and John Puller. David is also the co-founder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across the US. Still a resident of his native Virginia, he invites you to visit him at DavidBaldacci.com and his foundation at WishYouWellFoundation.org.
Trust him to take you to the action.