Free Possessions by Judith Michael

with each other than with adults. But if you prefer having your children with you, the arrangement can be changed.”
    â€œNo.” Once again, Katherine felt tears sting her eyes. “I’m sure they’ll be happier there.” Feeling alone and troubled, she watched the butler fill wine glasses as the maid served pale green soup in fragile bowls. Except for Derek, everyone was friendly, and no one had said a word against Craig. But something was wrong, and she tried to identify it as she ate her soup and listened to the others talk about an office tower the Hayward Corporation was building in the financial district and a highway overpass they were bidding on near San Jose.
    Across the table, Ross lifted his wine glass. “We should drink a toast to the newest member of our family.”
    â€œYes,” said Victoria. “Welcome, Katherine. We hope—”
    She paused and there was a silence. What? Katherine wondered a little wildly. We hope Craig isn’t dead or injured andlying somewhere undiscovered? That if he’s alive he isn’t guilty of embezzlement? That he’ll come back to his wife and children and settle his financial problems? That he’ll choose to come back to his first family after fifteen years of living a lie? That he’ll tell his wife the truth for the first time in their marriage? That Katherine figures out what she’s going to do?
    â€œWe hope Craig finds his way back to all of us,” Ross finished gracefully. “Katherine, would you tell everyone about your house? It’s very fine, especially the windows.”
    She began, but almost immediately Ross took over, explaining how the house and its wall of windows followed the contour of the tree-covered hill, facing south above the panorama of English Bay, Vancouver and Vancouver Island.
    â€œBut the view,” Tobias said to Katherine. “How do you have a view with all those trees?”
    â€œThey’re so tall,” she said absently, preoccupied with her thoughts. “We look between them; they’re like pillars, holding up the sky.”
    Derek looked up sharply. Tobias, too, looked surprised that she had said something interesting. “A pleasant fancy,” he murmured.
    â€œDon’t you love the trees?” Ann asked. “In Maine we live at the edge of a forest.”
    â€œCraig helped clear them when we built the house,” Katherine said, remembering his triumphant smile when he and the crew finally pulled out a large tree that was dying but still stubbornly clinging to the earth. “He liked—likes—heavy work.”
    â€œBut aren’t you tired of the forest?” Tobias asked Ann. “Fifteen years of peace and quiet: so excessive. Why don’t you move back here?” There was a glint in his eye. “Jason could rejoin the company and we’d all be together again.”
    Slowly Derek turned in his chair. “Have you taken up family planning, Tobias?” he asked evenly.
    Melanie laughed. Tobias looked amiably vague and Claude changed the subject, and at that moment Katherine knew what was wrong with the evening. No one was excited about Craig. Jason seemed almost angry, and the others—even Victoria and Ann, who did seem to care that he was alive—were so restrained it was as if they had no feelings about him at all.They’d asked questions, all except Derek, but at the table everyone was behaving as if this were an ordinary family dinner, with nothing unusual to discuss.
    She cleared her throat. Her heart was pounding because she was afraid of making them angry. But after all, she was here to find out about Craig. “Why did Craig disappear fifteen years ago?” she blurted into the murmuring conversations.
    The conversations stopped. Everyone looked at Victoria. But Melanie spoke first. “Why,” she drawled. “Most likely for the same reason he ran out on you.”
    â€œMelanie, be