Then he wrote slowly.
She came to my father’s ranch once.
Rosalie felt as though the ground had shifted.
Her mother, Eleanor Ashford, had died six years earlier.
Rosalie remembered her as gentle but guarded, a woman who sang while kneading bread and sometimes cried when she thought no one was watching.
She had never mentioned Gideon.
Why did she come?
Gideon’s pencil hovered.
She asked about Dr. Bell.
Rosalie stared at him.
The mystery that had belonged to Gideon suddenly reached into her own family.
When?
About seven years ago.
One year before her mother’s death.
What did she want to know?
Gideon wrote:
She asked about my hearing.
Rosalie’s hands went cold.
Why?
Gideon shook his head.
She wouldn’t tell me.
Then he added:
