“Don’t be surprised if Mom and Cassie don’t make it,” Will warned Ben. “If they were going to show up, they would have before now.”

“Have you heard from Cassie? What did she say?” he asked over the burning anxiety in his gut. They were all gathering at the farmhouse before heading to the Winter Ball. Even Aiden, home for the weekend, was coming.

“She said she’s trying, and not to pester her. The more phone calls, the more pressure Mom feels. This is hard for her, Ben. She has a lot of guilt built up.”

Ben bit back the words he wanted to say, which were—one good way to make up for everything would be to show up.

“She’ll be there,” he said confidently.

“Why would she come to a party instead of meeting us here?” Will squeezed his shoulder in a gesture meant to comfort, but Ben shrugged it off. He didn’t want comfort. He wanted to see Mom.

“It’s not just any party, it’s the Winter Ball. Remember how obsessed Mom used to get about it? How could she pass up the chance to see it for herself?” He tweaked Will’s tie, a gray silk number that made his brother’s eyes look extra silvery. “Why are you so negative? Have a little faith.”

“I have faith that she’ll come back when the time is right. I just don’t know if that time is now.”

“Right for what?” Tobias strolled into the living room, hands in the pockets of his black tuxedo pants. Trust Tobias to totally ruin the cut of his fancy tailored suit. Aiden was a couple steps behind him, messing with the Miami Vice-style white jacket Daisy had found for him at a thrift store.

“Mom and Cassie.”

Tobias lifted one eyebrow. “Yeah, I’m not seeing it.”

“Cassie said Mom was excited. She said they were coming,” Ben said stubbornly.

“Might,” Will reminded him. “She said they might come. With emphasis.”

Ben frowned at his older brothers. “You just don’t want to be hopeful. I get it. Hope hurts. But I feel it. They’re going to be there. Right, Aiden?” Surely he could count on his little brother for support in this. Aiden was still young and optimistic.

Aiden shrugged. “I hope so. But only if Mom’s ready. You know how she is.”

They all fell silent, thinking of their fragile, fascinating mother. Even before the murder of her husband, Janine Knight had struggled to keep her head above water emotionally. They were all used to tiptoeing around her, careful not to upset her.

Will cocked his head at Ben. “Why is it so important to you?”

“I want to see her, of course. Don’t you?”

“Yes, but why now? Why tonight?”

Ben didn’t answer, mostly because the reasons were all jumbled up in his head. Because there was a big hole in his heart. Because he wanted to move on, especially now that Julie was back in his life. Because he needed to know she was okay…

Tobias stepped into the uncomfortable silence. “Nothing wrong with Ben wanting to see her. He went through a lot that night.”

Don’t. Shut up, Ben wanted to say to his brother. Don’t go there. Not now. Not ever. But he froze, unable to say a word.

Will glanced at him with more sympathy this time. “You never really talk about that.”

“She hit him,” Tobias explained gruffly. “It was rough.”

But that wasn’t the worst part. He never talked about the worst part, not even to Julie.

“I never knew that.” Will frowned at him. “Sorry, man.”

“Wasn’t Mom’s fault,” he managed. It was all his fault. He hadn’t found the right words. He should have given her a Xanax first. Or waited for someone else to tell her, someone who wasn’t barely eighteen and in shock himself.

“Forget all that. Jesus.” He ran a hand through his hair. “We all got through it. I’m just thinking of Aiden here. He’s never seen Mom as an adult. The rest of us have.”

Aiden leaned his head against Ben’s arm. It was a gesture only the baby of the family could have gotten away with. “Yeah, but you were her favorite. You were the one she talked to, right, guys?”

Tobias shoved his hands in his pockets again. “I was a lot closer to Dad, it’s true. As much as we fought, Dad and I understood each other.”

Will nodded his agreement. “I’d been gone for so long, between college and law school, I really didn’t know what was going on with her anymore. You were the one, Ben. Mom’s shoulder to lean on.”

“I should have gone with her instead of Cassie.” He sounded like an iron band had tightened around his throat. “I could have gotten her help. I had no idea she wasn’t coming back. She said she needed some time, I figured she meant a few days. If only I’d known…”

Will squeezed his shoulder. “Hey, you can’t blame yourself for anything Mom did. She was the adult. It wasn’t your job.”

“So it was Cassie’s?”

“Cassie wanted to go,” said Aiden. “She needed Mom more than anyone. Remember how she was having so much trouble in school? Some girls were bullying her and her crush dumped her. She couldn’t wait to get out of Jupiter Point.”

Tobias and Will exchanged a puzzled look. “I don’t remember that,” Will said. Tobias shook his head too.

“I do,” came Julie’s soft voice.

Ben startled and spun around. Julie and Felix stood just inside the door.

“She talked to me about it a few times. The worst part was that the ringleader was her former best friend, who apparently liked a boy who had a crush on Cassie.”

Ben stared at her, momentarily short-circuited by how incredible she looked. She wore a simple ivory shift dress with crystals embedded in the fabric. Her hair was swept up into a twist, and she wore a choker adorned with a sparkling snowflake.

She smiled apologetically at the brothers. “Sorry, I knocked but no one heard me.” She gave Felix a little tap on the shoulder. “Why don’t you go find Sarah, Kiddo?”

He ran off, after one more curious look at the brothers. Ben wondered how they looked to him, four brothers in their party best, talking so seriously.

“He’s not going to the ball?” Ben asked.

“No. He was planning to, but we were over there earlier helping to set up, and he got overwhelmed. He asked to come here and hang out with Sarah and the babysitter, if that’s okay.”

“More the merrier,” said Tobias. “But how come I didn’t know about the bullying? I would have kicked some Mean Girl ass.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s why she didn’t tell you,” Julie explained dryly. ““She had it tough, one girl in the midst of all that testosterone. The last thing she wanted was for you guys to go ballistic. She swore me to secrecy. I told her I’d keep her secret as long as things weren’t getting too out of control. But then—well, everything changed.”

Sarah and Felix came racing into the living room. Well…Sarah raced, while Felix maintained his usual upright posture. “I want to see Miss Julie’s dress!” She stopped dead, her mouth falling open. “You look like Cinderella,” she said in awe.

They all laughed. “Well, you know what they say about pumpkins,” Julie said. “We’d better get going before all the ice sculptures melt. Even Mrs. Reinhard can’t control the weather.”