Bonnie’s expression could have lit up Times Square. “No, I promise…” She ran out of the room. She was back in seconds with a Dr. Seuss book. “This will be quick, and I like the rhymes.”

Eve sat down in the blue-padded rocking chair that she’d used since Bonnie was a newborn. “Climb up. I like Dr. Seuss too.”

“I know you do.” Bonnie scrambled up in her lap and cuddled close. “But since it’s such a short book, can-may I have my song too?”

“I think that’s a reasonable request,” Eve said solemnly. The two of them had their little traditions, and every night since she was a toddler, Bonnie had loved to share a song with Eve. Eve would sing the first line, and Bonnie would sing the next. “What’s it to be tonight?”

“ ‘All the Pretty Little Horses.’ ” She turned around on Eve’s lap and hugged her with all her might. “I love you, Mama.”

Eve’s arms closed around her. Bonnie’s riot of curls was soft and fragrant against her cheek, and her small body was endearingly vital and sturdy against Eve. Lord, she was lucky. “I love you, too, Bonnie.”

Bonnie let her go and flopped back around to cuddle in the curve of her arm. “You start, Mama.”

“Hushabye, don’t you cry,” Eve sang softly.

Bonnie’s thin little voice chimed. “Go to sleep, little baby.”

The moment was so precious, so dear. Eve’s arms held Bonnie closer and she could feel the tightening of her throat as she sang. “When you wake, you shall have…”

Bonnie’s voice was only a wisp of sound. “All the pretty little horses…”

EVE’S HEAD SANK DOWN TO rest on the steering wheel. Get a grip. She couldn’t sit here and wallow in the past. So her life right now seemed to be going down the tubes. She had to go on. She had to deal with the problem with Joe. She had to pick up Jane from the airport.