Kent was a marvel to Goldie. Growing up in upstate New York had pretty much inured her to beautiful, snow covered landscapes, but even so, the tree shrouded lanes, the historic villages with their conical, oast house roofs, the whole historic Englishness of it, were thrilling to her.

"Oh, wow, look at that," she kept saying during the drive down to the Ormondes' country cottage.

And when they finally arrived, Goldie couldn't stop staring. "That's no cottage," she declared as they got out of the car.

The dogs bounced around in the snow, relieved to be out of the car at last. The girls, too, laughed happily, bending over to touch the white stuff as the adults began unloading everything.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Jeff asked as he pulled a suitcase from the back of the car.

"That's a—mansion, an estate, or at the very least a manor," Goldie clarified. "It's huge, and gorgeous, it must've cost a fortune."

"You seem obsessed with money," Jeff teased. "It's considered a cottage because of the size of the rooms, I believe, and the plantings around it, and, you know, general coziness."

"It does look cozy," Goldie agreed. There were chimneys and gables galore, with a thicket of trees behind it, everything with a dusting of fresh snow.

"Dada, snow," Genie said, holding up a handful of the fresh white stuff for his inspection.

"Hey! Did you hear that?" Jeff said, picking up his daughter and swinging her around. "She said 'snow,' with the 's'!"

"I did!" Goldie responded. "Well done, Genie!"

Genie had no idea what she'd done, but she knew the adults were happy, so she beamed back at them, still holding the snow.

"Did I hear correctly?" Pat asked as she came out of the cottage to continue unloading the car. "One of them said 'snow'?"

"Yes, Imogene, just now," Jeff told her.

"Too bad, you clever girl," Pat said, smiling at Genie as she passed.

"Too bad?" Jeff questioned. "Why?"

"Baby talk is precious, you should treasure it," Pat explained. "You called flamingos 'flying fingos' forever, until your uncle Chad taught you the right way to say it. I was so cross with him over that, remember Gordon?"

Gordon, who'd just removed the stroller, nodded. "Wouldn't speak to him for days, as I recall."

"More to the point, what on earth were we doing discussing flamingos at all?" Jeff queried. He and Goldie had more or less corralled the dogs and babies into the house and began putting things away in the kitchen.

"Oh, you know, it was one of those children's books with photographs of animals in them," Pat answered as she put groceries into the fridge. "You also said 'skinny pig,' for guinea pig, and 'zeeba' instead of zebra, if I recall. I have it all written down in your baby book, though heaven only knows where that's gone."

Later, after the girls had been put to bed and the adults enjoyed a cup of tea in front of a spectacular fireplace, they talked about what they'd do.

"Well, we have to get a tree and trim it, then we should go to the village and finish up our Christmas shopping," Gordon said.

"And I promised Goldie and the girls a sleigh ride," Jeff said.

"Sleigh riding in Kent," Goldie marveled. "What a wonderful life I'm living."

Goldie's phone pinged with an incoming text. She knew without looking who it was from, but she made a show of looking down at her phone and smiling.

"Grant?" Jeff asked.

Goldie nodded, feeling bad, as she always did, to lie to Jeff.

I assume what happened at that grocery store will be properly documented and in your report?

Of course, but I still have a few days, right?

Yes, but I'm thinking of filing in January, so I just want to make sure everything's in order.

January? I thought you were going to wait until spring, build a really strong case?
The kidnapping has moved things up. That's just negligence, flat out.

Attempted kidnapping.

Whatever. Just make sure your report is complete. Every detail.

Okay.

Goldie couldn't help but sigh.

"Everything okay?" Jeff asked, putting an arm around her. He gestured toward her phone. "Bad news from Grant?"

"No no," she assured him. "He just can't get something published that he worked on until he does some rewrites, and he's busy, that's all." Wow, she was turning into quite the effortless liar.

"Well, we're going to toddle off to bed," Pat said, rising. "All that unloading and carrying was exhausting, I must say."
"Speak for yourself," Gordon said as he, too, rose. "I'm very fit for my age." He winced as he stood, however.

"Right," Pat said with a tilt of her eyebrow. "Come on, Granddad, let's take our creaky selves upstairs." She turned to Jeff. "Don't forget to let the dogs out and bank the fire before you head up, Son."

Jeff nodded.

"Jeff?" Goldie began when they were alone.

"Yes, love?"

"I need to tell you something."

He turned to face her a little more squarely, and Goldie noticed how handsome he was in the firelight.

"Okay." He looked at her, eyebrows raised.

Goldie swallowed.

"Oh my god, are you pregnant?" Jeff asked, setting his tea aside. He smiled as he leaned forward to stroke her cheek. "Is that it?"

"No, of course not," Goldie responded, surprise making her blunt. "Though I guess now I know how you'd feel if it happened." She grinned and shook her head. "But anyway, no, I'm not with child."

"Don't get me wrong," Jeff said. "I'm not saying I want to have a baby with you right now, I'd. have to be off my head, wouldn't I. But it wouldn't have been a tragedy, would it?"

Goldie shook her head. "But thank god I'm not, right?"
"By far the better option," Jeff agreed. "So, what did you want to tell me?"

Goldie sighed. "What would you have done if you found out Maggie lied to you? Not a little lie, like eating the last piece of cake, but a big lie?"
Jeff stared at her. "A lie about what?"

"You know what, never mind," Goldie said, shaking her head. "This is a dumb conversation."
"No no, something's obviously bothering you, please," Jeff encouraged.

Goldie cast her mind about, trying to think of something she could ask to get her out of telling him the truth.

"Um, what if she'd lied to you about who the father of the babies was?" she asked. "Like if she'd cheated on you?"
"Goldie, you know we had a surrogate, right? That the girls were created with petri dishes and that, then implanted in a very nice woman from Surrey?" Jeff was smiling at her.

God, she was so dumb.

"Right, but just asking as a hypothetical," she tried. How was she going to extricate herself from this conversation?

"So you're asking how I'd feel if the girls had been conceived naturally, and I found out after the fact that they weren't mine?" Jeff asked.

Goldie nodded vigorously.

"Are you asking how I'd feel about them?"

Again, Goldie nodded. The end was in sight.

Jeff sat back, considering. "Well, my feelings about the girls wouldn't change at all. I'm their father, the only father they've ever known. I love them. I'd fight anyone who tried to take them from me."

Goldie let out a sigh of relief. "Wonderful. Let's go to bed."
"My relationship with Maggie would be over, though, of course."
Goldie, who'd started to rise, sank back down on the sofa.

"Oh?"
"Of course. She lied to me, she stole something from me." Jeff sounded very sure of himself. "If you think about it, all lying is theft; theft of time, of feelings, of the truth. I could never trust her again, I could never love someone who'd do that to me. Without trust, you have nothing, don't you agree?" He looked earnestly at Goldie, taking her hands in his. "Is this really what you wanted to talk about?"

Goldie managed to nod. "The pregnancy talk made me think of it. I just wondered how you'd feel about raising a child that wasn't biologically your own."

Jeff laughed. "Are you saying you cheated on me, and you really are pregnant?"

Goldie gave him a gentle push as she laughed. "Right, like I'd have time. I barely have time to have sex with you."

"Speaking of which," Jeff began as he took Goldie in his arms, "you know the girls are exhausted. I don't think they'll wake up all night, even if we get a little loud, yeah?"

"Let's take our creaky selves off to bed, then," Goldie responded.

She shut her phone off and plugged it into the charger before they went upstairs.