the time for making rash decisions. Get the facts first.”
Jo picked up on the fourth ring, her tone hesitant.
“Hey, it’s me,” Ashley said.
“Thank God. I almost didn’t pick up.”
“Why?”
“The media,” Jo said succinctly. “They’re trying to track you down. This latest beating—you have heard about it, right?”
“I’ve heard.”
“Well, as you can imagine, it’s stirred them up all over again. They want your reaction to it.”
“I’m so sorry. You need to get caller ID.”
“No, I don’t. This will pass. How are you? How did you find out, anyway? I was hoping it hadn’t made the news down there.”
“There was an item in the Richmond paper,” Ashley admitted. “So how bad is it? Are the papers screaming for my head?”
“Of course not,” Jo said.
Unfortunately, her baby sister was a terrible liar. Ashley heard the faint hesitation in her voice.
“Come on, Jo. What are they saying? Tell the truth. If you don’t, I’ll just have to call the office and ask them what’s going on. Something tells me they won’t sugarcoat anything. I’ll be lucky to have a job. They loved having me on board when I was saving the innocent and bringing in great PR for the firm, but now? I can’t imagine they’re happy about this.”
“Okay, it’s bad,” Jo admitted. “But that’s today. The beating just took place yesterday. Everyone’s bound to be in an uproar. Things will quiet down in a few days. One paper already put some perspective on the story by asking how the prosecution and cops screwed up the first trial so badly. They’ve stopped focusing on you completely.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m off the hook, even with that paper. It just means that the prosecutor and police are dangling on the hook with me,” Ashley said cynically. She bit back a sigh. “Maybe I should go back and face the music.”
“Absolutely not,” Jo said. “You stay right where you are. We’re all agreed about that.”
“Everyone in the family knows?”
“Mom and Dad do, of course. They’ve been getting the same calls I have.”
“Dammit,” Ashley muttered. “I’ll call them and tell them not to answer the phone.”
“No need. I think Dad’s actually enjoying giving the media an earful about irresponsible reporting. You know how he is when anyone picks on one of his baby girls.”
The reminder almost brought a smile to Ashley’s lips. Max D’Angelo was a stereotypical overly protective Italian father. Nobody hurt one of his daughters. Heck, it was a wonder any of them had ever had a date, given the way he loomed over every male to cross the threshold. As teenagers, they had all been driven crazy by it.
Now Ashley could only be grateful for her father’s innate protectiveness. He’d stand between her and an entire army of reporters and photographers, if need be.
“He’s something, isn’t he?” she said.
“He loves you to pieces,” Jo said. “Don’t worry about him and Mom, okay? They just want to be sure you’re all right. They think Rose Cottage is the perfect place for you till this mess settles down. They’re relieved that you’re not here in the thick of it.”
“Have you spoken to Maggie or Melanie?”
Jo hesitated. “Don’t be furious with me. I did try to call them to let them know what had happened, so they could decide the best way to break the news to you, but neither one was home. This wasn’t the kind of message I wanted to leave on a machine. I think you should tell them, though. You shouldn’t be alone.”
“I’m not alone. Well, I am now, but Josh was here until about a half hour ago. I sent him home.”
“Josh?” Jo repeated, immediately intrigued. “Spill, big sister. Who is Josh?”
Ashley was surprised. “You mean the family grapevine has failed you? I thought surely you would have had detailed reports by now. Maggie and Melanie are certainly making a lot out of the fact that I met a man a few hours after my arrival.”
“An interesting man?”
“That’s one description,” she conceded.
“What’s a better one?”
Ashley thought about that before answering. “He’s soothing,” she said eventually.
“Soothing? As in boring?”
She laughed. “No, he’s definitely not boring.”
“Not the least bit sexy?”
“Oh, he’s sexy, all right.”
“Really?” Jo said with more enthusiasm. “Now it’s getting interesting. Tell me more, Ashley. Are you going to follow the family tradition and fall madly in love while you’re at Rose Cottage?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I have way too much on my mind to even think about a man right now.”
Jo laughed. “I’m pretty sure love and passion don’t require a lot of thinking. You’re supposed to go with the flow. Not that I would know, of course, my own love life being what it is.”
“Which is?” Ashley asked, eager to steer the subject away from her own problems.
“Not something I care to discuss,” Jo said emphatically, in a way that only stirred worry that there was something she was hiding.
Even through her concern, Ashley had to admire her baby sister. No matter how complicated her life got, Jo simply dealt with it. They usually didn’t know until much, much later that Jo’s emotional life was in turmoil. She was quiet and steady as a rock.
“If you change your mind, I’m here,” Ashley said, fully aware that she was wasting her breath.
“I know that. I know I can depend on all of you.”
“You just choose not to,” Ashley said.
“It’s not that I wouldn’t value your advice or your support,” Jo said. “It just makes it more difficult to know my own mind if there’s all this sisterly clamor going on around me.”
“Fair enough. I suppose we could listen without offering advice,” Ashley offered.
“That’ll be the day,” Jo said with a laugh. “Maybe one leopard could change its spots, but three? Not a chance.”
“Okay, then,” Ashley said briskly. “Thanks for filling me in. I’ll be in touch.”
“If you aren’t, I’m coming down there and bringing Mom and Dad with me. We’ll circle the wagons.”
“Heaven forbid!” Ashley said, truly aghast at the notion.
Jo chuckled. “Thought that would provide sufficient motivation for you to call home more often. Love you.”
“You, too, brat.”
She hung up the phone slowly and realized she was smiling, despite everything. She might not want her family hovering, but it meant the world to know that they were there if she needed them.
7
Josh arrived at Rose Cottage by 7:00 a.m., but Melanie and Maggie had beaten him there. He spotted their cars as he crossed the backyard from the dock. Something told him that word of Ashley’s latest crisis had spread despite his own attempts to keep it under wraps during Mike’s visit. He was beginning to realize that the D’Angelo grapevine was an efficient means of communication. He hadn’t decided