She went on the run, barely beating Consuela to wrap her friend and the little boy in a hug. “Oh, the best surprise. The best surprise ever. Let me see him. Oh, hello, handsome!”

He tipped his head to his mother’s shoulder, grinned at her. “Dog,” he said, clutching a stuffed dog. “Mine!”

“And nearly as handsome as you. He got so big.”

“He’s walking now. R-running.”

Cate heard the tremble in Darlie’s voice, looked over, saw the tears welling in her eyes.

“I didn’t know where else to go.”

She didn’t ask questions, not now. “You came to the right place.”

“Come to me, my baby, come to Consuela. Can he have a c-o-o-k-i-e?”

“Of course. He deserves one.”

“Would you like a cookie, mi pequeño hombre? Come with Consuela.”

“Kee!” Luke threw his arms out to her.

“He probably needs a change. Let me—”

“No, no, Mama, give to me the bag and the baby. Consuela will take care of everything. That’s right. Let’s change your diaper and have cookies. Everything will be fine, you will see. Everything will be fine now.”

“He’s so friendly,” Darlie said as the boy, chattering happily, let Consuela carry him into the house. “He’s never met a stranger. Oh, Cate, everything is awful.”

Those welling tears spilled; Cate wrapped around Darlie again. “Then we’ll fix it. We’ll fix everything. Did you drive from L.A.?”

Darlie nodded, swiped at tears sliding under her dark glasses. “I started last night. Luke slept through a lot of it. I just . . .”

“We’re going to go sit down, have some lemonade. You’ll tell me.”

“Can we stay for a few days? I should’ve called first,” she continued as Cate led her around to the kitchen patio. “I was so hell-bent on getting here, just getting here.”

“You can stay as long as you want, as long as you need.”

“It’s beautiful here. I know you told me, but it’s more than I imagined. And it’s so away, and so secluded. I really need away and secluded. Oh, it’s like a bridge.”

Cate looked up. “It’s a clever design, all the layers of it, the connections. Kind of like a village inside one house. Sit, breathe. I’ll be right back.”

Leaving Darlie at one of the tables under the pergola of rioting wisteria, she hurried into the kitchen.

Thought, Perfect, as she found a pitcher of lemonade. She heard Consuela making the baby laugh in her quarters. Yes, Consuela would take care.

And so would she.

She grabbed a tray, the pitcher, glasses, thought of tissues. Carried it all out.

“I bet you haven’t eaten.”

“I couldn’t right now, but thanks.”

“We’ll get something later. You don’t have to worry about the baby. Consuela’s got him.” She poured, sat. “Tell me.”

“Dawson’s having an affair with the nanny—and how clichéd is that?” In quick jerks she pulled out a tissue. “But he’s not just having an affair with her, she’s pregnant, and he claims he loves her.”

“Sukin syn.” The Russian for whoreson suited Dawson best. “I should’ve gotten a bottle of wine.”

With a watery laugh, Darlie snatched up more tissues. “Later, for sure. I found out yesterday. He confessed all, because rumors are grinding, and it’s going to hit. He hopes I understand. So sorry, but the heart wants what the heart wants.”

More tissues, snatched, swiped, wadded.

“The son of a bitch.”

“I’m so sorry, Darlie.”

“He’s been sleeping with her in our home, Cate, with our son asleep in his crib. While I’m on set. Sneaking off with her on her day off. Luke’s barely a year old, and he’s got another woman pregnant. He wants to marry her.”

“Does it help or hurt if I say I think they deserve each other?”

“Helps, because I think the same. How could I have had no clue, Cate? How could I have not seen what was happening right under my nose? How did I let my life become a frigging Lifetime Movie?”

“Don’t you blame yourself, not for one minute. You trusted him, trusted them both—why wouldn’t you?—and they used that. Love, my ass, Darlie. I don’t care if they’re Tristan and Isolde—and I wouldn’t mind them meeting the same fate—they’re liars and cheats. No excuses.”

“Small wonder I came to you.” Swiping her face with one hand, she gripped Cate’s with the other. “Of all the places I could go, all the people I could turn to, you were the first and only one I wanted.”

“I’m with you all the way. You’re safe here, you and Luke. No one will even know you’re here until you want it.”

“Cate.” Darlie’s voice simply shattered on the word. “He said he’d give me full custody of Luke.” Tears rolled again. She grabbed more tissues. “He said, he thought it was only fair, like our child is a bargaining chip. If I’d give him a quick divorce without any hassles, didn’t blast him in the press, he’d give me full custody. He was having another kid anyway.”

She knew what it meant to be disposable to a parent, and felt her heart break even as her blood boiled. “Listen to me. Anyone who could do that, feel that, isn’t worth one more tear.”

“Then why are you crying, too?”

“They’re angry ones. Tits up, Darlie. Goddamn it, haul those tits up and take that offer. Take that offer right damn now and run with it. Because he doesn’t deserve you, and he sure as fuck doesn’t deserve that beautiful little boy.”

“I thought he loved me,” she murmured. “Maybe he did, for a little while. I thought I’d found someone to share my life with, to build one with. Now it’s just another bad Hollywood story.”

“You’ll ride that part out. It’s what we do, isn’t it? Have you called a lawyer?”

“On the way here.” Breathing out, Darlie mopped her face. “Because you’re right about taking his offer and running with it. I want to get that written in blood—his—then he can have whatever the hell he wants. The only thing that matters is Luke.”

“That’s right. What we’re going to do is get you and Luke something to eat, then we’ll go down and get you settled at my place. You can count on me and Consuela to fight over the baby. Add my grandfather into that when he gets back. He’s in New York for a few more days.”

“I’m going to owe you for the rest of my life.”

“Friends don’t owe friends. Wait until I take you two over to see the ranch.”

“And the supersexy rancher. Oh, Cate, we’re going to be so in the way of that.”

“No, you’re not. You’ll like him, and his family. And Luke is going to go crazy over the animals. I know he likes dogs—you said dog was his first word. Dillon has two sweet ones.”

“We were—I was going to get him a puppy. I’d started looking at puppies.”

“Well, he can have a trial run with Dillon’s Stark and Natasha. Right now, we’re going to have some lunch. And some wine with that.”