“Not just him,” Jordan put in. “Your nature is to nurture and defend anyone you care about, anyone who needs it. It’s instinctive, and that makes it one of your strengths. Another thing Kane wouldn’t understand about you is you care about the women in that painting, care enough to go to the wall for them.”

“Friendship,” Brad added with a gesture toward the painting. “Family, and the preservation of those things. Those are essential elements in your life.”

“I guess we’re on the same page, then, because I was thinking that one of the basics of the quests, so far, has been living life the way you really want to live it, taking whatever steps and risks you need to, being willing to sacrifice and work to make it happen.”

It sounded good when she said it out loud, Zoe decided. It sounded solid. “For me, I decided to have a child. A lot of people told me I was making a mistake, but I knew in my heart I wanted the child, and I wanted to do right by him. I left home because I knew I’d never be able to do right by him if I stayed. I was scared, and it was hard. But it was right for me, and for Simon.”

“You chose the path,” Brad said quietly.

“I chose it. And there was some of that loss and despair that Rowena talked about in the clue. You can’t raise a child without some loss and despair. You sure as hell can’t raise one alone without them. But you get all the joy, too, and the pride and the wonder. I chose to come here to the Valley because that was what I wanted for myself and for Simon. Then I had to decide if I was going to keep plugging away for a paycheck or take a chance and make something of my own. I didn’t have to do that one alone, and see, those other choices made it so I didn’t have to.”

She crouched down to take some papers from her backpack. “See this? I made this up. It’s like a chart, kind of a map.”

She handed it to Malory first. “See, there’s where I grew up—not all that far from here, really. Only about sixty miles across the state line. And there’s the names of my family, and people who had an impact on me—one way or the other. Then I sort of routed out other places I lived, and worked, and the names and all that. Until I ended up here, with all of you. See, I was thinking, some of it’s just living. What you do, and what happens to you while you’re doing it.”

Malory raised her eyes from the chart, met Zoe’s. “You worked at HomeMakers.”

“Just part-time. Three nights a week and Sunday afternoons, for about three months before Simon was born.” She turned to Brad. “I didn’t even think about it before. Just didn’t.”

“What store?”

“The one outside of Morgantown, off Highway 68. They were really good to me there. I was six months along when I went in looking for the extra work. I went into labor working cash register number four. I think that means something. I went into labor when I was working for you.”

He took the chart as it was passed to him, looked at it, noted dates. “I was in that store doing some troubleshooting in March of that year.” He tapped the chart. “I remember it because someone came into the meeting apologizing for being a few minutes late. It seemed one of our cashiers had gone into labor and he’d wanted to be sure she got off to the hospital safely.”

The chill that danced through Zoe wasn’t fear. It was excitement. “You were there.”

“Not only there, but when I came back to finish up the next day, it turned out I’d won the baby pool. I’d taken a boy, seven pounds, and gone with twelve hours of labor.”

She let out a shaky breath. “Pretty close.”

“Close enough to earn me a couple hundred dollars.”

“That is way spooky,” Dana commented “Where do we go with it?”

“Some of it’s going to be where Zoe and I go with it.” He looked back at the chart. “You didn’t go back to work at the Morgantown store.”

“No. I picked up a few extra hours a week at the salon where I was working, and they let me bring the baby in. As friendly as they are at HomeMakers, you can’t work the cash register with a baby under the counter.”

He’d been there, Zoe thought again. Their paths had crossed at the most important moment of her life. “I didn’t want to spend the money for a sitter,” she continued. “More, I guess, I wasn’t ready to let him out of my sight.”

Brad studied her face, trying to imagine her—imagine both of them on that day, nearly ten years before. “If I’d done my tour of the floor sooner rather than later, I might have seen you, spoken with you. I decided to do the offices and take the meetings first. One of those little choices that change what comes after for quite some time.”

“You weren’t meant to meet then.” Malory shook her head. “I know it goes back to sounding like destiny and fate, but those shouldn’t be discounted. Even with our choices. You weren’t meant to meet until you were both here. Paths, crossroads, intersections. Zoe’s got them there on her chart.”

Malory eased forward, tilting her head so she could read it along with Brad. “You could add your roads on there, Brad. From the Valley to Columbia, back to the Valley, to New York, to Morgantown, wherever else, then back here. You’d find other intersections and crossroads. And for both of you they’ve led here. It’s not just geography.”

“No.” Brad tapped a finger on the names Zoe had listed near her hometown. “James Marshall. Is that Simon’s father?”

“In the technical sense. Why?”

“I know him. Our families did some business. We bought some land from his father, though the son ran the deal. A nice chunk of commercial property near Wheeling. I closed the deal before I left New York. It was one of the levers I used to move back here and take over this area.”

“You met James,” Zoe whispered.

“Met him, and spent enough time with him to know he doesn’t deserve you, or Simon. I need another beer.”

Zoe stayed where she was a moment. “I’m going to check on the chili. Just, ah, give me a few minutes, and I’ll dish it up.”

She hurried toward the kitchen. “Bradley.”

He kept walking, then yanked open the refrigerator, got his beer. “Is that why you were pissed when I picked you up?” he demanded. “You’d made your chart, started thinking it through and saw just how tight the connection is with me?”