Catherine called on Friday morning.
Julia was at the kitchen table with her laptop, working through the backlog of freelance invoices she'd been postponing all week. Nora was at school. Margaret was quietly reorganizing the bookshelf in the living room in the particular way she had of making herself useful without being asked.
The call came at ten fifteen.
"Have you spoken to Daniel this morning?" Catherine asked.
"Not yet," Julia said. "Why?"
"He had his board meeting yesterday."
Julia closed her laptop. "I know. He told me it was happening."
"Did he tell you what he said?"
"No." She paused. "We spoke briefly after. He said it went well."
Catherine was quiet for a moment the considering kind of quiet, not the uncomfortable kind.
"He told them about Nora," she said. "Not the man
