Gil’s instinctive reaction was fright when her father-in-law told her she had a long-distance call. The gully between her eyes deepened as she handed the baby to her mother-in-law. “For me? Is it my mother? Hello. Who? Who did you say? d**k! d**k, for goodness’ sake! Is anything wrong?” The palpitation in her throat lessened.
“d**k?” Ed repeated. “Did something happen to the house?”
“Shh,” Gil told him. “What did you say, d**k?”
“Gil, I’m upstate. I had to take this trip. It’s that contract I was telling you about.”
“You mean Martha is alone?”
“Listen, Gil. God, what a mess. I tried getting Martha this morning and she wasn’t home and I tried you and by the time I got around to calling Alison the lines were down. I thought I’d try your in-laws on a hunch. I couldn’t put off this damned
