Page 113 of 15 Summers Later

After a pause, Nicki slid onto the sofa beside Madi.

Ava curled her fingers into Mabel’s fur and seemed content to pet the dog and sip at her water.

She obviously had a good reason to come and Madi wanted to tell her to get on with it, but she forced herself to wait patiently until Ava was ready to speak.

“I don’t know where to start. I...didn’t want to have this conversation at all but Grandma persuaded me it would be better if I am...up front with you.”

Madi was aware of an odd sense of foreboding she couldn’t have explained. “About what?”

Ava looked miserable. “About the reason I agreed to a contract to publishGhost Lake. I didn’t really want to. I know you don’t believe me, but I never intended to go public with the story at all. I wrote it as part of my...my therapy and then decided to use it as my master’s thesis.”

She hadn’t realized that part, or that Ava had felt she needed therapy. Madi had gone through counseling as part of her rehabilitation but Ava always insisted she was fine.

“I never submitted it to a publisher.”

“Who did?” Nicki asked, looking intrigued. “Your husband?”

Nicki didn’t know Ava and Cullen were estranged, as Madi hadn’t breached her sister’s confidence by sharing that. Ava shook her head. “No. My faculty advisor did, in kind of a roundabout way. A friend of a friend of hers was an editor at a New York publishing house. My faculty advisor was moved by it and sent it to the editor, who liked it enough to offer me a book contract. It really came out of the blue. They...made it very difficult to refuse but I did.”

“You refused?” Nicki asked.

Ava nodded. “I wasn’t ready. I didn’t feel I could publish the book without talking to your mom and Luke. Or to Madi.”

That was when Ava had first told her she had written her memoir for her master’s thesis, Madi remembered. She had asked Madi if she would mind if she published it.

Madi had foolishly assumed it would only be seen by a few academic types. It was also around the same time she had learned Eugene Pruitt was donating his farm to the Emerald Creek Animal Rescue Foundation and she had been desperately trying to obtain grants to cover operating expenses.

“Through a couple of other contacts of my advisor, I ended up obtaining an agent. In a very short period of time, a matter of weeks, the book went to auction. The original editor won the bid. Their terms were so favorable I...I couldn’t say no.”

“It’s not that hard,” Madi said. “It’s only one little syllable.”

Ava sighed. “I’ll admit, I had some selfish reasons for signing a contract. Cullen and I had been talking about buying a house one day before we started a family. We were saving for it, but he’s an associate professor of paleontology and I teach middle school English. Portland is a really expensive place to live and we’re not exactly rolling in dough. The contract would provide a nice down payment on a really nice starter home in a good neighborhood.”

“Not a big house in a fancy neighborhood?” Madi asked. “I thought you said it was a good deal.”

“It was.” Ava pursed her lips. “But I only saved a third of the advance for a down payment. The rest I...chose to donate to a good cause.”

Nicki whistled from her spot on the sofa. “Wow. That was generous of you.”

Madi stared at her sister, the words tumbling around in her head.

Donate.

Good cause.

Grandma persuaded me...up front.

She saw Ava twisting her hands together in her lap and all the separate puzzle pieces seemed to float through the ether to gel together in one stunning picture.

“You’re our angel d-donor.”

Ava gazed at her, jaw slack, but she didn’t bother to deny it.

The gift had been so thrilling, as generous as it had been unexpected. Delivered by an attorney for a person who wished to remain anonymous, the donation had given the foundation enough operating funds to keep going for at least two years. With the other grants and from selling off part of the land Eugene Pruitt had left, they could push that to three years.

It had been enough for her to quit her job, to put the finishing touches on the facilities, to expand their outreach efforts.

All because of Ava.

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