Taken by Barbara Freethy

mistake. But there was too much hard evidence.
    “I found an old photo album last night in the attic, starring you,” she said as she took a seat on the red leather couch in her grandmother’s living room. It occurred to her that red leather was not something her grandfather would ever have chosen. Her grandmother had changed since he’d died. Or maybe she’d just gone back to the person she’d once been.

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    Barbara Freethy
    “Oh, dear, I think I know where this is going,” Charlotte said. “Do you want some tea?”
    “No, I don’t want tea; I want answers. No stalling, Grandma, and no kicking me out like you did last night.”
    “I had company.”
    “That’s not the reason you wanted to get rid of me.”
    Kayla patted the seat next to her. “Sit.”
    Charlotte sat, folding her hands in her lap, her expression both wary and annoyed. “What on earth were you doing in the attic?”
    “Looking for photos of the watch.”
    “Why would you need a picture? You know what it looked like.”
    “Nick wanted to see one. He wants to trace the watch.
    He thinks it will lead us to Evan.”
    “I told you to let that go.”
    “I can’t.” Kayla let the words sink in and then said,
    “Grandma, I don’t think you were being completely honest with me last night.”
    “The watch wasn’t valuable, Kayla.”
    “But it also wasn’t Grandpa’s, was it?” She saw her grandmother flinch and knew she was right. “I found a photograph of you and another man. He was wearing the watch. Who was he?”
    Charlotte didn’t answer right away. Her eyes took on a faraway look, as if she were going back in time. A small smile played around her mouth, touched off by some dis-tant memory.
    “Grandma.” Kayla nudged her.
    “He was someone I cared about a long time ago,”
    Charlotte said slowly. She drew in a breath from way down deep and slowly let it out. “I guess you could say he was my first love. And yes, it was his watch.”

    TA K E N
    69
    “I don’t understand why you lied about it.”
    “I didn’t want to have to explain whose watch it was and why it was special to me.”
    “Well, I’m sorry, but I think you have to explain. Not just about the watch, but about your life. You were in a chorus line. You danced professionally, and . . .” She cleared her throat. “Sometimes you stripped, isn’t that right?”
    Her grandmother looked down at her hands, twisting her fingers together in agitation. “I should have cleaned out that attic myself. I’d forgotten there was anything up there. It was so long ago, so many years. It was a different life. I was a different girl.”
    “I’m not judging you,” Kayla said softly.
    Charlotte’s head lifted, relief in her eyes. “You’re not ashamed of me?”
    “How could I be? I know what kind of person you are today and what kind of grandmother you’ve been to me.
    I’m certainly in no position to judge anyone else’s choices. I just wonder why you never said anything.”
    “In my youth some people would have called me wild or fast. I loved to dance and I was very comfortable expressing myself with my body.” She let out a sigh that sounded like regret. “The stage spoke to me. I felt at home under the lights, the music playing, the crowds of people watching, applauding. It was a great feeling, ex-hilarating. I never felt so alive.”
    “Why did you stop?”
    “A lot of reasons,” she said, with a vague wave of her hand. “Your grandfather was very conservative, respectable. I wanted to honor him.”
    Kayla could understand that, but it almost seemed as if her grandmother were two different people, or that she’d 70
    Barbara Freethy
    changed drastically when she’d married. “Grandpa was so straight, so stern,” she murmured. “Didn’t you ever find life with him a bit constraining?”
    “He took care of me. He was a good husband, an excellent father. I respected him very much.”
    “Respect isn’t love.”
    “Then I should have said I loved him,