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he felt the corners of his mouth lifting. He was fifty-seven years old, married to his best friend, and certain that when the clock ran out on his days in this life, he'd have an eternity together with his loved ones in a place that would put all of earth's goodness to shame.
    Life couldn't get much better than that.
    He was about to say as much when Elizabeth released a troubled sigh, stood, and slowly crossed the room, her gaze fixed on the framed photographs lined along the mantel above the fireplace. There they were, all five of them-Brooke, Kari, Ashley, Erin, and Luke. Oldest to youngest.
    After a few minutes, Elizabeth dabbed at two silent tears. John's heart sank, and he went to her side.
    "Which one?" He slipped his arm around her shoulders.
    Elizabeth dabbed at another tear and made a sound that was part laugh, part bottled-up sob. "Kari."
    John shifted his gaze and stared at the face of his second- oldest daughter.
    "I'm worried about her and Tim." Elizabeth nestled her head on John's shoulder.
    There were goose bumps on her arm, and John ran his hand down the length of it.
    "Did you talk to her?"
    "This morning. Before her shoot."
    "What'd she say?" He studied his wife, wishing he could ease her anxiety.
    "Everything's fine." Another tear trickled down her face. "Maybe I'm the only one who sees it, but something isn't right." She wiped the tear away. "The distant look in his eyes lately, the way he's always too busy for family dinners." She paused. "He's out of town again."
    John was quiet. He looked at the face in the photo once more. Suddenly the picture in his mind changed, and Kari was no longer a confident young woman in her twenties, married and living not far away in Bloomington. She was an anxious teenager wondering why Ryan Taylor hadn't called.
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    Daddy, do you pray for me every night? John could hear her.' precious voice as clearly as he'd heard it that long-ago day. He closed his eyes and let himself drift back.
    "Of course." John remembered taking his daughter's hands, trying to will peace into her troubled heart.
    "Will you still pray for me when I'm grown-up and married?" Her eyes grew watery and her chin quivered. "I'll need your prayers forever, Daddy."
    Was her heart troubled now? Were there problems between Kari and Tim that none of them knew about? Elizabeth had always been perceptive when it came to their children, sometimes knowing their needs even before they recognized them.
    "Okay." He gently squeezed Elizabeth's shoulder. "Let's pray."
    Elizabeth nodded as they joined hands, bowed their heads, and placed their second-oldest daughter in God's hands where she belonged.
    Even if she had no troubles at all.
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    Tim Jacobs wished more than anything else that his upcoming meeting with Kari were over.
    It had been wrong for him to stay at Angela's after seeing his wife out on the street, but he had felt paralyzed to do anything else. He had no idea what he was going to say to Kari, and anyway it was virtually impossible for him to walk away from a weekend with Angela Manning.
    She captivated him like no other woman ever had; his feelings were that intense.
    On Sunday evening, by the time he pulled up outside the home he shared with his wife, he had convinced himself that her discovery was a good thing. Now he could admit the affair and ask for a divorce. Yes, it would be sad, and it was bound to be difficult for both of them. But the outcome was fairly predictable. Tim would need to move out while the divorce was pending, and that meant one very wonderful thing.
    He and Angela would never have to be apart again.
    He killed the engine and stared at his front door. If only the whole ordeal were already over and done with. After all, he
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    wasn't the first husband in the world to come home and ask his wife for a divorce. This kind of thing happened every day in neighborhoods across the country, right?
    Tim swallowed and remembered something he'd heard in a sermon once. The more bad choices