He wondered how Tory was faring at Thorn Hill. Had she finally spoken to her mother?
“All ready for Thursday?”
Liam jumped when Olivia piped up behind him.
“What do you know about Thursday?” he demanded, his words short because she’d startled him. She stood in the open doorway. Should have shut that before he sat down.
“I do talk to my husband, you know,” she answered. “And Noah’s been talking about what you’re doing. I think it’s great. I think we should do the same thing at Thorn Hill. Especially because all of us are going back and forth between the ranches so much. We should make sure both of them meet the requirements.”
“You want me to take on Thorn Hill’s certification, too? I can barely—”
“I never said that.” Olivia tossed her hair. “Maybe Tory would be interested in taking it on. She’s going to be a lawyer. She should be good at detail work like that, and it would be something for her to know. If she’s going to work for rural clients, she should understand all the things they’re involved with.”
“I don’t think she’s going to work for rural clients.” Liam remembered too late he shouldn’t know anything about what Tory was up to. “I mean, she lived in Seattle for so long.”
“She’s going to spend three years in Chance Creek,” Olivia pointed out. “A lot can happen in three years. This town has a way of sucking you in.”
“Guess so.”
“You could go ask her,” Olivia said.
Liam looked at her. What was she up to? More to the point, what did she know about him and her sister?
“I want Tory to stay,” Olivia said as if she’d read his mind. “She needs a project that would get her involved in Thorn Hill. Go on—go talk to her. If the certification people are coming Thursday, she should sit in on that meeting and learn all she can, don’t you think?”
It was a devious plan, and Liam liked it. He didn’t want to acknowledge that he’d been with Tory the last two nights—or that he wanted nothing more than to be with her again. On the other hand, Olivia was right; Tory didn’t seem to want to set down roots here. It would take something big to change her mind about that. If she meant to go back to Seattle, they had no right starting anything—
Not that they were starting anything—
Except he was pretty sure they had.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Liam said, giving in. “In fact, you’re a genius.”
Olivia smiled. “I know.”
“A lawyer,” Tory repeated, feeling as if she’d been kicked in the stomach. “You’re a lawyer? Baloney!”
“That’s what I wanted to tell you after the wedding. I heard Lance and Maya talking about you. They said you were going to Montana State—to law school. You could have knocked me over with a feather. When I got over my surprise, I figured maybe you’d be interested in my experiences—”
“I’m not interested in you being a lawyer!” Tory blazed. “I’m not interested in hearing how you went to school and never once volunteered to help me. I’m not interested in hearing how you stole MY dream—”
“That’s enough,” Enid said. “For God’s sake, you’re acting like a spoiled brat, and it’s time to shut it down, Tory.”
Tory gaped at her. How could her mother talk to her like that—after everything—after what she’d just said—
“What exactly is your problem with me?” Enid kept going. “I know I left you—temporarily—at a difficult time in your life. I know that was hard, and I’ve apologized countless times. I know you know that I pulled myself together as soon as I could, got a job and made a home for you all, and then let you stay with my sister instead of demanding you come live with me, even though it broke my heart—so what is it that you cannot forgive me for?”
So many things flooded Tory’s mind she didn’t know how to answer that, but all of them boiled down to one salient point.
“You didn’t stop Dad!” Tory cried. “You knew what he was doing. You knew his law-breaking was making our lives a living hell in Chance Creek—for years before he was caught. Why the hell didn’t you put your foot down?”
Enid blinked. “I could no more stop your father than—”
“Then why did you stay?” There was more anguish in those words than Tory thought she still harbored in her body, but she remembered her thirteenth birthday—the day Dale had been arrested—as vividly now as she did on the day itself. She had been given permission to invite her friends—the few friends allowed to associate with her because of who her father was—to Thorn Hill for a sleepover party. She’d worked hard to recreate every aspect of get-togethers she’d experienced at other girls’ homes—normal homes. She’d dictated lists to her mother. What they would eat, where they would sleep, the party decorations, the sequence of activities. She’d demanded that her siblings stay away—far away—from the festivities.
Enid had gone along with all of it, and on the night of the party everything had gone perfectly. Tory had even overheard Cassie Evans remark to Brigit Honns how the Cooper ranch was just like everyone else’s. “I thought it would be… I don’t know—creepy,” Cassie had said. “But it’s just regular.”
Just regular. Exactly what Tory had hoped and dreamed for.
When their chores were done, her brothers had gone out for the evening. Olivia had slipped up to her bedroom to read the night away. Her parents had gone to sit out on the back porch as the sun went down.
Everything was perfect until a knock sounded on the front door.
“I stayed because I hoped he would change,” Enid said. “But he didn’t. I let you down, and for that I am so sorry.”
“He humiliated me.” Tory remembered the white-hot feeling of pure shame as the sheriff and his deputies had crowded into the front hall. How she’d stood stock-still, unable to breathe as they walked through
