“Where are the twins now?” Noah asked at the same time. “I thought you sent them home the other day.”
“They’re with their grandparents.”
Liam took pity on Maya, who looked ready to repeat her question a third time. “Where’s your husband, Mom?”
At first he thought she wouldn’t answer. When she did, you could have knocked him over with a puff of air. “Jail,” she finally said. “Go on, tell me what a mess I’ve made of my life.”
“Sounds like Frank’s the one who’s made a mess,” Maya said slowly.
Liam couldn’t find any words at all. He’d assumed his mother was living her dream life while they all struggled to get by here. Instead she’d been suffering as much—or maybe more—than everyone else. He knew how proud his mother was. Remembered the way she’d lorded it over the Coopers because of Dale’s tendency to cut corners. This had to hurt.
The buzz of Mary’s phone interrupted them. She seemed almost grateful for the distraction. “Excuse me.” She stepped away to answer it, leaving Liam, Noah and Maya to exchange glances.
“Jail?” Maya mouthed silently. Liam knew what she meant. It was surprising their mother had admitted it.
“Of course I would,” Mary was saying into the phone. “Tomorrow afternoon? I’ll be there.” She hung up and explained, “That was Leslie. She needs a ride to the hospital tomorrow.”
“For dialysis? You’ll be there for hours,” Liam said. His mother and Leslie must be closer than he thought.
“It’s the least I can do,” she said tiredly. “I don’t seem to be much good at anything else.”
“You stuck by Justin and Liz, sounds like. You didn’t have to adopt them,” Maya said softly.
Liam wanted to point out their mother planned to support her new children by selling the Flying W, but Maya kept going.
“I don’t think selling the ranch is the answer.” She held up a restraining hand when Liam opened his mouth. “All of us need some time to think about what we’ve learned today. Can we agree about that?”
“I… guess,” Liam said reluctantly.
“Fine,” Mary said.
Noah nodded. “Everyone back to their chores. We’ll talk more later.”
The ride home to Thorn Hill was short but hardly comfortable.
Tory found it hard to revise her opinion of what had happened between her mother and William. It pained her to admit it had been easy to sympathize with Noah’s insistence his father was innocent. Everyone else, except Steel, who’d given no indication of his thoughts one way or the other, had seemed willing to consider Enid’s explanation. But then they’d already dug up a fair number of surprises in their families’ pasts.
One thing she was sure about: the ill will between her mother and Mary went far deeper than she’d guessed.
“Are you actually going to help Liam save his ranch?” Tory asked.
Enid shot her a look. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“I thought maybe you said that to piss off Mary.”
“Is that really what you think of me?” She waved off Tory’s reply. “No, don’t answer that. The thing is, I doubt we’ll actually need to do anything. Mary would have to be able to prove she owns the Flying W before she can sell it. I’m sure Noah is the one who has the deed to the place now.”
Tory noticed they’d driven past the turnoff to Thorn Hill. “Where are we going?”
“Just have to make a stop in town. You don’t mind, do you?”
Tory sighed. They trundled along in silence for a few minutes.
“What kind of law are you interested in?” Enid asked.
“Business law,” Tory answered automatically, then thought about the work she was doing with Liam. “Did you know Liam’s been getting ready to go for organic certification for the Flying W? It would be a shame for all his hard work go to waste.”
“Organic certification?” Enid asked. “That’s interesting.”
Tory nodded. “We’re talking about getting the process started for Thorn Hill, too. I won’t be around forever, but I like the idea. I like the idea that people in Chance Creek can move forward and not just be stuck in the past.”
“Hmm” was all Enid said to that.
“Some people are really dedicated to this town,” Tory countered. She didn’t know why she was sticking up for Chance Creek after spending so long defending her choice to leave it behind. “Liam thinks his family can save the dialysis unit—and hopefully the hospital, too.”
“They better, if they have any hope of a future here. Could you get that?” Enid gestured to her phone, buzzing in her open purse between their seats.
“Enid’s phone,” Tory said when she answered it.
“It’s Leslie. I was wondering if Enid might come visit me at the hospital tomorrow afternoon while I’m having my dialysis.”
Tory relayed the request. “Of course,” Enid said. “Tell her I look forward to it. Here we are,” she added when Tory had hung up. She pulled up in front of a modest building and parked.
“Wait,” Tory said. “Isn’t this a lawyer’s office?”
Chapter Eight
Liam busied himself with chores that afternoon, knowing he needed to cool off before he faced his mother again. When he found her on the porch later, she was alone. He stepped into the house, poured himself a glass of lemonade and came back out again.
“Something’s still bothering me,” he said without preamble, taking the seat next to hers. “A number of things are, actually, but one more than the others.”
Mary gave an exaggerated sigh. “Haven’t you harassed me enough for one day?”
“If you didn’t want so many questions, maybe you should have given us a few answers before you abandoned us.” Liam regretted the words when he saw his mother flinch. Keep a cool head, he reminded himself, but he was still stung by her behavior all those years ago. The fact she’d made him drive her to town the day she’d left still burned. He’d waited several hours for her before he’d gone home and found the note she’d left. He’d never forget the burning sense of loss that had filled him—something akin to shame to know
