“I’ll be fine.” But a tear slipped down her cheek. They could have died. All three of them. She swallowed against the lump in her throat. “Steel…”
“I’ll make sure nothing happens to Steel.”
She’d nearly lost her brother. After so many years apart from her family, she didn’t think she could bear to lose any of them. Or Liam. She couldn’t bear to lose him, either. “I want to stay,” she said. “Mom, I want everyone to stay.”
“We will,” Enid told her. “Honey, it’s going to be okay.”
“Liam?” Tory’s voice rose. She needed him close, too.
“I’m here.” He knelt beside her bed and took her hand. “You know I plan to stay right here—with you, if you’ll have me.”
“Yes.”
Liam blinked. “Yes, you understand, or—”
“Yes. Yes, I’ll have you.” She never wanted him to let go again.
“You’ll marry me?” His voice was husky from the smoke, and she laughed to hear the wonder in it, even as her tears fell faster.
“I’ll marry you. Now. Today.”
“Honey, there’s plenty of time. When you get better, we’ll plan a beautiful wedding,” Enid said.
“I’ll marry you whenever and however you want.” Liam leaned forward. Kissed her cheek. “But first you need more sleep.”
Before she could protest, the door banged open, and the nurse turned to scowl at the new intruder.
“Lance,” Tory rasped.
“Good to see you awake,” her brother said, but she could already tell something bad had happened. Had the fire rekindled somehow? Had someone else been hurt after all?
“It’s Steel,” he said quickly. “He’s gone.”
It was a quiet crowd that gathered in the dining room of the Flying W several nights later. Tory, Olivia and Enid worked together with Maya, Stella and Mary to prepare refreshments. Enid kept trying to get Tory to sit down and rest, but she hadn’t been able to keep still since she found out Steel had snuck away from the hospital.
For once Jed didn’t have anything to say about the Coopers on his property. Even Virginia had come to join them. Tory spotted Jed making up a plate of treats for her. Virginia didn’t deign to speak to him when he placed it in front of her on a television tray in the living room, but she accepted the offering.
“Well?” Virginia said when everyone else had helped themselves and found a seat in the large room. “What’s all this about? Are you Turners ready to concede defeat and turn the Ridley property over to us?”
Her barbed comments lacked their usual heat, however.
“Virginia, you know it’s up to the city council to decide who wins in the end,” Olivia said patiently, “although there’s not much to win anymore.”
Tory had caught a glimpse of the Ridley property on her way home from the hospital. The house was gone. So were the outbuildings. In their place, a wide circle of burnt earth surrounded the area on both sides of the creek.
“Land is land,” Virginia said waspishly.
“That’s not what we’re here to talk about,” Liam said. He sat down next to Tory, his solid presence warming and relaxing her, as always. He’d barely left her side these past few days, except at nighttime. They hadn’t spoken of it, but they’d both felt the need to let things settle down a little before announcing their intentions. Enid knew, of course, but no one else did.
“What are we here to talk about?” Enid said, right on cue. She smiled at Tory, and Tory realized she no longer felt any hint of the resentment she would have only days ago. Life was precious—far too precious to waste on holding grudges. She was glad her mother was here and a little ashamed at how petty she’d been before. Reviewing Enid’s choices, she’d come to realize that her mother had made a series of mistakes—like everyone did at some point in their lives. She deserved to be forgiven.
“Tory and I have decided to get married,” Liam said. “We’ve set the date for Labor Day weekend.”
“Congratulations,” Olivia cried. “I’m so happy for both of you!”
“I’m happy, too,” Noah said. “I had a feeling things were going that way.”
“I suppose I should have seen this coming,” Virginia said with far less enthusiasm. “You were obviously too busy mooning around this Turner reprobate to do anything to win the Founder’s Prize, like I asked you to.”
“Liam’s not a reprobate,” Tory said. “And he deserves credit for saving the dialysis unit.”
“Leslie came by today and said she heard from a nurse at the unit that the hospital board was very impressed with the cookout and wants to make it an annual event,” Mary said. “They’ve confirmed that the dialysis unit will stay open.”
“Which is the first step to keeping the hospital open,” Enid added.
“That still leaves the Turners ahead, two to one,” Virginia pointed out. “I don’t know why you seem so cheerful about it.”
“I have an announcement, too,” Lance said. He pulled an envelope out of his pocket. “From Steel. Found it in the barn today when I went to do my chores.”
Tory straightened as relief washed through her. Steel had left a note? That meant he must be all right.
“What does it say?” Stella demanded, leaning forward as if to take it from Lance.
Odd, Tory thought. She doubted Stella Turner had ever thought twice about Steel before. Although Steel had danced with her before, hadn’t he? Trying to piss off Stella’s brothers—
Just like Liam had danced with her to annoy his mother.
“Says he’s sorry for running off. Says if he stayed, we’d all be in the line of fire.” Liam winced. “So to speak. He won’t be back until it’s safe.”
“Will it ever be safe?” Olivia asked. “What exactly is he involved in?”
“Who set the fire?” Tory asked. “Rod Malcolm?”
Lance shrugged. “Steel wants me to burn this when I’m done with it and not to mention it to the sheriff.”
“But whoever tried to kill him—” Noah began.
“Is still out there,” Lance said. “I’m as pissed at my brother as you are. He should be here, where
