disease ever.”
“Thank you.” Mack patted her hand with his free one. “I asked Mama if she realized Adam had a problem, and she said yes. She thought he’d outgrow it, and then felt like it was too late to do anything about it when he broke up my engagement with Brenda.”
“Parents don’t like to admit their kids have issues,” Lily said.
“You didn’t mind admitting your kids had problems. You took steps to keep them from getting into more trouble than they were already in. Even though they whined and threw hissy fits, you were a solid, good mother and did what was best for them.”
Lily could have kissed him for that bit of encouragement, but Braden came bursting into the room at that very moment. She jerked her hand free from Mack’s and said, “I didn’t even hear you coming down the stairs. You usually make enough noise that the neighbors think it’s thundering.”
He held up a foot. “I only got on my socks. I thought I’d wear Grandpa’s boots as well as his coat.”
“You wear a size eight. Your grandfather wore an eleven,” Lily told him.
He jerked an extra pair of socks from his hip pocket. “I’ll stuff the toes.”
“We really should make time to get that kid a pair of rubber boots and a work coat,” Mack said.
“Yes!” Braden pumped his fist in the air. “Can we get them before I go visit Isaac on his ranch?”
Mack glanced over at Lily. “We could take him to the feed store tomorrow evening. They don’t close until six, and they carry coats and boots.”
“Please, Mama,” Braden begged.
“I suppose,” she agreed. “If you’re really going to be in 4-H and show goats, you should have a warm coat and boots that will keep your feet dry.”
Braden ran to her side and wrapped his arms around her. “Thank you, Mama. Can we go get them right after school, and can Mack go with us?”
“Be glad to,” Mack offered.
“Don’t see why not,” Lily said at the same time.
“See why not what?” Holly poked her head around the door.
“I get to go to the feed store and get boots and a coat,” Braden sing-songed.
“If he gets to do that, can I go to Sally’s store again?” Holly asked.
“Why don’t you and I go to Sally’s, and these two guys can go to the feed store?” Lily asked.
“Fine by me,” Braden said. “A girl don’t belong in a feed store, anyway.”
“Hey, now, they have all kinds of western clothes for girls in there,” Mack said.
“Then I want to go there instead of to Sally’s. Rose and Ivy have western belts that they wear with their jeans. Can I have one of those?” Holly asked.
“We can look at them.” Not long ago, Lily had been arguing with these two about moving to Comfort, and now they argued about rubber boots and a western belt. She almost pinched herself to see if she was dreaming.
Later that evening, after Lily had taken a bath and washed her hair, she went to her room and got the journal. She adjusted the lamp so she could see better, then like a kid with a dollar in a candy store, she couldn’t help herself from peeking at the next entry in the journal. She knew that she probably shouldn’t keep reading the journal without sharing it with Holly, but she was drawn to it that evening.
December 1870: My precious son was stillborn a month ago. He was a month early and so very small. He was a perfect baby, but he never took a breath. I don’t know if I will ever get over the feeling that it’s my fault. What did I do wrong? Rayford doesn’t seem to care that we buried our baby, or maybe he doesn’t know how to show it. I’d like to think that’s the reason he’s so indifferent, but in my heart, I’m sure it’s because he has a new woman. I refuse to be like Henry’s wife, so I put on a front and keep going.
Lily tore a page off a notepad on the nightstand to use as a bookmark, closed the journal, and let what she’d read sink deep into her soul. She’d had to put on a brave front when Wyatt left. She hadn’t lost a baby, but she had just lost her mother—and a marriage. Grief was the same, no matter what caused it. She could relate to the way that Matilda held on to her dignity through it all, and