One Summer in Santa Fe - By Molly Evans Page 0,36

would need care herself one day. More responsibility to come. She pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around her legs, hugging them to her chest. “Maybe I need to go find her, talk to her.”

“Maybe you need to let her cool down and call her tomorrow.”

“How can you say that?” Piper demanded. “She could be endangering herself or trusting the wrong person! I don’t know anything about this man, and she’s going to take off with him to God knows where.”

Taylor tugged at one of her hands until she let him take it. “Piper. She’s over the age of consent. There’s nothing you can do about it legally right now.”

“I have to. I have to try.” She flung away a tear with her other hand. “I have to convince her to stay and not throw her life away.”

“Why? Why is it up to you to live Elizabeth’s life for her? Why can’t she live her own life, have her own adventures like her big sister?”

She tried to snatch her hand away, but he held it fast. “What are you talking about? I never ran off with a man, or abandoned my obligations. I did what I was supposed to do. I had no choice at all.”

“And you resent her for having opportunities to be young and free that you never did?” he asked.

“Taylor! How can you say such a thing? I love my sister—”

“But you don’t want her to have the fun that you were denied at this age?”

“That’s simply not true.” Wasn’t it? A flush of anger pulsed within her, replacing that warm, fuzzy feeling she’d had earlier. So much for the good vibes running between them. “Here she is with opportunities staring her in the face once she finishes school, but she’s going to abandon everything we’ve worked so hard for.”

“Okay, look at it from where she’s sitting. Big sister Piper the breadwinner, the one who’s off on adventures all over the country while she’s left at home with Aunt Ida. How do you think that looks to an impressionable teenager? She’s had stars in her eyes for years thanks to you.”

Piper opened her mouth as she stared at Taylor. “But…but…” As a teenager she had been eager to be out on her own, traveling, learning new things, going places she’d dreamed of for years, something that her parents had encouraged. The memory of that forgotten anticipation washed over her as she looked into Taylor’s face. Her sister had apparently worshiped her the same way that Alex worshiped Taylor. She just hadn’t seen it that way. And she didn’t like it. Alex was a child. Elizabeth certainly wasn’t.

“She wants her own adventures, and may not be as patient as you want her to be for that. How old were you when you graduated nursing school?”

“Nearly twenty-one. But I faced my responsibilities, I didn’t drop everyone and everybody to go do what I wanted.” A sigh huffed out of her. “I did what I had to do because I had no choice in the matter. Putting Elizabeth in the care of another was never a choice.”

“Maybe you’d like to have her nice and safe, learning her trade, but she’s got other ideas, other dreams. Probably always had them, but didn’t share them with you, her superstar sister.” Taylor’s hand snuck over to her neck and began to knead the muscles there.

Tears glistened in her eyes as pressure flooded her chest, the pain enormous. “Then I’ve failed my parents.”

“No, you haven’t. I know a few things about failures and you’re not one of them.”

“How can you know anything about failure, Mister I-Jump-Out-Of-Airplanes? Everything you do is magic.”

Taylor gave a harsh laugh. “It didn’t used to be.” He sighed, not wanting to relive his past, but it seemed he was going to right now. This conversation was supposed to make Piper feel better, but maybe sharing some bit of himself would help her to put things into perspective. “I had an abusive father and a mother who could never stand up to him. There were no arguments. He was military and his word was law. I was never good enough for him. Nothing I ever did was right.”

Taylor took a breath as the past washed over him. “I was really scrawny as a teenager and had little in the way of co-ordination skills, so my father believed I was weak in mind, as well as body. I was continually told I was inadequate, a failure in his eyes, and