Cade and May carried on an easy conversation during lunch, talking about the animals on the ranch, the new scholarship Shane was setting up for her, Red’s progress with people, and more. Shane sat quietly as if he didn’t know what to say to Laura, and Laura focused only on avoiding eye contact with everyone. Between Cade and May’s conversation, the air didn’t hang near as heavy as it could have.

“Did you get José the papers to renew their lease, Shane?” May asked her oldest son.

Shane nodded and swallowed a mouthful of food. “We signed everything last week. I wrote up a twenty-five year lease this time so we don’t have to worry about it for a while, but I gave him a clause to get out of it if he needs to.”

“Good,” May said then turned to Laura. “The ranch is four thousand acres, but we don’t use all of that anymore. We use about five hundred acres for the animals Cade rehabs, but we lease the other thirty-five hundred acres to José Sandoval and his family. They own a small plot behind us that was too small to do much with. By leasing our land, they’re able to turn a profit on their cattle. You may see the cattle as they’re rotated through the different pastures from time to time. José and his wife often come over for dinner on Sundays, and they help us out around here when we need them.”

Laura nodded. Later, she would wonder why they didn’t use the land themselves anymore. For now, she was too distracted to think about anything other than whether staying on the ranch was a good idea. She needed to rest for a day or two, but should probably move on after that.

Maybe she could get in touch with John Smith and have him send the permanent identity to her here before relocating. But would staying that long be wise? It would be a few weeks, at least. It didn’t seem like a good idea to just sit and wait for the Kensingtons to track her down.

No. I’d better move on and have him send it to me down the road somewhere.

Laura was lost in thought when May’s voice pulled her back to the present. “My husband was always more interested in his inventions than in running the ranch,” May said, with a wistful smile. “His family had worked it for generations, but he liked tinkering in the barn more than he liked keeping cattle in it. For years we all teased him about it.”

Cade and Shane shared a wry smile as Laura looked from one of them to the other, trying to understand.

Shane sounded a little bitter when he explained. “It wasn’t always easy trying to run the ranch while he was busy with his inventing, but in the end, the joke was on all of us. He invented an industrial glue, pretty much by accident one day. I’m still not sure what he was trying to invent that day. But the glue is what came out. It’s used in manufacturing all over the world now. The patent earned him enough money to play in his tinker barn, as we call it, until the day he died and beyond.”

Laura smiled, but she didn’t miss the way a little of the light left May’s expression at the mention of her husband’s passing. May and her husband must have been truly in love. That was what Laura had hoped for herself one day. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she’d dared to dream of love, but in reality had only been three years.

“Well boys, go on and get this table cleared so you can get back to work.”

Laura almost did a double take as the men rose without complaint and began clearing the table. Patrick would never have helped with what he saw as a woman’s work.

“Aren’t lawyers supposed to have days packed full of appointments and meetings?” May chided Shane as he piled the plates in a stack to clear them.

“Not small-town lawyers, Mama,” he answered, but Laura could hear affection in his voice, not genuine correction.

Laura moved to help clear the dishes away but May insisted she sit and relax.

“You rest some more and then I’ll show you to your room after the boys go back to work. You can settle in.”

Laura blanched. Settle in. She had no idea where she would go or how she would find a job, but she couldn’t possibly stay here for more than a day or so. She couldn't shake the feeling that she needed to keep moving, keep running.

“I’ll begin looking for work and a place to stay right away,” she started, thinking she’d just tell them she had found work and move along, but May cut her off.

“You’ll do no such thing. Josh knew what he was doing when he sent you here. And, if he sent you to me, I’m guessing you’ve got no family to take you in and no job prospects. It’ll be wonderful to have some company around here during the day.”

Laura could tell Cade and Shane were listening. Their conversation had quieted in the other room, but they didn’t argue with their mother’s offer.

“Now then,” May said as she pushed herself up from the table, “let me show you your room.” With that, she moved toward the stairs and made her way up, leaning heavily on the railing, clearly expecting Laura to follow.

Laura didn’t know what to say or do. If Patrick’s family found her here, she could bring trouble to the Bishops. She couldn’t do that to them.

She weighed her options, and there weren’t many. She’d worked at a diner as a waitress in high school. It wouldn’t be fun to be on her feet for ten-hour shifts when she got further along in her pregnancy, but plenty of women had done it. She’d do it, too.

After a few days’ rest at the ranch, she’d slip out and move on to look for work and a quiet place to settle. Maybe she could call Josh and see if he could get her money from the greenhouse and wire it to her. If she left as soon as she received the wire, she wouldn’t be around for the Kensingtons to catch up to her. That would give her enough to put down a deposit on an apartment in a new place.

Laura rose and started up the stairs after May, who moved painstakingly slowly. Shane came into the room, hands shoved in his pockets. Cade stood behind him. He cleared his throat and Laura paused.

“Laura. I um, I just want you to know, I won’t say anything. What I mean is, you’ll be safe here,” Shane said, eyes on the floor. “We won’t tell anyone you’re here.”

Laura swallowed past the lump in her throat and nodded before turning up the stairs again. She knew she should tell them that her husband was dead, that his family might be coming after her. That maybe her husband had been in some sort of trouble before he died. The needles of doubt pegged her again when she thought of the USB drive she’d left hidden in the kitchen.

She should tell them about the baby. But she couldn’t bring herself to tell them any of it. Laura pushed aside the guilt that swirled around her and followed May upstairs. With any luck, she was overreacting. Whatever Patrick had been involved in, whatever he’d hidden, was nothing that could come back to haunt her. With any luck, the Kensingtons would let her go and she’d live in peace, finally free of her husband and the horror her life had become the last few years.