Page 113 of Heartland

“First, Chastity eats,” Leah tells her daughter. “And I have some things to discuss with her. So why don’t you watch your video early today?”

“Yay!” The little girl gets up off the kitchen floor. “Right now?”

“Right now,” Leah agrees.

She disappears faster than you can saybribery.

“What’s on your mind?” I ask Leah, taking a stool across the counter from her. “Does this have to do with your sugar mama?” That’s what we’re calling the rancher Leah met last week in Chicago. Apparently the meeting went great.

“Yes it does.” Leah sets down her cheese grater and wipes her hands on her apron. “I know you just finished a really hard semester. But I need to tell you things are moving fast. Juni wants us to open a shelter. And she’ll provide the land.”

“A shelter? Like, for homeless people?”

“Exactly like that. Juni lost a daughter to a cult in Utah. She was recruited at college, of all places. She was there a year before she died of sepsis. The poor girl suffered a compound fracture in her leg, and the cult didn’t believe in medical care.”

“Ew!” I cry. “That sounds…” I shudder.

“She says she’ll never get over it. And she and her husband have been working hard ever since to steer women away from the place where it happened. They feel like they could make sense of their daughter’s death if they help shelter other women who need to get away. We could do so much good, Chastity!”

“Wow. So…” I’m trying to wrap my head around this. “Your foundation won’t just provide money. But you’ll have some kind of dormitory?”

“Yes. On a working ranch.”

“A ranch,” I say slowly. That’s not what we call a farm in Vermont. “And this would be…?”

“In Wyoming,” Leah says gently. “Near Laramie. That’s where Juni’s properties are.”

“You’re going toWyoming?” I squeak. And I say it the same way you’d sayhell. It’s literally the last place I ever want to go. “Like, you’dmovethere?”

“Well, either in the spring or late summer,” Leah says. “I know that sounds soon. But I think this could be really good for all of us. Chass, the university is right in Laramie. You could take classes at whatever pace feels right to you. And you could help make a difference at the same time.”

The toast turns to sawdust in my mouth. I have to take a sip of coffee just to choke it down.

And Leah is watching me with worry in her eyes. “I can see that you’re shocked.”

Shocked doesn’t even cover it. “I didn’t think you’d move. What about your farm? You worked so hard for this place.”

She bobs her head in a nod, as if that’s just an afterthought. “But we can sell it. The house isn’t worth much, but farmland is. Especially since the place is certified organic now.”

I take another sip of my coffee and try not to feel sick. “I don’t know, Leah. It sounds great, but…”

No, it doesn’t sound great at all. I mean, saving people from a life of ignorance and sexual slavery is just about the highest calling there is. But I don’t want to go anywhere near Wyoming. Not this summer. Not ever.

“I’m sure it’s a shock,” she says, reaching across the counter to cover my hand. “But it will be a little while until we really know the timing. There are two neighbors who could buy the place.”

“Neighbors,” I say stupidly.

“Of course. That’s who cares most about what happens on this hilltop. Connors would need the farm in the springtime. Isaac won’t plant anything if we’re selling to him. Connors would graze beef cattle on the property.”

My gaze goes involuntarily toward the window, where I try to picture strange cows in the meadow outside.

“But Griffin Shipley might be interested,” Leah continues. “He cares less about the growing season, because he’s too strapped for help to plant more acreage next year. He and Dylan need to have a come-to-Jesus conversation about Dylan’s plans.”

At the mention of Dylan’s name, all the hair stands up on my arms. “Does Griff want to buy this place?”

“Theoretically,” Leah says. “But only if he can figure out how to incorporate our acreage into his. He wouldn’t be in a hurry. We could stay the summer if Griffin is our buyer.”

“I want to stay the summer,” I say quickly.