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“Your gut can only tell you when you are hungry or need to make a run to the outhouse,” Lily countered.

“Okay, then, I’ll listen to my heart instead of my gut,” Daisy shot back.

“I’m going to do this, Lily. I can’t wait to be married to Claude.

I want to make this trip with him and start all over in a brand-new place.

Be happy for me. I couldn’t stand it if you weren’t—and please drag out your trunk and go with us.

I heard Matt tell you that he wouldn’t get in your way if you want to go. ”

“And get in the middle of a couple on their honeymoon?” she growled. “No, thank you.”

“Did you read the letter from Nechesville yet?” Daisy asked.

“You are trying to change the subject,” Lily accused. “And no, I have not. I wanted to read it when you were here with me, and you stayed out half the night.”

Daisy crossed over to the bed and sat down. “Well, then, I’ll turn up the lamp and we can share it right now.”

Lily got out of bed and picked up the letter from the tray in her opened trunk. “We should both write to the others and send the letters back with Beulah.”

“We’ll have lots to tell them,” Daisy said. “I’ll already be gone when they read them, and if I can sweet-talk you into it, you’ll be with me.”

“Keep dreaming, sister!” Lily said before she opened the envelope and began to read:

Dear Lily and Daisy,

We were glad to hear from you, and to know that you have made a few strides toward our goal, but oh, so sorry to know that things have turned bad for you in town.

We have run into quite a problem here. Cooter Wilson turned up in Nechesville.

Holly was fired from her teaching job, and the ladies here are not supporting us like they did you.

We are selling everything and boarding a train to come over to Autrie.

Hopefully, you will welcome us to stay with you until we can figure out what we can do next.

We have bought tickets for August 26 and should be there in the afternoon.

Love,

Holly, Iris, and Jasmine

Lily folded the letter and carefully returned it to the envelope.

Daisy beamed. “This is wonderful.”

“What makes you say that?” Lily asked. “We don’t have room for three more in this house. And what if Matt says that he doesn’t want them out here? And what if they hate living on a sheep farm?”

“Evidently you don’t know Matt Maguire at all, girl,” Daisy scolded.

“I can wholeheartedly agree with that,” Lily shouted.

“Did y’all have a fight after supper tonight?”

“I don’t know if we did or didn’t,” Lily said. “I’m not good at this courting business. I only ever really dated one man, my ex-fiancé, and you know how that turned out.”

Daisy frowned. “But why wouldn’t you know if you had a fight?”

“After what he said about not stopping me, I got to thinking that maybe it’s his way of telling me that this courting business isn’t working for him. Maybe he wants to get rid of me, and after moving me out here, he doesn’t want to—”

“Hush!” Daisy chided. “If you aren’t sure where you stand with him, don’t second-guess yourself.

Go ask him first thing in the morning. Don’t make yourself sick by wondering what he meant.

I’m going to bed now. We’ve got to plan a wedding.

I’m planning on wearing my white dress, so we don’t have to make new ones, and I’m glad that Holly, Iris, and Jasmine will be here to celebrate with us. Good night.”

“Good night,” Lily said.

Daisy blew out the lamp and left the room.

Lily threw herself back on her pillows. Only a sliver of the moon still hung in the sky, but when clouds shifted back and forth over it, there was enough light to make strange shapes on the ceiling.

She was wide awake and trying to figure out how they would accommodate three more in their house when it dawned on her that there was another empty place down the road from where Alma lived.

Daisy would be gone, so one of them could stay in her old room, and the other two could live in the empty house if Matt was willing to rent it.

The thought of Matt brought tears, and she silently scolded herself.

She was a tall, independent, mostly Irish-blooded woman with a hot temper.

She had had the fortitude to leave her ex when she couldn’t stand the man another minute.

“I cannot wait until tomorrow to find out exactly what he meant,” she whispered, and threw back the thin sheet covering her. She stuck her feet down into her work boots, wrapped a shawl around her shoulders, and slipped out the back door.

Twice during the half-mile walk, she stopped and turned around to go back. No self-respecting woman would ever knock on a man’s door in the middle of the night, but each time, she shook off the feeling and went forward.

She stopped in the yard long enough to pet Mozelle, then knocked on the door. It opened so fast that it startled her. Matt stood in front of her, shirtless. Dark hair covered his chest and extended down his muscular chest into the top of his trousers. She felt a rush of heat shoot through her body.

“Lily,” he muttered. “Is everything all right?”

She took a deep breath and blurted out, “No, it is not. Can you come out here on the porch and talk to me? This can’t wait a whole week while you are out with the sheep.”

“Give me time to put on a shirt,” he said.

He left the door open, and she could hear him rustling around in the house.

She sat down on the top porch step and swatted at a mosquito the size of a buzzard that landed on her arm.

She was very aware of him even before he sat down beside her and took her hand in his.

She wondered if the gesture meant that he loved her or if it was one that said he wasn’t interested anymore but maybe they could still be friends.

“What’s on your mind, darlin’?” he asked.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she said.

“Me either,” he admitted. “I don’t want you to leave, but I also only want you to stay if you want to be with me.

You didn’t have anywhere else to go when things went down like they did in Autrie.

Maybe you really want to be off somewhere like Sally Anne and Molly, or even on an adventure with Daisy.

I know you will miss her, and I don’t want to stand in your way. ”

His shoulder brushed against hers when he turned to look deeply into her eyes. The same heat that had always been there when he touched her rose up from the depths of her heart and soul.

“Am I right?” he asked.

“No, you are not,” she answered. “I am not here because I have no other place to go. I want to be on this farm with you. I do not want to go on an adventure with Daisy and Claude, and I can do some good for my cause from right here.”

“Thank God!” He tipped up her chin and kissed her—not once, but half a dozen times.

“But . . .”

“I don’t like that word,” he said.

She quickly told him about the letter she had received from her friends. “I wouldn’t feel right about bringing them to the farm without asking you and your parents.”

“Of course they can live here,” he said.

“Who knows? Maybe they’ll even be as happy as we are.

I’ll send one of the hired hands into town tomorrow to tell Uncle Elijah to meet them at the train and haul them out here.

I would offer to do it myself, but I expect that Claude will want me to help with his and Daisy’s wedding.

Is there anything else before I put on my boots and walk you home? ”

“Not one single thing,” Lily said, but she thought, Except your sister hating me. Maybe with enough time, she hoped, Abigail’s mind could change.