“You told my brother that if he would divorce his wife and steal their child, you would reinstate him in the family. You were heartless and cruel. Scott loved Sally with everything he had, and they were happy, yet you couldn’t allow that. You cared about status and keeping up appearances so much that you denied your own child. What would happen if Sally chose a different life? Would you cast her off as easily as you did Scott?”

“Scott was a grown man acting like a child. He knew the price of his ridiculous choice.”

“And now you do as well.” Luke shook his head. “If you want any role at all in the life of my daughter, you will reexamine your heart and repent of your harsh ways.”

“I will fight you on this. You will not win. I have far more money and lawyers who will know what is to be done.”

Luke got to his feet. “If you attempt to steal my child, you will regret it.” He fought to control his anger. “I do not wish to fight you, but I will not have Sally be caught in the middle of your struggle for power. Now, I think it best that we head over to the hotel and I see about getting you a room.”

Gloriana stood back to survey her handiwork. She had been cleaning since early that morning. Spring cleaning, her mother had always called it. They did a thorough clean of the house each spring and fall as a sort of ritual. Mother likened the springtime to renewal of life and thought the house should have its own refreshing as well.

That morning Gloriana had started with cleaning the fireplace and doing what she could to clear the chimney. Next, she had moved on to dust and sweep the house from top to bottom. After that, she took rags and hot soapy water to wipe down everything from the ceiling to the floors. Sally had watched her from the beautiful walnut baby chair Luke had found in one of the little shops in town. Gloriana had padded the chair with blankets so Sally couldn’t escape. At nearly seven months old, the baby seemed quite content as Gloriana moved her from room to room and kept her entertained with her cleaning.

At noon they had stopped for lunch, followed by Sally taking a long nap while Gloriana battled cleaning out all of the cupboards. She had just gotten everything back into place when JT walked through the door with muddy boots.

“Stop!” Gloriana jumped down from the chair she had been standing on and pointed to his boots. “You should have taken those off outside. Where did you get into all that mud?”

“We were playing, and it’s been raining,” he said. Squatting down, he worked to get them off. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to track it in.”