“And I never had to worry about him and other girls. Although I did have a few moments of jealousy when the trees were in bloom and he wouldn’t leave them. One time I wore a very short dress that was the exact pink of the flowers.”

“Did he notice?”

“I think so, but he didn’t say anything.”

He was looking at her. “Are you a...?” He didn’t finish.

“A virgin? No, I’m not, and if this gets that personal, I’m leaving.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “How are we going to solve your problem? Other than marrying Robbie, that is. I can’t see him as husband material.”

She looked at him. “I don’t know. I bet Robbie could teach me a few tricks about boys and girls. Or maybe you could explain things to me. I’m quite curious. Which animals do mating humans most imitate?”

“Well... I, uh...” He saw the light in her eyes. “You brat! I’m not about to explain the facts of life to you. Ask Vera.”

“Oh, so you taught her and now she’s to tell me?”

Adam laughed. “We were talking about you, not me. And I agree that if you tell Vera that Paul isn’t going to be part of your future, she’ll panic.”

“I know. She and Mom think my graduation is the moment all problems will be solved. I’ll marry Pauly, we’ll move in with Mom and I’ll become a partner with Dr. Carl.”

“And Vera will leave with me for Africa.”

“Everybody gets a happily-ever-after.”

He looked at her. “Think Vera will agree to leave if you and your mom are alone? Can just the two of you take care of the farm?”

“I don’t know. It was all planned so perfectly. Pauly is good with numbers. He was going to keep the books.”

“In exchange for how many acres given to him to plant his old trees?” Adam’s disgust was evident.

“Heritage,” she corrected. “His business is called Heritage Harvests. And we agreed on twelve acres.”

Adam whistled. “That’s a lot.” His head came up. “Wait a minute! You worked all this out but he never officially proposed?”

“We did.”

“This is a problem,” he said.

“Not for you. You’ll leave and—”

“Stop saying that! It’s thrown in my face every three minutes. That I left! That I’m going to leave! When I first went away, it didn’t matter. My father was the ruler. He treated me like a kid and always would. I needed...” He couldn’t go on.

“I know you loved him. A lot of people said bad things after you went away, but I never believed any of it. Burke Hatten had to have his own way. That’s hard to deal with. Who else worries you?”

He laughed. “How’d a kid like you get so smart?”