After Kelly told them, the women complained all the way home about having to include Mrs. Carl in their proposed business, which they weren’t even sure they were actually going to do.

As for Kelly, her life was back on track and she couldn’t stop smiling.

Nella saw her daughter’s self-satisfied smile in the rearview mirror. She looked at Forey. “So who should we set my daughter up with for dates?”

“Oh, no,” Kelly said. “No dates!”

Forey ignored her. “That nice young Tony Pullman comes to mind.”

“He attacked me!” Kelly said. “If—” She couldn’t say that Adam had rescued her.

“If what?” Nella asked.

“Nothing. I need a rest from men.”

Nella gave her daughter a stern look. “I think you need to stop hiding behind four-legged, furry creatures and start looking at your future. When I was your age—”

“I know!” Kelly said. “You were married and had two kids. I am an old maid who works and—” She saw her mother’s eyes in the mirror. “Okay, but I get to approve of them. No blind dates.”

The two women smiled as they pulled into the driveway. “Why don’t you go ride Xander?” Nella said.

Kelly didn’t answer.

Vera tossed the tree branches aside, lifted the door and went down the stairs into the old basement. Miguel hadn’t arrived yet. There was an anti–Vietnam War rally planned in Omaha that weekend and she’d managed to come up with a fairly plausible reason of why she would be out of town.

But the truth was that no one was paying attention to what she was doing. Good! she thought. All attention was on Kelly. She had at last rid herself of Treeboy, as Adam called him, and everyone was happy about it.

Vera’d had a good laugh when she heard that sweet Kelly had made a cutthroat deal with Mrs. Carl. Kelly got to keep her job but Mrs. Carl would share in the business that Nella and Forey might be starting. So far, the three women were quite indecisive about how to begin or if they should.

Vera volunteered to ask Adam to make a deal with Mr. Gresham for them. She’d thought it would be easy when she proposed the idea to him. Adam, usually so willing to help anyone at anything, had snapped, “No!” then went to one of his horses and began wiping it down.

Vera had been shocked. “Why not? They need help. They have no idea what they’re doing and Mr. Gresham is a wily old coot. He’ll flatter them and they’ll end up baking for him for free.”

Adam’s eyes were on the horse. Vera thought this one was named Xander and it was the one Kelly liked to ride. Vera stayed well away from them. “What is your problem? You’ve been in a bad mood all week.”

“There’s nothing wrong with me. Except Robbie is driving me crazy and there’s too much paperwork and too many animals to take care of. When are we leaving the country?”