Matilda left this morning on a stagecoach. I already miss her and she’s only been gone a few hours. I feel like she’s making a mistake, but she’s adamant that she loves the man. She’s going to marry a Yankee, the friend that Henry brought home last summer. They’ve been writing since he and Henry left, and Henry’s been sending Rayford’s letters to her with his. What did I do wrong with my children? Everett tries to comfort me, but I feel like a complete failure. I may never see my daughter again. My son says he has no intentions of ever coming back to the cursed south again. A part of me admires him for his conviction; the other part wants to shake him until his teeth rattle even though he’s a grown man.

Determined that she and Holly should share the new entries, Lily closed the journal and didn’t read on.

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Mack used his planning period on Thursday morning to look up NPD, and was amazed to find that the symptoms fit Adam so well. He and his brother were twins, so it stood to reason that they would be drawn to the same type of woman. But if Adam really had NPD, then why hadn’t Mack developed that condition, also?

Lunchtime was right after his planning period, and a 4-H meeting had been scheduled for noon that day. He had to hustle to get over to the library at the middle school for the meeting. Today, they would be discussing the upcoming junior livestock exhibition, and the kids would be taking the forms home to fill out concerning what animals they would show that spring.

He was surprised to see Braden enter the room with Isaac Torres, who’d won first place the year before with his Angus steer. Isaac came from a fairly affluent family, one with a pretty nice-size spread out west of town. However, he was an overweight kid, kind of shy, and didn’t have many friends, despite his family’s wealth.

“Hey, Mack,” Braden said, and then his face turned scarlet red. “I mean, Mr. Cooper.”

“It’s all right.” Mack grinned. “The kids in 4-H and FFA usually just call me Mr. Mack. Are you interested in 4-H?”

“Maybe,” Braden replied. “Isaac said I could come to the meeting with him and see what it’s all about.”

“Well, then, thank you, Isaac, for inviting a new person to the club,” Mack said.

Isaac ducked his head and blushed right along with Braden. “He said that he likes your goats. I thought he might like 4-H. Maybe next year he can show a goat.”