Leelo toweled off the bowl she was holding and handed it to Sage to put in the cupboard. “I would, but I promised Mama I’d help her with the sewing.” This was a lie. She had promised Jaren she would visit him, and she had no desire to see Hollis. But it seemed like a good sign that Sage wasn’t complaining about the visit. “Are you feeling better about your engagement?”

“How would you feel about it, if you were me?” Sage asked, her voice curiously devoid of venom.

“What?”

“I mean it. If you were me and you had to marry Hollis Harding, how would you feel about it?”

“I don’t know. I suppose I never really considered it before. I liked Hollis, when we were younger. But he’s a bit...”

“Dense?” Sage asked.

“I was going to say imposing, but no, he’s not the sharpest tool in the shed.”

Sage snorted. “No, he’s not.”

“So don’t marry him, Sage. You can wait for something better. You can wait until you fall in love.”

Sage crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the sink. “Like you, you mean?”

Leelo wasn’t sure if Ketty had told Sage about the night she snuck out. She had no idea how much her cousin knew, and her stomach sank as she realized all the possible pitfalls ahead. The more she said, the more likely she was to plummet. “I didn’t say I was in love.”

She arched a brow. “So you’re not, then?”

“I’m just saying you can marry someone else, Sage. That’s all.”

She went back to washing, hoping Sage would drop the subject, but her cousin was still watching her. “What were you and Aunt Fiona talking about earlier? It looked like she was crying.”

Of course she wouldn’t drop it. This was Sage, the most stubborn person she’d ever known. “She was talking about Tate.” Not a lie, but definitely not the whole truth.

“What about him?”

“How much she misses him. We both do.”

Sage watched her for a minute from under her furrowed brows. “I heard her say something about Nigel.”

Leelo set the dish she was washing in the sink and turned toward Sage. She didn’t want to play these games anymore. “You know who Tate’s birth father is, don’t you?”

Sage pretended to inspect her fingernails.

“I assume your mother knows, too. And she’s probably held it over Mama ever since. But it doesn’t change anything. He’s still my brother.”

Sage scoffed and grabbed Leelo’s arm, dragging her toward the door.

“Where are we going?”

“Outside, where your mother can’t hear.”

Leelo followed reluctantly. Sage sat on the porch step that looked out over their garden, waiting for Leelo to join her.

“What?” she asked when she sat down.