“Do you have to go so soon? We’re only just getting to know each other again.”

My words sounded shallow. They could never express the profound love I had for my sister at that moment. Nor could they adequately express my fear of losing her again.

Nora waved her hand at me dismissively.

“Ah, ’tis best I go now.” She forced a smile, although her voice trembled a little. “I’d never survive in Texas. ’Tis hot as hell, and it’s filled with dangerous men and dangerous animals. Could you picture me up to my knees in snakes and armadillos and every other class of vermin?”

I had a glimpse of the Nora I remembered—the one who valued her creature comforts. But I saw through her. She was covering up the girl she had become, the one who was a far cry from the selfish girl she had been.

I tightened my grip on her and moved closer. I looked into her brown eyes and saw they were moist from restrained tears.

“You’re not fooling me, Nora. You’ve changed. You’re not the girl you were.”

“Ah, Delia. Sure you have every reason to hate me after the way I treated you back in Donegal. I know I would in your shoes. But you were always the good one. I don’t deserve your kindness.”

“But you do,” I said, “and it’s more than kindness. That night when I believed I had seen you drown I felt a sense of overwhelming loss. I didn’t know how I could survive without my sister. And now here you are, and I don’t intend to lose you again.”

Nora grinned. “Haven’t you turned into the bossy one!”

“I mean it, Nora.”

Her grin faded. “I felt the same way after my memory came back. You might as well have been dead because I was sure I would never find you again. And I believed you’d have no reason to look for me. I felt so alone in the world.”

“Then why not stay here?”

She let go of my hands and stepped back and shook her head.

“It’s hard to explain, Delia, but this is something I have to do. I need to prove to myself that there is more to me than an empty-headed girl who wants nothing more than to land a rich husband.” She paused and moved closer. “I may not be as well educated as you, Delia, but I have a knack for business, especially selling. I could sell candles to a blind man.” She smiled. “There’s bound to be plenty of sales opportunities in New York. I think I’ll try my luck there.”

“But could you not go somewhere besides New York? I’m afraid Sullivan might find you and take it out on you for the way things turned out. He’s not the man to be on the wrong side of.”