“Kids go from one group to another all the time.” Mack took a drink of his tea. “Faith is a really good kid. I guess she’s what you and I would have called a nerd in our day.”

“Nerd is better than pot smoker.” Lily reached for her tea at the same time Mack was setting his glass back down. Their hands touched again. Her breath caught in her chest, and her pulse jacked up several notches.

“I’m going to ask you a dumb question,” he drawled. “Do you feel chemistry between us?”

Her chest tightened. Of course she felt something between them, but she damn sure didn’t want to talk about it like they were discussing the price of goat feed. And yet . . . they were adults, not hormonal teenagers who jumped into the fire with both feet when they felt something for another person. How many times had she told her clients in therapy sessions to talk things out?

“Why is that dumb?” she asked.

“It kind of sounded dumb in my head, and even more so when I said it,” he said.

“Yes, I do feel something between us.” She nodded. “I’ve wondered if it’s because I haven’t dated all that much. How about you?”

“No dates in three years. Nothing serious since Natalie,” he admitted.

“Do you think it’s because we hav-haven’t,” she stammered.

“No, I think there’s definitely an attraction between us, and I’ll tell you right now, up front, you deserve better than me,” he said.

Lily frowned so hard that her eyes became mere slits. “Why would you say a stupid thing like that?”

“I’m a high school vo-ag teacher, and I’ll never be rich. Hell, I’m forty-one, and I don’t even own a house. I’ve just got a pickup that’s paid for and a herd of goats,” he said.

“Why, Mack Cooper, are you thinkin’ marriage?” she joked. “You haven’t even kissed me yet.”

“I’m just thinking that we shouldn’t start anything without being completely honest, and, honey, I can remedy that kissing part anytime.” His green eyes twinkled.

Lily felt heat rising to her cheeks when she thought of kissing him. How in the devil would it even work if they did decide to go out, or got into a relationship beyond friendship? They lived in the same house with Holly and Braden underfoot all the time. “I’ve got two kids,” she blurted out.

“I’ve got forty goats.” He grinned.

“Did you say it’s time to go feed the goats?” Braden came across the room and leaned his arms on the back of the sofa.

Point proven, she thought.

“Yep, it is,” Mack answered. “I reckon we both need to get changed so we don’t ruin our good clothes.”

“I’ll be down in five minutes.” Braden ran up the stairs.

Mack crossed the room and bent to brush a sweet kiss across her lips. The tenderness of his mouth barely touching hers and his drawl combined to send a heat flash through her whole body. If that brief contact created such an effect, a relationship might burn down the house.

Lily feared that supper would be awkward, but it wasn’t at all. The kids bantered as they ate their chicken and dumplings and fought over who got the last piece of chocolate cake. When they’d finished with the cleanup, Mack got out a whole stack of papers to grade, and the kids disappeared to their rooms.

She thought about sticking around or watching an old movie, but she was afraid that Mack might think she was angling for another kiss, so she went upstairs to her room and took the journal over to Holly’s room. She rapped on the doorframe and asked, “You ready for the next chapter?”

“You mean entry?” Holly asked.

“Either one.” Lily held the book up so she could see it.

“Yep, but, Mama”—Holly put away the book she’d been reading and got out her notebooks—“I wish it was more like a diary where they wrote in it every day. I like the way my paper is coming together. I even let my history teacher look at what I’d done, and he said it was excellent work.”

Matilda Smith Medford Massey, June 1886: Jenny was married today. I’m sure that it won’t be remembered like the event when the president of the United States married his lady in the White House earlier this month. But to me, it was much bigger since I was right there in our little church with her. I’ve always regretted not having my mother at my wedding, especially the second one, since it was on our plantation. We’ll miss Jenny, but she’s only five miles away, so we can see her every month or so. I’m hoping that her husband is as good to her as William is to me, and that she never has to deal with a cheating man like her father. If she does, I plan to shoot him and drag his body out into the woods to feed him to the coyotes. My mama would have done that for me if she’d known what I was living through in those days.

“Yes!” Holly did a fist pump. “I just knew Matilda had some balls . . . I mean, guts. Will Jenny be the one that gets women the right to vote?”

“I don’t know,” Lily said. “We’ll have to keep reading to find out.”

“I wonder what her wedding looked like.” Holly’s eyes went all dreamy. “I want a big white dress with a train that reaches all the way to the back of the church, and a cake that’s got calla lilies on the top of it. What did your wedding dress look like, Mama? Do you still have a picture of you in it?”

Lily almost wished that she hadn’t thrown the last remaining picture of her in the dress away. “I got married in my mother’s dress. Her wedding picture is on the mantel in the living room, so take a look at that.”

“But Grandma was tall and you’re short,” Holly said.

“Mama shortened it, removed the sleeves, and cut away that high collar, so use your imagination when you look at it,” Lily said.

She closed the journal. “I’m glad that Matilda was happy and that Jenny is living close to her mama.”

“Me, too.” Holly didn’t look up from her notes.

“Good night.” Lily started to kiss her on the forehead but thought that might be pushing it.

She wandered halfway down the staircase to where Vera’s senior picture from high school still hung. For the first time, she realized the wisdom God had in taking Vera on to heaven to be with her sweet husband when He did. Her mother had been an easygoing woman, but when she was riled, no one, not even the devil himself, would cross her. Had Vera Miller known what Wyatt was doing, the torment that he put Lily through when she was grieving for her mother—well, Vera was a damn good shot with a pistol, and she had taught Lily to shoot when she was just a little girl. Had she been preparing Lily for the future? Had she disappointed her mother when she didn’t shoot Wyatt?