A/N: Okay. That's two chapters in less than 24 hours. HAPPY NOW? Just kidding.

My, everyone certainly is curious about that secret, unspecified term of endearment Ennis has for Jack in rare and intimate situations! I wonder what it could be? Yes, it will be appearing in the story, and you'll know it when he says it, and you'll probably be disappointed at how ordinary it is after all this buildup.

Jack loved mornings. Back in Childress, it had been his only time of peace. Lureen and Bobby both liked to linger in bed until the last possible moment, so he'd rise early, sometimes before dawn. He'd get his coffee and go out to the porch, then sit and think about Ennis while he watched the sun come up over the flat Texas plain. It came to feel like their special time together, even though Ennis wasn't there and didn't know Jack's mind was on him.

Saturday promised to be a busy day. The whole household was going to the county dairy fair. Jack had somehow been roped into judging the calf competition, so he'd be spending most of the afternoon feeling up livestock. Marianne would be back today, too, and that was welcome news. Normally she wouldn't be around on a Saturday, but she was entering her honey-lemon cheesecake (Jack's personal favorite) in the baking contest and wanted to use the ranch's kitchen, which was much larger and better-equipped than the one at her house, to bake the three cakes she'd need for her entry. Jack was hoping to persuade her to set up a pan of cornbread and a pot of her steak-and-potato stew before she left.

Thermos in hand, Jack headed down to the stable, his boots kicking up the morning dew that'd be burnt off by eight. He had a mind to take a ride up to one of their two satellite paddocks and look in on things. Each of the paddocks had an on-site keeper, but he liked to let them know that he and Ennis were watching.

He headed to Chaparral's stall, thinking he'd check her leg wrappings while he was down here. Chappie was Junior's favorite horse, and Doc McGill was afraid she'd have to be put down with a bad leg. When Jack got to her stall, Junior was already there, sitting in the hay by Chappie's head and stroking the horse's neck. He leaned against the post, watching Junior's sad expression. She glanced up at him with a vague smile. "My girl's not doin' so good, Jack," she said.

"Her leg might just mend up yet."

"Daddy thinks she ought to be put down. He says she'll never be the same, and she'll probably always be hurting. I don't want her to suffer, but…" She sniffed. "I hate to think of it."

Jack came into the stall and squatted by Chappie's leg, putting his hand on the inflamed ligaments. They didn't feel warm, which was a good sign, but he couldn't tell any more than that. "I hate to think of it too," he said. "She's a good little horse."

Junior looked up at him. "What do you think?"

Jack flushed a little, ridiculously happy that she was asking his opinion. "I ain't no vet, Junior."

"You know more about horses than Daddy does."

"Who says?"

"He says."

Christ, two votes of confidence in ten seconds. I'm gonna get spoiled. He sighed. "I don't think you oughta put her down jus' yet," he said. "No harm in seein' how her leg mends. She might never be a workin' horse again, but she could still be ridden. It ain't like we got a waitin' list for space in the stable," he said, smiling.

Junior nodded, relieved. "That's just what I think." Jack sat down by Chappie's haunch and stroked her flank gently, feeling the animal's powerful muscles shiver under his hand. Junior was silent…too long silent. Jack looked up and saw her staring at his hand. His left hand, resting on the horse's side. But it wasn't the hand she was looking at, it was the ring. "That's a beautiful ring," she said, her voice carefully controlled. "I ain't never noticed it before."

Shit, Jack thought. That's 'cause I usually take it off when you visit. But this time, I forgot. "It's…uh…"

"My dad gave you that ring, didn't he?" Junior asked, cutting him off. Not that he had any idea what would have come out of his mouth if she hadn't.

Jack sighed, his shoulders sagging. "Yeah, he did."

Junior nodded slowly. Jack could see that she was trying very hard to accept this as normal and assimilate it into her idea of her father's life, but she was only half-succeeding. She shook her head, hard. "I don't know why I'm takin' on so," she said, dashing at one of her eyes. "It ain't like I didn't know that…you and him…you know."

"There's different kinds 'o knowin'," Jack said, choosing his words with care. "There's knowin' in theory, and then there's knowin' from having it shoved in your face." He hesitated. "I'm sure sorry, Junior. Usually I take it off when you're…"

She suddenly whipped her head around. "Don't you take that ring off, Jack! If my Daddy gave it to you, it must mean somethin' important. Don't you hide it from me, you hear?"

Jack twisted the ring on his finger. "It does mean somethin' important," he said, quietly.

They sat there for a few minutes, the silence weighty between them. Junior kept stroking Chappie's neck, the horse lying quiet and oblivious to the tension. Junior sniffed, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "So, what? Does this mean you're my stepdad now? I already got one, I got no use for another," she said.

"I'd just like to be your friend, Alma," Jack said. She looked around at his use of her given name. "Aren't we friends, you and me?"

She sighed. "I guess so. I mean, I want that too, for Daddy's sake if nothin' else, but it's hard sometimes."

"I know, sweetheart."

She was quiet for a long time. "You took him from me, Jack," she finally said, her voice barely louder than a whisper, her tone bearing not an accusation but only a statement of fact.

Jack felt like somebody was digging his heart out with a butter knife. "It ain't right," he said. "I never wanted to hurt you or your sister. I did the only thing I knew to do."

Junior was looking at him. "It wasn't safe back there, was it?" Jack just shook his head. "I know it wasn't. I know it's safer here. But for a long time I hated you."

"I know," Jack said. "I don't blame you." He met her eyes. "You're sayin' you don't now?"

She shrugged, lowering her eyes to Chappie's neck. "You make him happy," she murmured. "And that makes me happy."

Jack watched her profile. Sometimes he could see so much of Ennis in her that it made him ache. I wish you were ours, Junior. I wish I could be part of what you and him have. He took a deep breath, bracing himself. This young woman deserved to hear him say it, even if she already knew it. "I love your dad very much, you know," he said, managing barely more than a whisper.

Slowly, she nodded. "I know." She raised her head and met his eyes. "So do I." She stood up and brushed off her jeans. Jack got up and followed her out of Chaparral's stall. He thought she was going to head back to the house, but then she stopped and turned around to face him. "But what I've been thinkin' about is…I'm lucky. I'm his daughter," she said, a thoughtful expression on her face. "And everybody knows what that means. Everybody expects that I'll love him, and that he'll love me, because that's just how it's supposed to be. It's honored by the law and the church and all the social niceties. When he tells people I'm his daughter, everybody knows how to act, and what to say. I know people will smile, and think how nice it is to see a father and daughter so close and fond." She reached out and grasped his left hand, running her thumb over the ring her father had placed on his finger. She met his eyes and he saw hers misting over. "I can't imagine what it's like for you, because you don't have that. They don't even know what to call you, do they? No one recognizes it, no one honors it."

Keep it together, keep it together. "It'd be enough if you did, Junior."

She looked down at the ring for a few moments. "I don't know if I'll ever be all easy in my mind, Jack. I can't promise you that I'll ever be glad he met you." She raised her head. "But I'm awful glad that he's happy, and that's the truth. And I know that you and Daddy have had to fight for everything, and it ain't over yet. I just…" She looked away and blinked twice, hard. "I just don't want to be something else you have to fight." She met his eyes again. Jack felt his lower lip trembling and didn't bother to stop it. Junior smiled and held out her arms. Jack reached out and hugged her, pulling her tight to his chest, and felt her arms go around his neck.

"You don't know what that means to me, sweetheart," he said into her hair.

"Just you promise me you won't ever take that ring off again," she said. "That's my daddy's ring and don't you forget it," she said.

Jack laughed and drew back, sniffing and wiping at his eyes. "Okay, that's a promise. I hated taking it off, anyway." He slung one arm around her shoulders and walked her back towards the stable. "Hey, you game for a ride? I was gonna go check up on the north pasture. Whyn't you saddle up Clairie and come with me?"

Junior looked at him, wide-eyed. She loved to ride and only got to do so when she visited the ranch, but Ennis didn't like her going very far or very fast, and it was four miles to the north pasture. They'd be galloping most of the way. Jack knew she was horsewoman enough to handle it. Ennis was just paranoid. "Really? I can come with you?"

"If'n you want to."

"But…what if Daddy…"

"You let me worry about your dad, okay?"

Junior needed no further encouragement, and within ten minutes they were saddled up and on their way up the inner fenceline. "One thing, though," she said.

"What's that?"

She cocked one eyebrow. "Anytime you want to quit sneaking out to the stable after midnight is just fine with me."

Jack's stomach dropped down to his knees. "You…you know about that?"

"Couple of years ago I heard the door shut and figured what you were up to. And ever since then, every time I visit, all I can do is lie there and wait to hear the floorboards creak, wonderin' why it's such a big deal."

He chuckled. "Well, you wanna discuss that with your dad. I am staying out of it. But try not to let him know that you caught on, if'n you want him to live past lunchtime."

When they returned to the stable a few hours later, Ennis was there having his own look at Chappie. He walked out to the doors as they approached, smiling. Jack could see that it pleased him to see him and Junior out riding together, but he was trying to play it down. He held Clairie's bridle for Junior to dismount. "Good mornin', sweetheart," he said, kissing her cheek. "Have a nice ride?"

"Real nice, daddy."

Jack dismounted and took both horses' reins. "Mornin'," Ennis said to him, gruffly, avoiding Jack's eyes in front of his daughter.

"Mornin', cowboy."

Junior put her hands on her hips. "Now, Daddy. What kinda greetin' is that? Ain't you even got a good-mornin' kiss for your man?"

It took all the self-control Jack could muster not to bust out laughing at Ennis's face. He looked like he'd been sucker-punched. "A…a what?"

Jack handed the reins to Billy and took a step closer. "You heard the lady, Ennis."

"Well…I don't…what you…the hell?" Ennis spluttered.

Junior flapped her gloves at him. "What are you waiting for, the rapture? Go on!"

Ennis had turned an unflattering shade of fuchsia, but his thin lips were twitching in a way that might have been the start of a smile. He turned towards Jack, took one look back over his shoulder at Junior, who was just standing there with her arms crossed and an expectant look on her face, then leaned in and kissed Jack quickly. "Good mornin', rodeo," he said, in a gentler tone of voice.

Junior nodded. "That's better. Honestly, men are all the same. You'd think you was askin' em to walk over hot coals to show a little affection, like it'd kill them to hold your hand once in a damn while…" Her voice trailed off as she walked out of the stables towards the house.

Ennis rounded on Jack once she was gone. "Okay, what the holy fucking hell's going on around here this morning?"

Jack grabbed his arm and steered him to the bench by the groom's quarters. "I'll tell you, but you gotta sit down first. And lemme make sure I got my hanky, 'cause we both might be needin' it."

Liz had spent most of the morning in the ranch office, an isolated room past the kitchen. It was neat and well-furnished with two desks. Jack had told her that she was welcome to use Ennis's, as he never did so himself. "I do most of the paperwork 'round here," he explained. "Ain't nobody better'n Ennis at runnin' this place and organizing impossible amounts of work so's it all gets done, but when it comes to the numbers and figures, it's best left outta his hands."

So she'd set up her legal pads and a typewriter she'd borrowed from Fred Trimble and made herself a little workspace. The only thing missing was a telephone with someone on the other end telling her that she was past her deadline, and it was a welcome omission.

But she sure as hell wasn't going to miss meeting the mythical Marianne, the ranch's housekeeper. She'd been hearing about this Valkyrie-like figure all week and was anxious to find out how her expectations paired up with reality.

Her first clue that Marianne had arrived was the sound of Jack's boots slamming through the house as he ran from the back door to the front, shouting "She's back! She's back!" She knew by now that Jack could be as serious as the businessman he was or as squirrely as the boy he'd once been, and both versions of himself seemed at peace with each other inside his skin.

Liz got up and went into the living room just in time to see Marianne come through the front door. Jack picked her up and spun her around. "Put me down, Twisty," Marianne said, slapping at his shoulder and smiling as she did it. He did, grinning ear to ear. "You sure are glad to see me," she said. "Ennis make chili again?" Jack laughed, and went out to Marianne's car to bring in her baking supplies.

Marianne was not at all what Liz had been picturing. She'd imagined an older, matronly woman with arms muscled from lifting kids and loads of laundry, her face ruddy from the sun and her eyes wrinkled from smiling. The sort of country woman who made the world turn. In reality, Marianne was tiny, and young. Mid-twenties at most, younger than Liz herself. She had short, dark curly hair and a deadpan expression. She was wearing jeans and a plaid camp shirt. Her skin was not ruddy but tan, her face unlined, but her arms were, indeed, muscled. She spotted Liz and came right over to her. "You must be Lizzie, the reporter." She wasn't from around here. Her low-pitched voice had a flat Midwestern accent.

"Yes, I am. How did…"

"I spoke to Jack the other night, he told me all about your visit and your plans. I think it's admirable, what you're doing. I'm glad you're a sensible sort, and that you intend to keep their anonymity." Marianne spoke in even, declarative sentences as if her words were scripted, her eyes never leaving Liz's own. Liz felt pinned in place, a sense memory of standing before the assistant principle's desk making her want to behave herself. "I'd like to talk more about this book you mean to write at a later time. But you ought to know now that if you write anything against these men, anything that hurts them or causes them to be hurt, we'll have words."

Liz nodded, feeling usurped. She'd been the one ready to defend Jack and Ennis's privacy and dignity up until now, but this woman had a greater claim on them than she did, with her not-even-a-full-week's acquaintance. "I got it," she said.

Marianne's lips curled into a half-smile. "Good. Now come on, I have three cheesecakes to bake and you're going to help me." She seized Liz's arm and steered her into the kitchen. "Besides, if you all have been eating Ennis's cooking for the last week, I'd better lay in some decent food for you before I go off to the fair." she asked as they came into the kitchen.

To Jack's mind, Junior seemed ill-at-ease and nervous throughout lunch. Ennis kept eyeing her suspiciously. "You feelin' all right, Junior?" he finally asked, after Marianne brought them a plate of sugar cookies. Jack sent up another silent prayer of thanks for her return as he felt one of her cookies melt in his mouth.

She nodded, a bit too quickly. "I'm fine." Then, oddly, she and Liz exchanged a significant nod, like it was some kind of signal, and Liz got up and excused herself with some flimsy excuse. Not five seconds later, Junior straightened her back, took a deep breath, and spoke with determined confidence. "Daddy, Jack…I've got something I want to talk to you about." Jack looked at Ennis, whose puzzled expression masked his own. Junior folded her hands on the table and visibly steeled herself. "I can't go with you to the fair this afternoon," she said.

Ennis let out a breath. "Christ, is that all? You don't have t'go if'n you don't wanna, Junior."

"That isn't all, Daddy. The reason I can't go is that I have an appointment in Middlebury. At the admissions office of the Community College of Vermont." Jack felt a jolt pass up his spine as his mind jumped ahead to what Junior had to be suggesting. She couldn't be, it was too good to be true. Ennis was staring at her with a gobsmacked expression on his face. Junior sighed. "Daddy…I want to start there in the fall. I got pretty good grades, and you always said I had a good head on my shoulders. 'Bout time I put it some use, don't you think? I want to move out here and learn how the ranch runs. You can teach me that. I can get a business degree, and I can help you run this place."

Ennis looked at him again as if he had the answers, then back at his daughter. "Junior…are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious!" she exclaimed. "Haven't you thought about the future, Daddy? Have either of you thought about it? You guys won't live forever, and you sure as hell aren't going to have any kids! Who's going to take over this place when you're gone?" Her voice softened. "Who's going to be here to take care of you when you're old? Who's going to make sure that what you built here together goes on, and doesn't die with you?"

Jack had thought about it, frequently, although he and Ennis had never discussed it. Presumably they'd sell the place once they became unable to run it themselves…but that was so cold, so impersonal. In his wild flights of fancy he and Ennis somehow raised a child themselves and passed the business on to them, but barring a cooperative surrogate or an insanely open-minded adoption agency that wasn't going to happen. "Sweetheart," Ennis said, controlling himself with visible effort. "This is a real big decision, and I cain't imagine that you've…"

"I've been thinkin' about this a long time, Daddy." She shook her head. "I need to get out of Riverton. Ain't nothin' there for me but a bunch of roughnecks sniffing around like dogs on the scent. I see the life ahead, and I don't much like it. Marry some guy, get a crappy house, have some kids, just exist from day to day, livin' hand to mouth and never enough for a new dress or a nice dinner. I've been comin' out here for years, and…well, I've seen what else there is. You guys made somethin' of yourselves, and I can do it to." She sighed. "I can't hardly stand it there no more, Daddy. Me 'n Bill fight all the time. He says I think too well 'o myself, and Mamma don't never back me up."

"What's she think 'o your plans?" Ennis asked.

"She says I'm of age and I can do as I like." She sniffed. "Sometimes I think she'd be glad to have the extra room in the house." She looked up at Ennis with apprehension. "But she warned me that…well, that you might not want me here all the time. You might not want the trouble. She says you prob'ly like your privacy." The fact that Alma could think such a thing made Jack wonder how they'd stayed married for a single year, let alone twelve.

Ennis reached out and clasped Junior's hand in both of his. "She thought I might not want you here?" he repeated, aghast. "You know how often I've wished to have you and Francie close by? I never thought of wishin' to have you here, that seemed to far-fetched even for a wish. I never…" He stopped and cut his eyes away. Jack laid a hand on his shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze. Ennis got himself under control and turned back to his daughter. "You girls are the only thing missin' in my life, Junior. If you're serious, and you really want to come live here, then…all I wanna know is when you're movin'."

Junior smiled. "Really?" She cut her eyes to Jack, who could only grin and nod, not trusting himself to speak just yet. The one thing he couldn't give Ennis was his daughters back, and if Junior meant to do for Ennis what Jack could not, then she'd have Jack's eternal gratitude. "It's really okay?"

Ennis's eyes were fixed on their joined hands. He swallowed hard. "Havin' my little girl home is more'n okay. It'd be my honor, sweetheart."

He and Junior just smiled at each other for a few beats, then Junior flinched. "Oh my, I gotta be in Middlebury in an hour. Can I take one of the trucks?"

"The trucks'r both stick shifts, honey, and I know you cain't drive one."

Jack stood up and went to the pegboard by the back door. He plucked a fob off a ring of keys and tossed it to Junior without a second thought. "Here," he said. "Take the Mercedes, honey. It's an automatic."

Junior got up, giggling. "My, won't I be fancy pulling up to that admissions office? They'll wonder what a rich girl like me's doing at CCV." She started to head out to the living room.

"Junior?" Ennis said, quietly. She paused and turned back. Ennis rose from the table and went to stand before her. Junior smiled up at her father as he put a hand on her shoulder, then pulled her into a tight embrace. Jack lurked nearby, feeling an interloper, but then Junior reached out to himand pulled him in. Jack felt one of her arms go around his back, and then one of Ennis's, and he was there. He was in the circle, their family circle. Our family circle, he corrected himself, blinking back tears.

After a few moments Junior pulled back. She kissed Ennis's cheek and then Jack's. "I'll be back this evening," she said. "If I get back early enough I'll come by the fair."

"You knock 'em dead, sweetheart," Ennis said. "Drive safe, now."

"I will!" Liz heard her call back. "I'll be real careful with your car, Jack!"

"Oh, why don't you leave the keys in it?" Jack called. "Maybe someone'll steal it, and I can use the insurance money to get a Jeep or somethin'."

Silence fell in the breakfast nook as the door shut behind Junior. Jack watched Ennis's face, seeing the emotions there only by virtue of years of practiced observation. Ennis fetched a deep, shaky sigh. Jack reached out for his hand and Ennis immediately extended it, gripping Jack's fingers tightly. "My little girl, rodeo," Ennis murmured. He turned towards Jack, his eyes welling up. Jack raised one hand to Ennis's face, stroking his thumb across his cheek, then pulled Ennis into his arms. He came easily, folding himself against Jack's chest. "I cain't believe it," he said, the words muffled against Jack's shoulder.

Jack held him for a few moments, until Ennis pulled back and met his eyes, frowning. "It's okay with you, ain't it?"

Jack goggled at him. How could Ennis think that this would be a problem for him? "Ennis, the hell? Of course it is! I think it's perfect, it's the best thing that coulda happened!"

Ennis grasped his shoulders. "Look here, Jack. I know how you think. This don't mean that now it'll be me and Junior all family-like, and you sort of taggin' along." He blinked a few times and hugged Jack again, fiercely, his hands gripping big handfuls of Jack's shirt. "This is gonna be our family now, see? You 'n me and Junior. That's how it is, y'hear me, darlin'?"

Jack nodded, squeezing Ennis tighter. Junior's efforts to bridge the gap between herself and Jack this morning now made a lot more sense in context, if she'd known she was going to be proposing this.

Ennis drew back and kissed Jack once, then twice. "Jack fuckin' Twist," he murmured, shaking his head like he still couldn't believe they were both here, and that this was all really happening. Jack knew the feeling. "Well, enough makin' out in the breakfast nook," he said, heading out to the kitchen with a parting swat to Jack's behind. "You best get the lead out, rodeo. They expectin' you at the fairgrounds in half an hour."

Jack flinched, looking at his watch. "Oh, shit," he muttered, and took off running towards the front door.

Marianne was very, very particular about where the curled strips of lemon rind were to be placed on her inevitably prize-winning cheesecakes. Liz bent over the last one, a curl of rind held in tweezers, inching it towards the cake's smooth surface like an astronaut trying to dock a spaceship. "Good," Marianne said, her first word of praise in two hours.

Liz exhaled, sitting back. The cakes were, indeed, beautiful. "I'm sure you'll win," she said.

Marianne shrugged. "They'll taste as good whether I do or not. Well, we'd best wash up, it'll be time to head out pretty soon."

Liz brought some of the baking dishes to the sink, pausing to look at a few framed photos on a wall-mounted shelf near the breakfast nook. She saw several of the girls, and one of a boy with Jack's smile who had to be Bobby. There was one of Jack and Ennis with a large, gleaming horse. Ennis was holding the reins, Jack standing at his side, both smiling broadly. Jack was wearing a strappy t-shirt, his arms bare, and Liz bent closer. "Marianne?"

"Yeah?"

"What's this?"

Marianne came to look at what Liz was pointing at. It was a horizontal ridge of scar tissue on Jack's left bicep. "Oh, that. They didn't tell you that story?"

"No."

"Well, I'll do the honors. I was actually with them when that happened, so I can give you a firsthand account." She motioned for Liz to join her at the sink, talking as she washed and Liz dried. "This was…oh, two years ago. I'd been working here for a year. Rory Duchamp has some wild land on his property, he'd invited the boys to come over and shoot some grouse. I went along, because no one at Rory's knows how to dress a bird decently. At the time, we had a groom called Souter. Stupidest boy to ever walk the earth, but he was a decent enough groom. He fancied himself a marksman and asked to come along, so Ennis said okay." Marianne paused to heft a large mixing bowl onto the drying towel. She turned around and leaned against the sink, her eyes downcast, visualizing the story she was telling.

"Anyway, we got over to Rory's and headed out. I stuck with Ennis, mostly. Jack was about fifty yards away, and that damn fool kid was all over the place. I could tell he was making Ennis nervous, the way he was slinging that gun around. Anyone who really knows about guns always respects them, and he didn't. Well, the dogs scared a whole flock of grouse out of the brush and Souter just went nuts. Didn't hit anything, of course, but he took one more shot at it. He tracked one last bird, a low-flying one, and got a bead on it. Trouble was, he was so intent on the bird that he didn't see he was aiming straight at Jack."

Liz's eyes went wide. "He shot him?"

"Ennis saw where he was pointing that gun just a split second before he pulled the trigger. No time to get Souter to hold his fire, so he just yelled for Jack to get down. Too late. Souter fired, and I saw Jack jerk backwards and fall on the ground." Liz watched Marianne's face, riveted. Marianne raised her head and looked at her. "You know, some people who think they know better say that what they feel isn't as good as what men and women feel. They say it isn't the same, it doesn't deserve to be treated the same." She pursed her lips. "Maybe I even said so, once upon a time. But no one would ever say that if they'd seen the expression on Ennis's face when he thought Jack was shot." She crossed her arms over her chest. "I've never seen such a look of horror on anyone, not before or since. And the way he screamed his name…I can still hear it, in my head. It was awful, just awful." Marianne seemed to shake herself out of her reverie and continued. "Anyway, he took off running so fast that his hat flew right off his head. Souter saw what he'd done and he fainted dead away. I ran after Ennis, and when we got to Jack he was already sitting up. His sleeve was bloody, but he was okay. Madder than a hornet's nest, but okay. For a second, I thought Ennis was going to throw up. He sat down on the ground and put his head down for a minute until he got himself pulled together, then he tore Jack's sleeve to bandage the wound. The bullet just grazed his arm, the wound was barely a quarter inch deep. But it was too close. That kid damn near killed him, and you can bet that he was fired that same day, with extreme prejudice." Marianne took a breath. "And that is the story of Jack's scar, the end."

Liz smiled. "I bet you have a lot of stories about them."

"I have a few." She turned back to the sink and pulled out the flatware. "Good news about Junior. I suspected she might be planning something like this."

"Really?"

"Last few times she's visited, she's asked me a lot of questions about the ranch, and how it runs. And I think she's been trying extra hard to make her peace with her daddy's personal life. When she moves here, she'll have to face the reality of it day in and day out, and I think she's been preparing herself. Sharing the same roof, she wouldn't be able to keep up that fantasy of how her daddy lives here with his close, personal friend, and that they share a bedroom just to cut down on the laundry."