LITMIR.BIZ

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and never let go, she stopped short when she saw Alexis tighten her arms around Chloe protectively. Pain arced through Renee but she didn’t want to push the girls too fast. Taking Alexis’s lead, she moved to the chair closest to them and took a seat.

      “How about some cookies and tea?” Mrs. Stemming broke in with a modicum of manners though there was no warmth directed at Renee in those bright, alert eyes. Renee was tempted to tell her to stick her cookies where the sun didn’t shine but she held her tongue in the interest of playing nice. When Gladys spoke again, Renee was glad she’d remained quiet. “Taylor and I made a fresh batch of gingersnaps this morning and they’re mighty good,” she said, sending a genuine smile to Taylor who returned it tentatively.

      Although mildly allergic to ginger Renee smiled and nodded. If suffering through hives was the price she had to pay to win her daughters’ love back, she’d eat an entire batch of gingersnaps and risk anaphylactic shock for the privilege. “I’d love some.”

      But Alexis wasn’t going to let her off that easy. “She hates gingersnaps,” Alexis said, her mouth forming a hard line.

      “I don’t hate them, Lexie,” Renee gently corrected. “I’m slightly allergic but I’d love to try Taylor’s cookies.”

      “Whatever.”

      Renee drew back at the flippant sarcasm in Alexis’s voice and her hopes for a happy reunion sank to the bottom of her heart. Gladys looked to Renee for direction and she gave her a weak smile. “I’d still love to try the cookies.”

      “Are you sure?” Gladys asked, uncertainty etched into her expression, no doubt from the fear that Renee might fall over dead from a simple cookie.

      “It’ll be fine,” Renee assured her. “Promise.”

      Gladys left the room and Renee sought a safe subject to fill the empty air. “Tell me what you’ve been doing lately. I want to hear all about your adventures. I’ve missed out on so much. I have a lot to catch up on. Taylor, sweetheart, why don’t you start?”

      But before Taylor could open her mouth, Alexis started talking. The anger in her young voice fairly vibrated her body as she spoke.

      “What do you wanna know?”

      Renee faltered, not quite sure how to talk to this angry stranger. “Anything, honey. I want to hear about everything,” she said, her gaze darting to Taylor, hoping for some help from her little chatterbox, but she received none. Taylor remained quiet and wide-eyed, waiting for a cue from her sister on how to act. “Taylor?” she prompted but Alexis shut her down before she could say a word.

      “You really wanna know or are you just trying to play like you care?” Alexis said, her gaze hot.

      Renee drew back, stung. “Of course I want to know. And I do care.”

      Alexis smirked, the expression on her young face entirely too mature for her actual age of nine and a half. “Okay. Daddy’s been trying to kill Chloe by giving her rat poison. He put her outside in the rain when she peed the bed and he used to hit her with his belt until he broke her bones. Do you wanna see the bruises?” Renee could only stare in shock. Alexis shrugged. “You asked. Oh, and I’m a year behind in school because Daddy moved us around too much. And Taylor gets nightmares. Are we done catching up?”

      Without waiting for Renee’s answer—not that she could’ve mustered one—Alexis rose with Chloe still in her arms and stalked from the room, calling for Taylor to follow. Alexis whirled before exiting, her blue eyes blazing. “And stop calling me Lexie. I hate that name and I never want to hear it again.”

      Tears sprang to Renee’s eyes and she didn’t care that the old bat was watching as she let her head sink into her hands. She was a fool to think that Lexie—no, Alexis—would ever forgive her. And rightly so. Who was she to even ask for forgiveness when her children had suffered so much?

      “She’s a smart girl,” she heard the old woman say, then crunch into a cookie, presumably the gingersnaps she’d offered earlier. “She’s not one to eat up bullshit, if you know what I mean.”

      She did. Lifting her head, she eyed the woman. “You’re no expert on my daughter after spending a few days with her. I’d appreciate if you kept your opinions to yourself,” Renee said, standing stiffly.

      Gladys shrugged. “Doesn’t seem like you’re much of an expert, either, and you’ve been around her for at least some of those nine years she’s been on this planet, so I’d watch where you’re slinging that attitude of yours,” Gladys said before finishing the rest of her cookie.

      “I know my daughter,” Renee retorted, her cheeks heating but her heart ached privately. What Alexis said…Renee would never have guessed that Jason would have been capable of hurting Chloe. Never even imagined, though she should’ve figured with his more recent drug history. He’d become unpredictable. She struggled to keep her voice calm. “She’s smart. She’ll come around.”

      “Maybe.” The older woman nodded, then bit into another cookie. “If she thinks you deserve a second chance.”

      “She will. I’m her mother.”

      “Don’t get your dander up. I’m just saying she’s a smart girl and if you don’t blow it by cutting out on them again, she’ll likely loosen up. Kids are more forgiving than adults.”

      “Thanks.” The word was difficult against her lips but she sensed this woman was not her enemy even if she wasn’t her friend. She blew out a breath and rolled her shoulders to release the tension building behind her blades. “How are they doing?”

      “Good as to be expected I guess. You might want to talk with John, though. He’s got all the details you’re probably looking for. I just bake and keep them occupied when John has to tend to the horses.”

      Renee smiled softly, thinking of how Taylor must love being around the horses. “Does Taylor get to see the horses?”

      “Oh, yes, that one is hard to keep out of the stables. John lets her help him feed them in the morning, though I suspect when he gets them enrolled in school, she’s going to put up a fuss when she can’t hang around the barn all day.”

      Alarm spiked through Renee. “School? He’s enrolling them in school? Here?”

      Gladys looked nonplussed. “Well, of course, here. Where else? They have to go to school. It’s the law. It’s bad enough that riffraff of a father dragged them from one place to another with no thought as to how they’d get an education, but the judge was adamant that they get enrolled right away. The only reason they’re not enrolled yet is because of some hiccup with Alexis’s transcripts.”

      She supposed that made sense but enrolling them in school suggested permanence and she didn’t want the girls to think they were staying any longer than the court order required. And the fact that the judge wanted them enrolled didn’t bode well for a quick resolution in Renee’s estimation. “Where is the school here?”

      “Well, the high school kids get bused to Emmett’s Mill or Coldwater but there’s an elementary school just down the road a bit that the local country kids go to. That’s where they’ll go.”

      “Is it a good school?”

      Gladys smiled proudly. “One of the best. It’s not big on fancy things like new computers but the teachers are warmhearted and the classes are small. The girls will fit in right away. Don’t you worry.”

      “My girls are strong. They’d fit in anywhere,” she bluffed, only hoping that was true. The truth was, as Gladys had already pointed out, she didn’t know her girls at all.

      But, as her gaze drifted out the front window to the arena where John was working with a horse, she aimed to rectify that no matter what—or who—stood in her way.

      Chapter Five

      JOHN CROSSED HIS ARMS across his chest and stared. “You want

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