Page 32 of The Pumpkin Patch Promise

“I did. Thank you, Nell. I really appreciate it.”

Nell nodded and slipped a hand into her wool coat pocket and produced a small tin.

“Lemon drop?”

Prue laughed softly. “You always have those.”

“Of course I do.”

Nell held one out to her before taking one herself.

Prue accepted it and rested her forearm against the smooth cedar railing. Below them, local craftswomen were beginning to pack away their hand-carved wooden displays and herbal soaps after a remarkably successful day.

Nell watched the activity for a moment.

“You've done a good job today, Prue.”

“Thank you.”

“I mean it.” Nell turned toward her. “You were everywhere. Solving problems before they became problems, talking to people, making decisions. You can be proud of yourself.”

Prue smiled. “I had a lot of help.”

“You did.” Nell's gaze moved briefly toward Sam. “But you were the one running the show.”

Sam smiled but said nothing.

Nell looked back at Prue. “Your mother would have liked seeing this.”

Prue's fingers tightened slightly around the thermos.

“She would?”

“I think she would.” Nell gave her a small smile. “Not because everything went perfectly. Rosalind never expected that. She'd be proud because you were here, doing it your way.”

The mention of her mother's name stirred up complicated feelings for Prue. She looked down at her thermos, turning it slowly between her fingers. Nell didn't press her. She simply took another lemon drop from the tin and looked out across the farmyard with her.

Prue turned to face Nell, her posture straight and her voice calm, clear, and devoid of lingering anger.

“I appreciate that, Nell,” Prue said gently. “And I do want to believe my mother would be proud. But knowing that doesn't erase what happened. It doesn’t change the fact that she kept secrets. Not just secrets about the sanctuary, but about one of us.”

“I assume you haven’t received the results of the DNA test yet?” Nell asked.

“No,” Prue said. “But we’re expecting to get them any day now.”

Nell nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“We spent years not knowing the truth about what was really happening on the farm,” Prue continued. “And now we find out that one of us wasn’t really Rosalind’s daughter. That's not something a kind thought can fix. Being protected by secrets has left us with a lot of questions.”

In her heart, Prue knew that she was the odd one out. The one who had been taken in. She couldn’t shake the feeling no matter how hard she tried. Nell absorbed her words without defensiveness. She closed her small candy tin with a soft click and slipped it back into her coat pocket.

“You're right,” she said. “Absolutely right.”

Prue looked at her, surprised.

“Keeping secrets doesn't stop the burden,” Nell continued. “It only passes it on to someone else. And sometimes the person who inherits the secret has no idea what they're carrying.”

Prue glanced toward the darkened fields.