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"You’re not going to tell him, are you?" she asked

"Tell him what?" the Painted Man asked

"That you’re his son," Renna said "That you’re alive and well and you forgive hi hiiveness in your eyes?"

"You knoho I am?" he asked, surprised

"Course I know!" Renna snapped "Ent stupid, no matter what everyone thinks Hoould you’ve known about my da and what he done, you weren’t Arlen Bales? Hoould you know Cobie was a bully, or which farht, you strolled around the cupboards like it was still your house!"

"Din’t mean for anyone to know," the Painted Man said, suddenly realizing that his Brook accent, which he’d dropped while living in Miln, had returned It was an old Messenger’s trick to put folk in the ha accent to match theirs He had done it a hundred ti the trick since he left and was finally speaking in his own voice again

Renna kicked him hard in the shin He yelped in pain

"That’s for thinkin’ I din’t know, and not sayin’ anythin’!" she shouted, shoving him so hard he fell into the pile of hay at the back of the stall "Fourteen suht you’d come back for me We was promised But you din’t coonna just stop in and leave thinkin’ no one knew!" She kicked at hi to put Twilight Dancer between theht, of course The saht he could look in on his old life without touching it, like ree to see if the wound underneath had healed But truer was he had left those wounds to fester, and it was time they were bled

"Five minutes’ talk between our das don’t make us promised, Ren," he said

"I asked my da to talk to Jeph," Renna said "I told you as promised then, and I said the words on the porch at sunset the day you left That makes it so"

But the Painted Man shook his head "Sayin’ so at sunset doesn’t ot a say that night but me"

Renna looked at him, and there were tears in her eyes "Maybe you din’t," she conceded, "but I did It was the only thing I ever done that was really onna take it back I knee kissed, that as meant to be"

"But you’d haveto keep some bitterness from his voice, "who used to beat on me with his friends"

"You fixed ’em for that," Renna said "Cobie was always nice tothe necklace she wore "Din’t even know you were alive, and I needed to get away…"

He put his hand on her shoulder "I know, Ren Din’twhat you did Just h life doing e think’s best"

She looked at hio with you when you leave That’s what I think’s best"