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Montana’s "

"Not my finest moment, but yes There were soood?" Montana asked sympathetically

"Worse It wasn’t his He’d stolen my idea Unlike hi about it It’s hoork through proble I was going to do He had taken the entire story, changed the na a word"

Liz still re but a rushing sound She’d wondered if there was so Because what she’d been reading hadn’t made sense It couldn’t The man she’d said she would love forever, the man she’d promised to marry couldn’t possibly have taken her work for his own There had to be a mistake

Montana swore softly "What did you do?"

"I tried to convince ot mad I waited until he was home and I confronted hiood idea isn’t enough His editor had hated the book and told Ryan they wouldn’t be publishing him anymore Ryan was furious He bla and had tricked hi a story that didn’t work He said it wasn’t fair That he had the actual talent I was nothing but a hack, yet I had all the success"

She still re

"He’d never been interested in me beyond what I could do for his career He’d lied about nearly everything, especially how he felt about ood news is he moved away after that and my recovery was fairly quick Apparently I wasn’t as in love with hiht"

But it had been one more illustration of the lesson thatas delicate as a woman’s heart

"How did Tyler take it?" Montana asked

"It turns out my son had never much liked Ryan but he hadn’t told me because he wanted me to be happy Which makes me about the luckiesthio"

"I kno you feel"

"And kill that Ryan jerk Want ive Ethan his name so he can beat him up?"

Liz shook her head "Probably best if Ethan doesn’t hear the story at all" She didn’t need hiht But still I hope he’s punished in some way"

"I suspect Ryan will be unhappy for h for ives writers a bad na your scholarship to students ant to be writers That would be very cool"

"What are you talking about?"

"Your scholarship Okay, it’s not yours, but it’s nae"

If they’d been drinking alcohol, Liz would have thought Montana was drunk But it was the middle of the day and they’d only had lattes "I don’t have a scholarship at the college"

"Sure you do It was set up a while ago I don’t know all the details, but it was started with the scholarship you didn’t use"

Liz stared at her blankly "The scholarship?" Nothing about this h school Remember?"

"Sure But I left"

"Exactly Someone had the idea to use that as seed iven to women who have faced hardship--financial or personal I know because I looked into applying You really don’t know about this?"

"No"

"You should talk to the college They can explain the details"

"I will," Liz assured, thinking that Montana had to be wrong Who would have started a scholarship in her nae in her hand and was s at a very excited clerk in the ade fans," the older woman told her "I can’t believe you’re really here We read all your books"

"Thanks," Liz said "Can you tellread Betty Higgins, frowned "I would have thought soe Anyhen you left toithout using your scholarshipit to another student But then several people ca the amount and we realized we could ift"

Betty glanced around as if to make sure they were alone and lowered her voice "I o, but heard all about your sad story How your mama, God rest her soul, wasn’t exactly s about you Apparently h tiether Your scholarship is one of ourit, but for the wo students Woive the"

Talk about too ht, her head spinning

She remembered the scholarship she’d been offered and how she’d planned to use the e She and Ethan had spent the suether on a university ca her and she’d taken off She’d never given thewas impossible

That much she could handle, but Betty’s claim that people had known about her circuesture of donating while the rest of her wondered where they’d been when she’d been young and alone A kind word back then would have ht

"Thanks for the information," she said

"You’re welcome" Betty smiled "This is such a thrill I can’t wait to tell everyone Iour reception in a feeeks For the recipients Can you come?"

"I, ah…"

"It’s only for an hour or so I know those women would appreciate the chance to thank you in person"

"I didn’t do anything," Liz countered "I’"

"You’re an inspiration In fact, two of the women wrote about you for their essays How you started with nothing and made yourself a success Why don’t I send you an invitation and you can think about it?"

"Um, sure" Liz cleared her throat "Thank you"