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“No”

He said it so quietly she thought she’d iined it “Did you just say no?”

“You never shoulda married that Indian Everyone knew that And you never should have let hiraced us”

Vivi Ann listened in disbelief “You don’t mean this”

“I do”

“Is that how you take care of Moarden?”

He looked up at her “What did you say?”

“All my life I made excuses for you, told Win and Aurora that Mom’s death broke you, but it isn’t true, is it? You’re not who I thought you were at all”

“Yeah, well, neither are you”

Vivi Ann got to her feet “You told me the old stories a million times, made me proud to be a Grey You should have warned me it was all a lie”

“He’s not a Grey,” Dad said

Vivi Ann was leaving, at the door, when she turned around to say, “Neither am I Not anymore I’m a Raintree”

Vivi Ann walked up the hill toward her cabin At the barn, she stopped, unable to keepThe ranch she loved so much was still and cold; winter-bare trees lined the driveway, looking stark and lonely against the gray skies and brown fields She could see a few dying leaves still clinging stubbornly to their places on the branches, but soon they’d be gone, too, let go One by one they’d turound, where they would slowly fade to black and die

She felt like one of those lonely leaves right now, realizing suddenly, fearfully, that there was no group around her She’d clung to so that wasn’t solid after all

Without her father, she didn’t even knoho she ho she was supposed to be She walked into the cold, dark barn and turned on the lights The horses iet her attention She didn’t pass the stalls slowly or with care For once she walked straight to Cle inside The fresh layer of sals cushioned her steps, made her feel absurdly buoyant