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than he did working... She’d gotten used to having little money to buy necessities, to selling family heirlooms she’d brought into the marriage just to make ends meet. Fortunately, her husband didn’t mind providing for them through things like hunting and fishing, and was fairly good at both tasks. And Daisy had worked hard at keeping a vegetable garden. So they hadn’t ever gone hungry, at least.
    She’d thought he would change when she’d succeeded at giving him a son, naming him after his father. Wasn’t that what every man wanted, a son to carry on his name and his legacy? And for a time William Henderson was a better man—made an effort to be a good husband and father—but eventually Billy Joe’s existence only gave him another person on whom to take out his frustrations. On his good days, he was a neglectful and uncaring parent, showing no interest in his son’s activities. And on his bad days, well... She’d done her best to put herself between William and Billy Joe, to shield her son to the best of her abilities, but when her boy had gotten older, he’d turned protective of her in turn. And there hadn’t been much a little boy could do to stop a grown man other than try to draw William’s attention to himself.
    Through it all, she’d kept silent about her troubles, for she’d been raised to believe a lady didn’t air her dirty laundry outside the family. Caroline Wallace, Billy Joe’s schoolteacher and Daisy’s friend, had suspected the boy was being abused when she’d been hired by the town two years ago, but it wasn’t until Daisy’s husband had gotten involved in that horrible plot to kidnap Caroline that William Henderson’s true character had come to light for everyone in Simpson Creek.
    To her relief, the townspeople had known Daisy wasn’t responsible for or in any way complicit with her husband’s misdeeds. They’d realized that she feared her husband, with good cause, and had given her a sum of money to resettle herself and her son elsewhere if she wanted so her husband couldn’t find them when he was released from jail. But since he’d been killed in a prison riot long before his sentence was up, moving away hadn’t been necessary. Determined to make her own way, Daisy had used only a small portion of the money she’d been given, leaving the rest hidden away in case of an emergency, so it would last as long as possible.
    â€œI... I’m sorry,” Thorn murmured. “I didn’t mean to make you sad.”
    She hadn’t even noticed the tears that had escaped her stinging eyes, but now she felt their wetness streaking down her cheeks. Embarrassed that she’d given in to weakness in front of this near stranger, Daisy reached for the handkerchief she kept in one of the deep pockets in her skirt and dabbed at her face.
    Darting a glance at Thorn, she saw the awkward expression he wore. Men hated women’s tears—her husband had told her so often enough. He’d sneered when he’d told her that women cried for no reason other than to manipulate their menfolk. How could she have been so careless to have let Thorn— Mr. Dawson , Daisy reminded herself—see her cry? Would he think she was trying to manipulate him? No, surely not. It wasn’t as if Thorn was hers , and therefore someone she could persuade to do as she pleased, even if she’d wanted to. And she didn’t, of course. Besides, what could she even ask of him? All she wanted was for him to recover his health and go on his way, without ruining her reputation in the process.
    â€œWhy’s my mother crying? Did you make her cry? ” an angry young voice demanded.
    Neither of them had heard Billy Joe come into the barn. Her face flooding with guilty heat, Daisy flinched away from Thorn as if her son had caught them in an embrace, although naturally nothing could have been further