He Married My Best Friend While I Gave Birth, So I Left novel · Chapter 6 of 36

Chapter 6: What Byron Owes

Brady's car was gone by the time Byron opened the door.

There was nobody on the porch except a cold wind and one white rose on the step.

Byron picked it up between two fingers and dropped it in the trash.

I sat at the kitchen table until dawn with Poppy on my shoulder, and I did not ask again.

At six he came in from the first round of chores with frost on his jacket.

"You can ask now," he said.

"What do you owe him?"

He poured coffee before he answered.

"Three years ago, the blight took half the trees," he said. "The bank called my loan. My mother's company bought the note and kept it."

"Angell Orchards holds your loan."

"Eleanor holds my loan. It's forty acres, the house and the cider barn. Every payment goes to her."

I set my cup down.

"So when Brady says you owe him."

"He means the land," said Byron. "He wants me to send you back to Alder Street with the baby. He says if I do, the note gets forgiven. If I don't, she calls it."

"When was he going to tell me?"

"Neither of us was going to tell you," said Byron.

"I'm not a child."

"You had a baby three days ago, and your husband changed the locks."

"I'm not a child, Byron."

He looked at me then.

"No," he said. "You're not."

"Why didn't you say yes? It's dirt, and it's a barn."

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