"Your mother's in an awful place," Dad tells me in Italian when we finally connect via phone. Fortunately, we arrived home to find we have power again and didn't have to dig out the generator.

"I'm sure she is, but we can't give in to Franklin's demands, Dad," I say firmly in English, moving quickly around the kitchen to put groceries away and dispel the anger I can feel building again, "They're totally illegal, you know that, right?"

"Yes, I know," he says sadly, sounding like he's opening the screen door to go into the backyard.

"He's probably had Pamela place some of those stories already regardless of what he told Mom," I continue, realizing in exasperation I'm going to need to reorganize the fridge to fit everything, even with what Rune already took next door.

"He did," Dad switches back to English, "I've found three stories on small gossip sites already."

"Crap," I sigh, shutting the fridge and picking up my phone, "Which ones?"

"You think it's Pamela doing this for him?" Dad asks, sounding dismayed as he texts me the links.

"We know it is. We ran into her in Lake Crescent; she was trying to convince Gunnar's fiancée to let Lorelie be involved in a reality show."

"Porca miseria," Dad swears, as I start clicking through to the stories, "finding out Pamela's a part of this might send your mother over the edge."

Sure enough, there we are. The shot on the first site is of Rune, Lorelei, and I walk into the lodge in the rain. Fortunately, only Rune and I are recognizable. Rune is successfully blocking Lorelie from the camera, so only a bit of her bright hair is visible.

"Dad, Mom has to go to the police," I say emphatically, skimming the first article. It says exactly what Franklin threatened: Former TV millennial heartthrob Asher Dillion is in a custody battle with his cousin Gunnar over the secret daughter he had with a fan. Crap, crap, crap. I'm not sure if I'm relieved or annoyed I haven't been named.

"I'm working on it," Dad says, breaking into my distracted thoughts, "But she insists Franklin has something else on her that will completely destroy her reputation right as she's having this big career renaissance."

"Isn't this her being dramatic? The career renaissance hasn't actually happened yet," I say bluntly, thinking Rune, Gunnar, Syd, and I have many more years of career-life ahead of us to be destroyed than Mom does.

"I hear you Shelby, but I don't think it is," he says, "I'm not going to be able to fly up this weekend as planned to help Sydney and Nils get settled. I'm afraid she might hurt herself if I leave her alone. She's really spiraling. I'm trying to get her to go to the doctor."

"Okay," I say, feeling frightened and defeated, "Keep us posted."

My mother is dramatic, but I don't remember my dad ever sounding this worried about her.

You've got to find the key to open that drawer, darling, Theo says faintly in my head.

We need you to tell me where it is! I exclaim out loud.

Look in the bookcase, he tells me, find the key book.

I race into the office and start pulling out books systematically, one after another, looking for whatever a key book is. It must be one of those fake books that you put valuables in. But all of these books are real. Nor are there any keys stuck underneath them, or under them, or inside them that I can see. Crap, crap, crap. I've gotten rid of so many books. I probably sent the key book to the Good Will without even realizing it was one. I'm about to run next door to find Rune when he finds me sitting on the office floor replacing all the books I already pulled out.

"Any news from the hardware store yet?" I ask.

"They'll have a bunch of antique skeleton keys for us to pick up in the morning around ten," he tells me.

"I'm not sure we can wait that long," I grimace, as I get up and go back into the kitchen to wash my dusty hands, "How hard would it be to cut into that cabinet?"

"I have no idee. I wouldn't want to take it on until Gunnar gets here," Rune says, making himself a coffee.

"Okay," I say shortly, turning the oven on to 400 degrees.

"What's going on?" he asks, clearly perplexed as I start rapidly taking carrots, green beans, and beets out of the fridge, "I thought we were going to focus on Horse Girls and get that pre-funding letter done."

"We are," I say tersely, "but I need to cook while we do it. We'll have all these people in the house for the weekend, and I need to do something active."

"Okay…" Rune says carefully, raising his hands, "Would a walk be a better idea? It's not raining now."

"We can do that later," I say, not as sharp but firm, as I empty a large bag of green beans into a metal colander and run water over them. "My mom's in such a bad place right now. My dad's afraid to leave her alone."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"She won't go to the police?" Rune asks, getting out a couple of cutting boards and knives.

"Not yet," I say, making sure the beans are clean so I can chop them up and toss them in oil.

"Shells," Rune says soothingly, squeezing the back of my neck lightly, "slow down, and take a deep breath," I turn the water off, close my eyes and do what he says, letting my shoulders drop as I do.

"I want to be mad at her," I say, willing myself not to cry, "I don't want to be worried about her when we've got the rest of us to worry about."

"It's okay to be both," he says as I turn into him and wrap my arms around him, resting my head against his shoulder, "Let me call my dad and see if he has some advice," Rune tells me, "And then we'll cook and work on that letter."

**

Rune's phone call is fruitful. His father's willing to swing into action and offer my parents advice; thankfully my dad's willing to listen. Whether my mom will or not remains to be seen. But I'm not going to take on that responsibility. I'm going to keep my head down and cook.

Rune has set himself up on the kitchen bar with our laptops and my Horse Girl folders. By the time I've chopped up, oiled, seasoned, and started to successfully roast my way through green beans, carrots, zucchini, and beets, I've caught Rune up on exactly where I am on putting together the campaign, and we've started on a rough draft letter for friends and family.

"Wait, this one's new," Rune says, when we take a break from wordsmithing and he's going through my finished illustrations again. He holds up an illustration of the Nordic goddess Gná and her horse Hófvarpnir. Gná was a handmaiden and messenger for the goddess Frigg, and her horse could travel effortlessly through time and space.

"I drew that this week, when I was frustrated over not hearing from Liz," I tell him as I add some cayenne to the carrots I'm going to roast next, "I realized that I'd need to have permission to include anyone who's still alive in the calendar, so I'm going to switch out some of those for ancient horse goddesses."

"Great idea, it makes the calendar more international, too," he says as Butterscotch starts to yap and runs for the door.

There's a light knock, and then Lorelei bursts in, barely able to contain herself with excitement.

"I wish you'd both been with us! We've had so much fun!" She tells us excitedly as she hands Rune her phone and then drops to the ground to greet the dog, "Your new coloring page for the rescue horses is amazing, Shelby," she tells us as she tries to wrestle Butterscotch's ball away from her, "The pinto's name is Ladybug, and the gray one is named Smoke."

I join Rune in scrolling through her phone to admire more photos, mostly of the young horses.

"Dad thinks he'll be able to get the stalls in good enough order to take three or four horses here by late September, or early October, which is our deadline," Lorelei continues, tossing the ball across the room for the dog.

"Wow, that's quick," Rune raises both eyebrows, and we share a look. Three or four horses? I can't help it, my stomach leaps with excitement.

Well, you have to help," she tells Rune, hopping back up, "we all do."

"Of course," Rune hands her back her phone, "Where is your dad?"

Talking to Jenna on the phone," she rolls her eyes before returning to look at the images of the horses, "I think she's coming over tomorrow to get some of her things. Are we really having tacos for dinner? Can I help make the guacamole?"

**

Rune goes to find Gunnar to touch base in person about the fact that Syd and Nils are arriving around five, and to find out the scoop about Jenna. I keep Lorelei entertained by having her help me put all the ingredients in the crock pot to make the shredded chicken for tacos.

As she happily catches me up about the rescue horses, I do my best not to stare at her sweet face, looking for more similarities with Nils. But every time I glance at her, things pop out that I can't believe I didn't notice before.

The guys arrive about half an hour later and head straight for the office. We hear the movement of furniture, and then Gunnar and Rune join us in the kitchen a few minutes later.

"Shelby, I think we should wait for those skeleton keys," Gunnar tells me, his hands on his dusty blue-jeaned hips like Rune does, "it's a nice piece of furniture. There's no way we can get the drawer out without ruining it."

"Okay," I agree. I'm less agitated now that I've spent time cooking, "I just hate feeling like we're sitting ducks," I almost whisper. Lorelei's in the dining room working on the coloring page I drew of the two rescue horses. I don't want her to overhear us.

"We're going to figure out a way to get back at that asshat," Gunnar says also low, his light blue eyes serious.

"My dad's talking to both your parents now," Rune tells me, "So let's do our best to chill for now."

"Excellent plan," Gunnar nods, "in the meantime, Pup and I are going to go home and decompress. You just want the beer, wine, and watermelon for dinner tonight?"

"Yes, perfect," I tell him, "Thank you."

"Stay off social media, you two," Gunnar says as he moves into the living room to gather up Lorelei, "Figure out how to help us find homes for these horses or go upstairs again," he says with a wink.

"He seems to be taking things remarkably well," I say, amazed, while Rune pours us fresh glasses of iced tea before sitting back at the kitchen bar again.

"Honestly, I think he's in shock," Rune says, "I think we all are."

**

"I need a drink and a shower in that order," my sister tells us a few hours later, marching straight into the kitchen and setting a bag that clinks down on the counter, "Rune, you gorgeous fellow, please tell me that's a pitcher of Margaritas you're stirring, not just lemonade."

We were given no dog warning because Lorelei has taken Butterscotch next door. She's going to test out keeping her overnight. In all of the hullabaloo, Gunnar only told her about the dog belonging to her about an hour ago.

"It's definitely Margaritas," Rune gives her one of his most charming smiles, taking a second bag from her, "What's all this? I thought you gave us your list of drink requirements already."

"Yes, but I couldn't help myself when we stopped for lunch," Syd admits, giving Rune a kiss of greeting and doing the same to me, "I may drink most of this myself. Don't worry, it won't go to waste."

Syd is as gorgeous as ever. She's wearing linen, a matching slouchy button-down shirt with three quarter sleeves, and wide-legged pants in a periwinkle blue that make her eyes pop. Her dark red-chestnut hair is cut in a chic long layered shag. She's absolutely ready to be photographed by the paparazzi, but she looks stressed. There are lines around her eyes and mouth I've never seen before.

"Hungry?" I ask Nils, who's coming up behind Syd with more luggage. I sneak around her to hug him. He's grown even since Christmas.

"I can always eat," he says, with a shy smile when we step apart, eyeing Rune as I introduce them, flattening his full lips and moving them sideways exactly like Rune and Lorelei do.

Has Sydney already told him who his real father is? Oh God, I hope he hasn't looked anything up on the internet. What a drama club we're part of right now.