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He watched a few wisps of clouds lazily creep across the sky. The crops were growing fine. The most urgent repairs had been made to the house. Other than his looming personal crisis, the situation wasn’t entirely bad.

Liam sat slouched forward, his mouth set in a line of contemplation.

“What’s weighing on your mind, Liam?”

The boy shrugged, not looking up at him.

“It’s only you and me and the crops. You may as well take the weight off your mind. No one here is going to look down on you.”

Liam smiled a little. “Are you certain the crops won’t judge me?”

“Relatively certain.”

Liam finished off his sandwich and leaned back against the fence post. “Last night, I broke a plate.”

All of that pouting over a broken plate? “And you’re upset because you’re embarrassed about it? Or because you were punished?” Gregory couldn’t imagine Helene lashing out at the children.

“Miss Helene doesn’t punish us, not like some people would with orphans they had to take in.”

“I don’t think Miss Helene sees you or Bianca as someone she ‘had to take in,’” Gregory insisted.

Liam nodded quite seriously. “She and Mrs. Bowen have been good to us.”

“So what is it about the broken plate that’s upset you so much?” Gregory took another bite of his sandwich.

“I didn’t tell her I broke it,” Liam muttered. “I didn’t want to get in trouble. But she found the broken bits.”

Gregory was beginning to piece it together. “So you ended up in trouble anyway.”

“More trouble,” Liam answered. “She said from my first day here that lying was the one thing she wouldn’t abide.”

“Did you lie to her about the plate?”

Liam shrugged with one shoulder. “I just didn’t tell her, not on my own. She says leaving off the truth is a lie.”

A lump formed in Gregory’s throat. Helene viewed lies of omission in the same light as outright falsehoods. That did not bode well for him. “Was she quite upset with you, then?”

“She was mostly disappointed.” Liam’s brow pulled low. “I hate it when she’s disappointed in me.”

“I rather hate that myself.”

He’d never have the chance to prove himself worthy of her affection if she felt she couldn’t trust him. What chance did he have now of building any kind of relationship between them?

He and Liam walked the rows throughout the remainder of the afternoon, pulling weeds and checking the crops. Gregory twisted in knots inside. He had to confess the entire thing to her that very evening. He didn’t relish the idea.

Just so long as she gives me a second chance. Even if he had to fight his way back into her good graces, he’d be happy. But in his bones, he felt certain that the day wouldn’t play out in his favor.

“How are you at splicing rope?” he asked Liam when they’d finished up in the fields.

“I know how,” Liam answered. “But I ain’t fast.”

Perfect. “There are two short lengths hanging up near the tools at the back of the barn. Start on the splicing, if you would. I’ve a bit of business to see to up at the house.”

Liam headed in the direction of the barn, and Gregory set his footsteps determinedly toward the house. The time for full disclosure had come.

He opened the kitchen door and stepped inside. “Helene?”

Bianca looked up from the table. She smiled at him.