Boone sat in one of the chairs across from Zebadiah and leaned back in a relaxed pose, similar to the one that Zebadiah had assumed when Zelda had started the conversation. Zebadiah relaxed into his chair as well, and they both looked at each other, neither one saying a word.

It was like watching two master chess players analyzing the board before their next move.

"Have a seat, Zelda," Boone suggested, motioning to the chair beside him with a flip of his wrist.

Zelda sat, perched on the edge of her seat, ready to flee if necessary.

"Aren't you going to ask your sister why she's been miserable for the past eight years?" Boone asked Zebadiah. "Do you care?"

"Boone!" Zelda cried in objection. "Zebadiah and my relationship is none of your business, just as our relationship is none of his!" she insisted.

"Then why are you here, asking for his permission?" Boone didn't turn to look at her as he spoke. He didn't seem angry only determined but determined about what she couldn't say.

"I'm not asking for his permission exactly, more like his approval." Zelda tried to clarify.

"Same difference, but that's not what I'm concerned with, my concern is that he hasn't asked why your life has been a misery for the past eight years." Boone's eyes had never left Zebadiah's

"Eden interrupted before he could," Zelda defended.

"Is that true Zebadiah, were you going to ask why?" If Boone had directed the same look at her that he was now directing at Zebadiah, she would have withered away.

"No, I was surprised by her statement, but I wasn't going to ask why," Zebadiah said honestly.

"Why weren't you going to ask?" Boone leaned forward, and Zelda caught her breath.

"Because it's none of my business and-" Zebadiah held up his hand, cutting off Boone's next question, "the reasons why are between Zelda and me."

Zelda gave him a confused look, wondering what reasons might have caused him to stop asking her about what was going on in her life.

Boone looked at her and then at Zebadiah. "I think I'll go and find something to snack on until dinner." He stood, dropping a kiss on Zelda's head. "Tell him what's going on, Zelda. He can help." Then he left them.

Zelda could feel Zebadiah looking at the top of her head as she tried to find a place to start, but try as she might she couldn't find it.

"You're my sister, Zelda, and I love you. I'm sorry if it has come across as if I don't care, I do." He stood up and move to sit in the chair that Boone had just vacated. "Do you remember when Mom left?" he asked.

Zelda nodded.

"You were so young, I was young too but not as fragile as you were. I was worried about you and kept trying to get you to talk about it, do you remember?" Zebadiah was watching her profile as she nodded.

"I gave up for years, and then when I reconnected with Mom, I tried to get you to do the same, and you lost it. You told me in no uncertain terms that I was not to interfere in your life. If you wanted my opinion, you would ask for it. You claimed that being abandoned by a mother taught a girl how to survive on her own and that you didn't need anyone, least of all a patronizing older brother." He leaned forward, tilting his head so he could see her face. "Do you remember that?"

Zelda closed her eyes at his soft voice. It wasn't a reprimand, and there was no anger attached to the words, he was only stating facts, facts that she clearly remembered.

"If you were to come to me with anything I would be there for you, I always will, but you have never come to me for anything, and this had led me to believe that you never needed or wanted my help." He touched her hand lightly. "Was I wrong?"

"No, not really," Zelda said softly. "When I was younger, I didn't want anyone else's help. It was me against the world, and by the time I realized I was in too deep, and there was no one to turn to, and it seemed too late to reach out for help."

"Everything I read in the newspapers, was it true?" Zebadiah asked gently.

"Yes, but there was so much more. I should have never left with Collin. I knew that even before Boone came back into my life, but learning that I had other choices that I didn't see or want to see eight years ago is making painfully memories worse."

"What are those memories?" Zebadiah asked.

Zelda shook her head. "Those I'm not ready to share, no matter what Boone thinks. But I will say that Collin was only mean a handful of times, primarily when he was drunk, and he never physically hurt me, but he ignored me, which hurt just as much." Zelda fought back the tears, frustrated that all she seemed to do lately was cry.

"Is that what you thought, that I was ignoring you?" Zebadiah asked, his voice broke a little as he asked the question.

Zelda paused, realizing that that was exactly what she had thought. Just as her mother had left her and stopped caring, Zebadiah had left her too, not physically, but emotionally.

"Oh, Zelda." He reached for her hand. "I'm truly sorry if you felt that way. You have always seemed so strong, and I always assumed that you didn't need me."

They sat in silence for a few moments, both thinking about how their new-found knowledge was going to change their relationship from here forward.

"How can I help you? When Boone left, he told you to tell me, that I could help." Zebadiah squeezed her hand when she shook her head in denial that she needed anything.

"Let me help," he insisted.

Zelda took a deep breath. "I'm broke. I barely have enough money to make ends meet. If it weren't for grandmother's house, I would be a charity case. I've been doing alright, but a little extra would help with Eden's school." She couldn't help the waver in her voice. Saying it was harder than she thought it would be.

Zebadiah stood, suddenly all business, moving back behind his desk, reaching for a pen and paper to take notes. "Tell me the details, and we will see what we can do." He had said the word we, which made it so much better. He wasn't going to give her a hand out as she had dreaded.

Zelda spent the next hour reviewing facts and figures with him. He would nod and write then ask more questions, his quick business and legal mind figuring out what needed to be done.

A knock on the door interrupted them, and Boone stuck his head around it, giving them a cautious look. "All better?" he asked.

Zelda nodded and smiled as Zebadiah kept working without looking up at the interruption.

"Good, dinner is burned beyond recognition, but we have cookies." Boone opened the door wider. "Zebadiah, you had better join us before I steal your lovely and talented wife."

Zebadiah smiled. "Go ahead and try," he dared.

"You don't think I will?" Boone asked with a grin.

"Not when you're in love with my sister," he said, dropping his pen and looking up at Zelda and Boone's stunned expressions. This time Zebadiah grinned as he walked towards Boone and patted him on the shoulder.

"There, I think that should level the playing field," he said before he left Boone and Zelda staring at one another.

"So you did hear my earlier admission?" Zelda squeaked.

Boone recovered quickly and laughed. "Don't worry Zelda, one day we'll be able to say to each other and not have others say it for us." He held out his hand.

Zelda looked at his outstretched hand and realized that what she had just experienced was Zebadiah interfering. Zelda stood, placing her hand in his, loving the way it felt.

"Boone, I think you've turned my brother into an interfering monster," she whispered, looking over his shoulder to make sure Zebadiah couldn't hear her for fear that if he did he would stop interfering again.

"Good!" Boone said as he pulled her all the way down to the kitchen, which was full of the light, laughter, and life Lucy seemed to bring to everything she touched.

Zelda hadn't felt so free in years.

And Boone loved her. He hadn't denied it.