“God, please let him be okay,” Holly prayed over and over, terrified for the little boy as she sat on the couch, rocking, her hands clenched into tight fists as she prayed.

Rachel sat next to her, an arm over her shoulders. “Holly, he’s okay.”

“I want my baby,” she pleaded. “Rachel, I can’t live without him.”

“He’s okay,” she reassured her again.

“Call Tate and see if they found him yet.”

“He’ll call as soon as they find him.”

“God, please, please…” Holly sobbed, imagining Logan alone and scared, unable to find his way back. “God, if you let us find him, I swear I won’t let him out my sight again. I swear I will be a better person. God …”

“Should I call the doctor to come out and give her a sedative?”

Holly looked up to see Sutton’s frightened gaze on hers.

“I don’t want a sedative. I want my son!” she screamed at the woman who stared at her helplessly.

“Holly, you have to calm down. Logan needs you calm in case he needs you.”

She tried to get herself back in control, but she lost it again when Diamond came inside with Knox.

Rachel stood up, letting Diamond take her spot. Holly broke down again when Diamond reached out to hold her.

“Diamond, make Knox find Logan,” she begged.

“He will. They already started three search parties, trying to find him. Cash, Tate, Greer, and Dustin are looking for him. They’re the best trackers in the state. They’ll find him.”

“Holly, I know you’re worried, but can you answer a few questions for me?” Knox asked.

She brushed her tears away, nodding.

“Are there places that Logan goes when he likes to play?”

“When I lived at the house, he was always wanted to go to the field with Greer. That’s where we thought he was today when he disappeared.”

“Rachel said when she called that was the direction where Greer found his footprints. Any spot he likes to go from that direction?”

“I can’t think of any. He doesn’t come to Tate’s house that much, so it’s not as familiar to him.”

Knox’s phone started ringing, and so did Rachel’s.

Holly held her breath as they answered their phones.

“They found him,” Rachel mouthed to her as she listened to the voice on the other end.

Holly burst out crying in relief.

“They found him,” Knox told the room. “They found him at Cash’s lake, sitting on his rock.”

Holly started laughing so hard she couldn’t stop. It took Diamond shaking her before she did.

“Is he okay?” Diamond asked for her.

“He’s fine. They’re driving back here now. I’ll call off the search party and take Diamond on home unless you need her?”

“No, I’ll be fine once he gets here.”

“Call me if you need anything.” Diamond released her, standing up.

“I will. Thank you. And, Knox, make sure to tell everyone thanks for us.”

“I will.”

Holly went outside onto the porch to wait for Logan as they left. Over twenty cars and twice as many motorcycles had to be backed out of the driveway.

Cash’s truck pulled into the driveway, and Greer got out, Dustin climbing out after him, reaching for Logan to set him on the ground.

Holly couldn’t help herself, crying in relief at seeing her baby again. As Logan came running, she dropped to her knees, holding her arms out.

“I’m sorry, Holly. Greer said he’s going to whip my ass!”

“No, he won’t.” She held him tighter, rubbing her cheek against his.

“Wanna bet?” Greer groused, coming up to them.

“You’re not going to hurt a hair on my baby’s head.” When she let Logan wiggle away, he jumped into Rachel’s welcoming arms.

She blocked him before he could reach out to take him from Rachel. “We all need to sit down and come up with a reasonable punishment.” She turned to look at Logan. “Why did you leave the house without telling anyone?”

“I saw the cutest puppy. I tried to catch him, but he got away. Can we go look for him, Daddy?”

“No. Let’s go inside the house. Logan said he was hungry on the way home.” Dustin lifted Logan into his arms, carrying his son inside.

“I grilled some hot dogs. They’re cold, but I can heat them up.” Sutton opened the screen door, letting everyone file inside.

Holly took Greer’s arm, not letting him go inside. She waited until they were all gone before letting Greer have it.

“Quit saying you’re going to give him an ass whipping! He’ll repeat that when he goes back to school. He’s had a traumatic experience. We need to be gentle and considerate of his needs.”

“He had a fucking a traumatic experience? You’re the one who had a traumatic experience. You lost your shit! Dustin had a traumatic experience. Imagine Dustin when we realized he was headed for the lake and we didn’t know if we would find him alive or dead. He crossed a fucking road. How many dead deer have we passed on that fucking road? He’s seven years old, not a fucking baby. He knows better! He’s going to get an ass whipping he’ll never forget!”

“Greer, do you want to marry me?”

“You know I do!” He ran a shaking hand through his hair.

“You still want to have children?”

“You know I do.”

“Then we might as well settle this now. I’m not going to spank our children. It’s Dustin’s job to punish Logan. You should stay out of it. Besides, I have every faith Dustin will find a punishment that will equal the spanking you want to give him.”

Greer had a hot temper. He might as well learn now that she wouldn’t consider spankings an option.

“Fine, have it your way!”

Holly was relieved that Greer could be sensible to her wishes and considerations. Then he blew it.

“But if I don’t like the punishment Dustin gives him, I’m still giving him the ass whipping.” He stormed into the house, the screen door slamming closed behind him.

Holly went inside, glad to see Logan wasn’t bent over Dustin’s knee. Instead, the boy was eating his hot dog with a huge mound of potato chips on his plate and two cookies.

Rachel and Sutton sat by the boy. From their eyes, she realized the women were standing guard, making sure he didn’t get the spanking and didn’t get relieved of the cookies they had given him.

Holly went to the kitchen to make herself a plate, moving to the side to get past Tate as he made his.

She had reached for a plate when she heard the sound of breaking glass. Startled, she turned to see Tate pale as a ghost, clutching the counter, his plate of food on the floor.

“Tate, are you okay?” Frightened, she saw his eyes focus on her, then his family as they stood up from the table.

“I’m fine. Finish your meal.” He started to bend down to pick up the plate.

“I’ll do it.” Sutton cast her husband a worried glance, taking out the broom and dustpan from the pantry. “Go sit down. I’ll make you another plate.”

“I’m not hungry.” Tate went to sit down with his family.

Holly had lost her appetite at seeing the Porters staring at each other. Apprehensively, she sat down beside Greer, her hand going to his knee under the table.

“You heard them, didn’t you?” Greer asked, putting his hand over hers.

“Yes.”

“What did he hear?” Holly stared at them, waiting for someone to answer. It was Greer.

“Logan, go sit on the couch and eat your food.”

Not wanting to press his luck, Logan carried his plate to the other room.

Greer waited until Dustin went into the living room and turned on cartoons before coming back. “He heard the death bells. It makes twice he heard them this month.”

“Does that mean something?”

“It means Death is close. Someone Tate has come into contact with today is going to …”

“He was in the kitchen with me. Is it me?” Holly still didn’t really believe in the Porters’ gift, but faced with her possible mortality, it sent a spine-chilling finger up her back.

“No, it could have been someone he was around this morning or this afternoon. There was a large group of men who arrived at the lake when we were there.”

“Should we cancel the wedding?”

Greer pushed his food away. “It wouldn’t matter. We can’t stop it. It could be tonight, tomorrow, or next week when Death strikes. That’s why they just give us warning, so we can’t prevent it from happening.”

“This is creeping me out.” She leaned against Greer, letting his strength warm her. Then she frowned when he pulled away.

At first, she was hurt. Then she realized what he was doing. He was conserving his strength. She stared, focusing on the family around the table and thinking how many times they had asked her to leave the room with Logan. Keeping this part of their family to themselves, they had asked Logan to go into the other room, because he was too young. They hadn’t asked her to leave this time, because she was now a part of their family. It was time she started acting like it.

Straightening her spine, she was replaying Sutton’s talk earlier that day about the Porters’ gifts.

“We can cancel the wedding,” Holly said absentmindedly, still replaying the earlier conversation.

“We’re not canceling the wedding. How do we know if changing the wedding is how the opportunity to kill someone is accomplished?”

“Why would Dustin be given dreams, Tate the ability to hear Death’s bells, and you and Rachel healing if who is giving you your gifts doesn’t want you to be able do anything about it?” she asked more to herself.

“Because there is always a price to be paid.” Tate’s bleak eyes met Greer’s.

“What kind of price?”

“Like when Greer saved Pa’s life from the still explosion. If he had died that night, our mother might still be alive. Then there’s Dustin’s dream of dying from a heart attack. We knew it was our grandmother and warned her. We begged her to go to the doctor, but she wouldn’t. She said she didn’t want us to pay the price for warning her.”

“Your grandmother had gifts, too?” Holly asked, sitting on the edge of her seat.

“Yes, it’s handed down from generation to generation.”

Her hand tightened on the table. “What was your mother’s gift?”

“She could hear the death bells like Tate.”

“Your grandmother’s?”

“She had the same gift as me,” Rachel spoke, and Cash moved his chair protectively closer to hers.

“Did your grandmother ever mention the gifts of her parents?”

“She was a full-blooded Cherokee. Granny said that our father wouldn’t let her talk about her family. He said it was hogwash.”

“Surely, someone in your family would know.”

Everyone at the table shook their heads.

“Does Drake have a gift? He’s a Porter.”

“Drake’s ma is our pa’s sister. Our gifts come from our ma’s side of the family.

“So, none of you have searched your ancestry?” She stared earnestly around the table. “If you don’t know what all your ancestors’ gifts were, other gifts could have been missed. How old were you all when you started seeing signs of your gifts?”

“I was four,” Greer answered immediately.

“I was six,” Tate answered next.

“I was around six.” Rachel looked at Dustin, waiting for his answer.

“Ma said I was three when I started having nightmares. What does it matter how old we were …?”

The whole table looked toward the living room, their mouths hanging open, looking to where Logan was watching the movie on the television.

“I don’t think that you were given gifts without the ability to stop them. I just don’t think you were looking in the right direction for your answer.”