“We would have known,” Dustin said hoarsely.

“Not if he hasn’t inherited the same gifts. Would you know if he inherited gifts from an ancestor and it wasn’t remembered because the information had become lost from generations before you?”

“We would know, because it’s not exactly like we hide it.”

“I lived with you every day and never knew. I knew Rachel gave massages, but not that she was using her gift to heal.”

“That’s because we didn’t want you to know. We didn’t want anyone to know. Half of the town thinks she’s a charlatan.”

“The other half knows she isn’t.” Tate didn’t take his eyes off Logan.

“He doesn’t have dreams; I know that. I sleep with him most nights, and he doesn’t have nightmares.”

“Maybe they aren’t nightmares. They could be dreams to him.”

Dustin stood up, his hands going to the back of his chair. “He never talks about any dream in particular he’s had. And he’s not shown any signs of Rachel or Greer’s gift, and he’s not heard bells ringing. He would have said something.”

Holly agreed with Dustin, thinking of anything out of the norm that Logan did. She could tell the Porters were doing the same.

“Ask him,” Holly urged, trying to think of a way for them to ask, when suddenly she reached for Greer’s arm. “Oh, God.”

“What?” Greer looked at her, seeing she had thought of something.

“He draws, Dustin. A lot. He’s constantly asking for something to draw on. I bought him a pad of construction paper to draw on. It’s in the house in his bedroom.”

“He drew me a picture before he went to take a nap in my spare room. I put it on the refrigerator,” Sutton said.

Dustin hurried into the kitchen, coming back to the table ashen faced. He turned the picture so they could see. On the paper was a puppy playing in the grass.

Tate took the picture from him. “He said he had seen the puppy from the window. That’s why he left the house to try to catch it. He drew this before he went into the bedroom?”

“Yes.” Sutton took the picture from him.

“Logan, come here!” Greer shouted for his nephew.

“Don’t scare him. He could have seen the puppy from the window from over there.” Holly nodded her head toward the dining room window at their backs. “That may be why he drew it.”

Greer relaxed, the others trying to do the same.

Logan went to Greer, resting his arm on Greer’s shoulder. “Yes, Uncle Greer?”

Holly couldn’t explain the unfurling love she felt for the two people she loved most in the world.

Greer came across as self-centered, because he was, but like a tree, he sheltered his family, holding himself back so when they needed him, he would be able to make sure they were safe. Logan was young and weak like a little sapling, and Greer, being an ego maniac, wanted his nephew to grow tall and strong. He wanted all his family to prosper and do well. He didn’t take one trait after his father. His love wasn’t borne out of fear and pride. It was borne out of self-sacrifice and enduring loyalty. That lesson he had learned from his mother, his grandmother, and those before them; it was a lesson Greer would pass on to their child, just as he had done for Logan.

Despite Greer’s threats to spank him, Logan had no fear to touch his uncle. The bond between the two made it apparent that Greer would be a wonderful father, putting her fears to rest.

“Why did you draw the picture of the puppy?”

Logan shrugged. “I like to draw pictures I see in my head.”

“Did you see that puppy before you drew it?”

“No.”

“How much did the puppy you drew look like the puppy you saw from the window?”

“Not a lot. I didn’t have my colors, so I couldn’t color him brown.”

“Was the puppy outside brown?”

“Yes. And it had a spot there.” Logan touched the patch of black on the puppy’s side that he had shaded in with the ink pen.

“Is that why you went outside, because he looked like the one in your picture?”

Logan lowered his lashes as if he would get in trouble if he answered.

“You won’t get in trouble. Answer your uncle’s question.”

“Yes.”

“Has that happened before? Have you drawn something then saw it?”

“Sometimes.”

“Can I see your pictures?”

“They’re in my room.”

Greer stood up. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Logan took Greer’s seat, swinging his feet. “Can I have another cookie?”

Holly started to tell him no then took one from the cookie tray, breaking it in half to give him and nibbling on the other half.

Five minutes later, when Greer didn’t come back, she started to get worried. Trying to ease her fears, she broke another cookie in half, giving it to Logan and eating the other half herself.

When ten minutes passed and Greer hadn’t returned, Tate called him. “What’s taking so long?”

“Okay.” Hanging up the phone, he told them Greer was on his way back.

Another five minutes passed, and no Greer. Holly couldn’t take it another minute, about to go see what was taking him so long when she heard the four-wheeler he had taken coming back. She was beginning to feel foolish for overreacting when Greer came to the door, not making a move to come inside.

“Tate and Dustin, come outside. We need to talk.” His furious expression had the men going to the door.

“Logan, stay here.” Holly headed outside.

Rachel handed Ema to Cash, going with her. The men looked at them as they stepped out onto the porch but didn’t ask them to leave.

“What’s wrong?” Holly kept her voice low, so Logan wouldn’t hear.

“Someone broke down the old outhouse.”

“Why would they break down an old outhouse?”

Holly hadn’t even known what it was when she had moved into the Porters’ house. Rachel had laughingly told her what it was when she had seen the small, tiny building sitting on the small rise of the hill beside the barn.

“That’s where we keep our stash.”

“You keep it in an outhouse?” She was revolted at the thought of them hiding their stash in a glorified cesspool.

“We never used it the way you’re thinking. Pa had that one built as a hidey hole. The one we used before Pa built that was on the other side of the house. We tore it down ten years ago and covered it with dirt. The outhouse by the barn was where we could keep an eye on our stash, and no one would search for it there.”

Tate slammed his fist down on front porch post. “Son of a fucking bitch! No one knew it was there. We never went there until pitch dark. Greer, did you tell?”

“Course not! I may have shown her those quilts, but I never told her about the outhouse?”

“You, Dustin?”

“No!”

“Then how could anyone have known?”

“I don’t know, but I will find out when whoever stole it starts selling it.” Greer bleakly stared out at the road that led to his house. “All that work for nothing. Another two days, and it would have been gone. I had already promised everything out. I would have made their deliveries after the wedding.”

“Did anyone know when you were going to make the deliveries?” Holly went to Greer, rubbing his arm and trying to make him feel better.

“No, I usually just tell them it’s going to be a week or later, so no one can figure out what I’m doing when I go to deliver it. That way, the Feds can’t catch me and lock me up, or assholes that want to blow my brains out to steal it.”

“What are we going to do, go around town, asking our customers if we can taste their weed?” Dustin grimaced at his suggestion.

“We won’t have to. Everyone tries to sell to The Last Riders. We just have to ask Shade to take them up on their offer. I’ll fucking know from the smell if it’s ours.”

“You can’t smell the difference, can you?” Holly asked.

“I can,” Greer bragged.

“I can, too,” Tate agreed.

“Me, too.” Dustin wasn’t about to be left out of the expertise the brothers were plainly proud of.

“Could some of the searchers have found it and used the opportunity to steal it? Maybe they aren’t planning to sell it to anyone.”

The three men looked at her like she had lost a screw. “Would you tear down an old outhouse and climb down in it if you didn’t know there wasn’t a pile of shit down that hole?”

“I can’t say I would,” Holly agreed.

“Son of a bitch knew.” Tate cursed. “They used that puppy to draw Logan out and get us away from the house long enough to get our stash.”

“It has to be a coincidence. Surely, someone just took advantage of Logan being missing.”

“It’ll be easy to tell. I was so busy following Logan’s trail that I didn’t follow the puppy’s.” Greer jumped off the porch, with Dustin and Tate taking off after him.

She and Rachel stood on the porch waiting for the men to come back.

Holly bent down to pick up the pad of Logan’s drawings, flipping through them, with Rachel staring over her shoulder.

“Go back to that one.” Rachel motioned.

Holly couldn’t believe her eyes as she turned the pictures slowly. She had seen these pictures after Logan had drawn them, not realizing their importance.

“Sweet Jesus,” Rachel breathed, taking the pictures from her when she flipped over the last one.

Holly turned as the men’s voices grew nearer, hearing them arguing.

“We found a set of footprints at the hill where the pup took off to. It’s dark, or we could have followed where the footprints led.”

“I know where they lead,” Rachel croaked out, giving the construction pad to Tate as they came up the steps of the porch.

The men looked at the pictures. When they finished, Tate handed it back to Rachel.

“I’m going to get my shotgun.” Greer started to leave.

“I’ll get mine.” Tate started to go inside.

“I’m getting mine, too,” Dustin yelled, heading toward Greer.

“You three get your asses back here!” Holly shouted after them, her hands going to her hips.

The three brothers strode back to the porch.

“I don’t want you going after Asher.” The pad that she had bought Logan showed childish scrawl of a girl with the shape of Kentucky drawn around it, and a picture of a rifle. Another picture was of Mrs. Langley’s house, another a ring, blankets, a field of daisies, and a big oak tree. Logan’s pictures had been unfolding their life right in front of their eyes, and they hadn’t recognized the parallel between the two. The last pictures he had drawn showed the outhouse and a man who had an uncanny resemblance to Asher Hayes.

“Too fucking bad,” Greer snarled. “I don’t care about the pot. Well, I do,” he admitted. “But they could have gotten Logan killed.”

Dustin started to leave again, and Holly took his arm, trying desperately to stop him.

“Listen to me, Dustin! How do you know it isn’t exactly what you’ve been dreaming about? How do you know that, because we saw these pictures, that it makes what we’re all afraid of happen? Logan will never do it again; you all know that. If it’s about the pot, I have money. You can have what I have saved.”

“You have fifty thousand dollars?”

She gaped at him. “You make fifty thousand dollars?” Her eyes narrowed on the men’s faces. “How much pot did you plant?” she shouted at them.

Rachel went to close the door, giving her a censuring look.

“Yeah, it’s a light year. I’ve been busy courting you,” he admitted unashamedly.

“You think this is a light year?” She dropped Dustin’s arm, lifting her pointer finger to poke Greer hard in the chest, forcing him to take a step down off the porch. “It’s going to be even lighter next year.” Stabbing him in the chest again, she forced him down another step until she stood eye level with him. “It’s going to be so light, it’s going to be nonexistent. You understand me?” She tried to lower her voice and failed, practically screaming in Greer’s face. “I suggest you find a freaking job. If not, I can support you until you do. Dustin already has a job, and Tate …” Her mind drew a blank at what Tate could do. “You can figure that out for yourself, but the pot-growing Porters has reached the end of the road. You hear me?”

“The whole county hears you,” Greer mumbled.

“Good!” Holly took several deep breaths, trying to calm her racing heart. “So help me God …” Holly moved to walk back and forth across the small porch, the Porters moving skittishly out of her way.

“You said we can’t change anything, so there’s no need to stand here, trying to stop it. The only thing we can do is wait for Logan to draw and see what he does. Do you agree?”

They nodded.

“I’ll go to the bank Monday morning and give you what I have saved.”

“I don’t want your money—”

“Shut up!” she snapped at Greer. “You and Dustin can go home. I’m going to enjoy my last night of being single. I’ll see you at the ceremony. It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. That is, if I don’t change my mind and decide not to marry you!”

“Woman, you’re gonna marry me!” Greer snarled obstinately.

“Maybe I will … Maybe I won’t,” she taunted, going to the screen door and jerking it open.

“Woman …”

She would have gone inside, but the plea in his voice stopped her. That he had lowered his guard to make himself vulnerable in front of his family had her hesitating.

“God help me, I’ll be there,” she said, going inside and slamming the door behind her. “Sutton, you have any of that wine left?”