 
REFINED BY FIRE

By

Katherine Kendall

SMASHWORDS EDITION

*****

PUBLISHED BY:

Katherine Kendall on Smashwords

Refined by Fire

Copyright 2011 by Katherine Kendall

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author's imagination and used factiously.

*****

Many thanks to my husband Ross, my daughter Megan, my son Max, and my sisters Mary Marzano and Chris Connell, and to my very good friend Marybeth Beck, all of whom have read and edited this story. Thank you also to Ann Foss who is a true friend and like a sister to me.

This book is dedicated to my husband Ross Kendall who is my best friend and my soul mate forever.

*****

REFINED BY FIRE

*****

Chapter 1

The blue and gold best in show ribbon posted beside Kat Keller's large pastel painting and the sold sign beneath it made her swell with pride. Every eye was drawn to it. She couldn't wait to tell her mom that she had sold The Twelve Trees on the Banks of the River of Life. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed the number but her call rang unanswered. She slipped the phone back in her purse. Her mother often slept after chemotherapy and this was her last treatment. She'd be fine and to make double-certain, Kat said a quick, one-sentence prayer.

"Who bought it?" she asked Teresa, who had invited her to participate in the show.

"He's over there, talking with a group of art students." She pointed to the dark haired man who stood a head above the group of females surrounding him.

Thin, muscular, and already lightly tanned by the spring sun, he talked animatedly with the group, then looked over at Kat, and nodded. Kat felt a sudden rush of heat cover her face and she knew she must be blushing.

"Do you recognize him, Kat? He's Brent Carroll, current boyfriend of Courtney Starr the country music singer, although they just broke up."

Kat liked Courtney Starr's bluesy voice and her deep sultry looks oozed sensuality. Courtney was the kind of woman who Kat thought could have any man she wanted. "Yes, I recognize him from the papers."

"It's his fifteen minutes of fame because he hooked up with Courtney," Teresa waved him over, "otherwise; he's just a regular guy."

Kat didn't believe that for a second. She glanced at him again and saw he was approaching, looking intensely at her. With each step closing the distance between them, she felt her pulse rate jump. She admonished herself for acting like a school girl.

"I'm thrilled to meet such a talented artist," he took her hand in both of his after Teresa introduced them. "Your painting will go above the mantel in my living room. There is something about those trees that draws me in and calms me. I knew the minute I saw it."

His touch was warm and his hands soft. The pleasing scent of his aftershave piqued her senses. Kat wracked her brain to think of something to say to him. He had her tongue tied. "You knew what?"

"That I wanted it."

Kat caught her breath. "Oh."

He looked at her like he wanted her. Guys usually passed over her small frame of slight curves and became impatient with her awkward shyness. Her first and only love was her childhood friend, Dade Mathers, but he dropped her without any explanation when she moved away. After that the boys in her high school had tormented her because of her Tennessee drawl which she quickly learned to hide. In college they simply ignored her and she avoided them. Obviously she lacked something that men wanted. Certainly someone as successful as Brent Carroll would not notice her, except that he liked her painting. She smiled and hoped that she appeared confident.

He laughed softly. "Let me get you some champagne."

Theresa stepped closer. "She only drinks Coke and I'll have the champagne."

"What? A woman who doesn't drink, can there be one left on the planet?" Brent turned to the passing waiter and took two drinks off his tray for the women, then grabbed another Coke for himself. "Maybe some of that will rub off on you."

"Oh, hush, Brent. I'm not anything like Courtney." Theresa took a sip of her wine, and explained to Kat, "Brent's old girlfriend has left him a little touchy."

Brent and Teresa seemed to know each other and Courtney Starr pretty well. "I'm sorry," she said to him in difference to a possible broken heart.

He smiled at Kat. "Those trees, where did you learn to paint like that?"

"After my father died, my Mom and I moved to Atlanta. I studied under several local painters through the Atlanta School of Art. I missed the woods I grew up in, especially the tall oak in front of our farmhouse, and so I began painting trees and landscapes." Kat's talent had soared under their tutelage. Her paintings had won awards and prizes that helped her through college. "I love huge trees. If I visit somewhere, I try to find the largest tree. I've seen many enormous trees, including some right here in Atlanta." The twelve trees in the painting were larger than any she'd seen and Kat doubted that there were any trees left on earth that had grown so large. "The painting ponders the pleasant thought that somewhere hidden from sight, those twelve trees by the River of Life that were created in the very beginning of creation are still growing."

His face took on a tender expression. "Do you really believe that?"

"I have to believe that." The words caught in her throat and came out as a whisper.

"An honest answer," he sipped his Coke, still looking at her.

Kat knew it was not, because honesty was about truth and doubt often plagued her, but she wanted very much to believe that she would see her father again in heaven. He had died suddenly in a car accident. "It's more of stubborn answer," she said shyly.

A pianist started playing in a corner of the gallery. "Let's go," he said to Kat, "where we can talk and get to know one another. You seem like the type of woman I would like to know better."

He took her to a coffee shop nearby. They talked for a long time and then he drove her to her Mom's condo just a block from the gallery. Kat had told Brent about her mother's breast cancer and the chemotherapy treatment that so often left her listless and drowsy, so he insisted he come in with her. "I want to know your mom is okay before I leave."

Kat fit the key in the lock. "I always sleep over after a treatment, in case she needs something in the middle of the night." She flipped on the lights, and then headed down the hall, Brent following.

"Mom?" Something felt wrong. She gently shook her, "Wake up, Mom."

Nora Keller did not move.

"Please, wake up," she shook her mother harder, loosening Nora's hand from the bed clothes so that it slid limply off the bed. It was a sure sign that her mother had passed. "No," she took her mother's hand and pulled it to her face. "No," she cried, "Please, no." She turned to Brent. "It was her last treatment. She was supposed to get better."

Brent called the ambulance and then they waited by the window until the yellow and red lights came flashing down the road. Brent held her as they covered her mom with a white sheet and carried her into the ambulance. She buried her face in his embrace and sobbed.

The next few days, Brent organized the funeral and made all the arrangements for a luncheon afterwards at his house. He arranged the burial at the church's cemetery where her mother's coffin hung over the empty ground while the minister droned on about things that seemed unbelievable to Kat. She remembered her father's funeral when she was thirteen. It had changed her life, turned it upside down. Now God had done it again, He'd left her completely alone. She'd never had brothers and sisters and now she had neither mother nor father.

Several folks she hadn't seen since her father's funeral came to pay their respects, including her aunt and uncle who now lived in the Keller farmhouse where she had grown up. "We thought you would have buried her in the family plot," her uncle said.

"I didn't even consider it. My mom never wanted to return there in life, why would she want to in her death?" Kat's eyes filled with tears so that she quickly wiped her eyes.

"Of course I can understand your reasoning. I was just wondering," her uncle smiled kindly.

"I hope that won't keep you from visiting. We'd love to have you come up sometime soon." Her aunt took her face in her hands and kissed her forehead. "We loved your mother so much."

Kat hugged them fiercely and promised to visit soon. Kat remembered their visits to Atlanta with fondness. They were the only family she had now. Behind them Kat noticed a familiar face approaching. She felt a lump in her throat as this unexpected friend from that little Tennessee town smiled tenderly back at her. Kat's first and only love took her hand, "Kat, I'm so sorry." His piercing blue eyes looked right into her soul.

"Sorry for what, Dade? Where do you want to begin?" When he didn't answer, Kat asked him, "Why are you back after all of these years?"

"Now, Kat," he backed away. "I just came to pay my respects to a woman I loved, and to you, who I think about--"

Brent stepped in before he could finish. "Keep the line moving," he said to him.

"Kat?" An expression of disbelief showed on Dade's face as Kat let Brent rudely lead him away from her.

Kat turned her attention back to the receiving line. What did Dade expect? The nerve of him coming here after he had purposely ignored all her letters and one in particular in which she foolishly professed her love for him. Of course, she had only been thirteen. She could easily pretend it no longer mattered, but it did. It still hurt and quite a lot.

When the greeting line ended and folks fell into small groups, Kat stole away. She found a small library with a door she could lock. She shut the door and buried her face in her hands, letting grief engulf her, while Brent hosted the gathering of mourners for her.

Someone knocked on the door. "Kat? Let me in, It's Dade."

"Go away." Kat hiccupped.

"Please, let me comfort you. We need to talk."

"No. Just go away, Dade. There's nothing to talk about. I don't know why you came here. You are years too late." She stepped up to the door and listened for him on the other side. His arms were only inches away. How many times had she fantasized about this moment when Dade would return? His hand must be on the knob ready to turn at her slightest whisper. She reached for the lock and then heard his footsteps as he turned away and walked down the hall. When she returned to the group of mourners, Dade was gone. Perhaps it was for the best. She needed to get over him.

Chapter 2

A few months later, Kat's uncle suffered a heart attack and Kat's aunt invited her to drive up to Tennessee. The invitation was a call for help in disguise. She had failed her mother by not staying home the night of her death. Perhaps helping out her aunt would make up for her shortcomings.

The next day while they were trying to clean out her studio, Kat explained the situation to Brent, "I don't know how long I'll be gone if I go, and I don't know how to sell Mom's condo if I'm up in Tennessee. It's been empty for three months now. I can't live in it and I can't sell it." Kat could not face sorting out her mother's stuff.

"Let me take care of it for you. I can sell it. At least I know an agent who can do more than the one working for you right now." Brent had lots of connections in the city. He took the set of spare keys Kat gave him. "You'll have to move your paintings out of here when you sell."

"How can I move all this stuff?" The studio was an efficiency connected to her mother's condo and it was crowded with paintings and supplies. Where would she put everything?

"I want to hang some of these in my office suite at the bank where people can see them. If they are interested, I can let them know they are for sale. They shouldn't be sitting here. They need to be out in the public eye." He pulled several from the stack of her most recent pieces. She had sold more paintings since she met Brent than she had in all the years she'd been selling put together.

"The Realtor will want to clear out some of your mother's stuff and stage the condo for showing. Shall I have her put it in one of those monthly storage rentals until you are ready to go through it? We can do the same for this room."

"Okay. I'll have to get a few things first." Kat wanted her mother's Bible.

"I can get them for you."

"No, I'll do it." She wanted the photo her mom had taken of Kat and Dade that she kept on her bedside table. The way things were going with Brent that would be hard to explain. "I'm thinking I might be gone all month."

"But I need you here, Kat."

She cut him off. "I have to take care of them. Perhaps I can find someone to look after them but even that will take a while."

"Okay, I'll stay out of it." He backed away. "For now anyway. I'm not sure I can stand a month away from you."

How would she manage without Brent? He had hired a lawyer for her to do the inheritance finances and he had squared away all her mother's insurance claims. Nora had been a very organized woman but even so it was hard for Kat to make sense of any of it. Brent had even taken over paying her monthly bills for the condo. "You'll end up with a ruined credit history if I don't," he explained. It was just for the interim, just until she could stand on her own two feet again. He laid the paintings aside and took her in his arms. "I've grown much too attached to you."

Kat laughed at his worried expression. "I am not going to the moon. We can Skype just like we do when you are away." Brent flew off to overnight meetings every week but he insisted on daily contact with her. Kat wriggled out of his embrace, grabbed the paintings he had selected and headed for the door. "Come on, let's get something to eat."

They decided to eat outside on the deck at Brent's house which was really just a suite of rooms off his very large, very impressive family home. Before dinner, Brent pulled a small package from his pants pocket and handed it to her. Inside the box was a large diamond ring.

"This is too soon," Kat handed it back but he took the ring from the box and slipped it on her ring finger where it would stand as an engagement ring. "Are you crazy?" she laughed. "We just met a few months ago." She took it off and handed it back. "Really, Brent, I'm not ready."

This time he slipped it on her right hand ring finger. "For now," he said. "But I won't wait forever. Whatever is holding you back you need to work out. I love you and I know you love me too."

Brent was a determined man. How had she gotten herself so involved? He was right, there was something holding her back, one blond-haired and blue-eyed man back in Tennessee. Her love for Dade was a stubborn shadow darkening her future so that she couldn't decide which way to go. She looked down at the ring on her finger.

"And just for the record, I am crazy. I'm crazy in love with you."

Kat felt guilty for keeping her silence. Brent had done a lot for her since she'd known him. Kat felt indebted to him for his generosity and kindness. He would make a wonderful husband. She watched him get up and begin grilling their dinner. He put two fillets of salmon on the grill and laid a plate of vegetables beside it to roast. Then he sat down beside her and kissed her. When he became more intimate Kat backed away. "You think it's not hard on me too, but it is."

"I'm happy to hear that." He collected himself and took a long swallow of ginger ale. "We can change that at any time. You know, now that we are an exclusive couple we could make love. We are promised to one another."

Was that why he had proposed? "I don't think so. I don't think that's how it works." She had not promised anything but she supposed accepting the ring did make them a couple.

"It works for the Royal family of England."

"I don't follow the Royal Family of England." Kat looked shyly down at the ring. "I try to do what God wants me to do." It was the first time she had broached the subject. If they were going to marry they needed to talk about it.

"I don't mind going to church," Brent got up to check their meal. He brought the food over to the table and dished it out. "In fact, in many ways it's a good business practice. But I won't lie to you, Kat, I'm not a Christian, not like you anyway."

Kat had not gone back to church since the funeral. She was not sure what 'a Christian like you' meant. She felt guilty for leaving her mother on the night of her death, allowing her to die alone. Shame filled her heart. She felt angry that she was alone without a mother or a father and although she was still committed to living a Christine life, she had lost her relationship with Christ. She had even let go of daily prayer. "I'm not the Christian I should be."

"You are the kindest, sweetest, gentlest, most pure-hearted Christian I know, Kat Keller. If you were any more than you are, you would be an angel."

Kat smiled and hid the fact that she felt like a two-faced double-dealing cheat for going out with Brent when she still harbored feelings for Dade. But what was she supposed to do? How would she ever get over Dade if she didn't find someone to take his place in her heart? She had put her feelings away, telling herself that he did not care for her and that it was best to move on. Now, just when this kind, generous man beside her walks into her life, so Dade walks back in and stirs up her old feelings for him. It just wasn't fair. Why had he come to the funeral? What had he wanted to talk to her about? She wished she were an angel, maybe it would be easier than being a human with a broken heart. "Humans can't become angles. They are two separately created beings. One is flesh; the other is spirit, though angels have been known to take on human likeness."

Brent laughed, "You are such a Bible nerd, and you know, I love that about you."

Brent kissed her passionately at the end of their night together. "Actually, I do have to go out of town for a couple of weeks. It would be the perfect time for you to take this trip up to Tennessee."

They stood at the door to her apartment. It was just like Brent to push her from considering a trip back home to actually making a plan to go. She would have to face the questions in her heart. Even if she went just to see her aunt and uncle, she'd be sure to run into Dade. And she was still grieving with her emotions running high and low. She felt vulnerable. "Okay," she said. "I'll tell my aunt I'm coming."

*****

A few days before she left, Kat opened the Style section of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution and saw a picture of herself in the About Town section with the caption, "Carroll Caught Cheating on Starr." Beside Kat's photo was a photo of Courtney Starr, the country singer Brent used to date. In the article, Kat read that she and Brent were getting married in September. Kat called Brent immediately. Brent hedged her questions but Kat insisted he meet her for coffee.

"You can blame my mother for that one," Brent explained. "She called the papers and set the date."

"But we weren't going to set a date. Remember?" He seemed ambivalent towards his mother's scheming. Didn't he care about what his mother had done?

"Welcome to my life, Kat. My mother is a force to be reckoned with. And my father is worse. Thank goodness he's living in Italy."

Kat knew about Brent's home life. His father had fallen in love with a young Italian woman and left his wife of thirty years. Brent's mother had grown bitter and jealous over it and Kat couldn't blame her, but nosing into their life and setting the wedding date without even consulting her was a terrible sign. "Just because she's set a date means nothing, Brent. We are not getting married in September. She will have to unset it."

"You should be flattered, Kat. She loves you. She's so relieved I'm not marrying Courtney that she is grabbing onto you with two fists. She even wants you to move in."

Brent's sprawling mansion, large enough for her to have a suite of rooms separate from Brent, would make her constantly available to Brent and his mother, not to mention constantly within their sights. "No."

He pursed his lips, and Kat felt her palms begin to sweat. "A two-fisted grab is not a good way to enter into a family Brent. I am so surprised that you are taking her side."

"There are no sides. I admit my mother can be manipulative but as you are my finance, she is right. After all, you are going to be part of our family."

Suddenly the space between them seemed too small. She had to get away. "I'll think about it," she relented, but only to move on. Her thoughts were reeling. He was the one being manipulative. She was not his finance, that's not what they had agreed upon. "I know you are anxious to get to the airport, so let's just drop this." Kat took a deep breath. "We can talk about it when we get back." She looked down at the diamond ring he had given her. She should never have accepted it.

Chapter 3

"Before I leave to visit my aunt and uncle, I need to get some things from my mother's place." Kat took a bite of her mandarin salad. It was a warm July day and she had talked Theresa into taking a break from the gallery to eat lunch at Pitty Pat's Porch not far from where Kat's mother had lived. "I wonder if you wouldn't mind going to my mother's condo with me after lunch?" Kat did not want to go in alone.

"Of course" Theresa said and they walked the short distance up the block to where Nora Keller had lived. A blast of cold air hit them as soon as Kat unlocked the door. Kat shivered. "I haven't been in here since her funeral. Is the air conditioning on?"

Theresa looked at the temperature controls. "It says off."

"But it's cold in here and hot outside."

"Maybe your Realtor showed it to some buyers earlier this morning," Theresa said. "Sometimes they'll turn the air on for a while before they show it."

"That's true." Kat headed into the bedroom, trying not to look around too much. Her art hung on every wall. She felt a lump in her throat when she spotted the framed photo of her mom and dad on her mother's bedside table.

"You might want to keep that." Theresa touched the photo.

Beside it was the photo of Kat and Dade that she wanted. Kat took both.

"Who is that?" Theresa asked about the other photo.

"Dade Mathers. He's about nine in that photo because I'm seven. He practically grew up with us. His dad is Buddy Mathers, the famous hermit that helps hikers on the Appalachian Trail."

"I met Dade at the funeral. He told me all about his dad. What a cool father."

"Not really. His dad is a recluse. He wasn't much of a father to Dade so my father looked after him like a son. I'll see him again when I go up there." Kat's heart fluttered. She stuffed the photos in a tote bag, and then took her mother's Bible out from the bedside table drawer and put that in the bag as well. When she stood ready to go, her cell phone fell out of her purse. She reached down under the bed and pulled out a gaudy cross hanging from a heavy metal chain. "What is this?"

Theresa shook her head.

"What, tell me? Have you seen this before?"

"I'm not sure," Theresa stammered.

"It's probably from one of my mom's costumes she made for the church plays." Kat's mom had been handy with a sewing machine. "It looks like a prop for the Sound of Music. Maybe one of the crosses the nuns wore."

Theresa nodded. "That's gotta be it."

"I'll just return it to the church before I leave." She grabbed her cell phone from underneath the bed. "Let's go. I feel like I'm going to start crying any minute." Kat said good-bye to Theresa and then headed for her apartment to pack her car. It would be good to get out of the city and into the cool, shady countryside.

Kat locked up her apartment and threw her suitcase into her car. She drove through the city and just as she passed the hospital she saw Brent walking up the street. She pulled over. "Brent?"

"My trip ended early." He looked at her car. "Kat, maybe you shouldn't drive up there now."

"This is so confusing. You can't just cancel my trip too. Everything is planned. My car is packed." She saw a shadow cross his face. "Brent you knew I was leaving, why are you acting like this? What is going on?"

"I'm upset you're leaving, that's what's going on. I got back early and I thought I'd surprise you. I thought you'd be glad to find me home so soon."

Kat bit her lip. "My aunt and uncle are expecting me."

"I wish you wouldn't go. Now I'll be in town and you won't."

Kat looked at him closely. He looked disheveled and distracted, worry lined his face. She got out of her car and hugged him, "I'll be back soon." A little ways down the street she saw his car. It was a convertible and in the passenger seat she saw a vase of flowers. "You bought me flowers?" She walked towards his car.

He ran ahead of her. "I wanted to surprise you."

"Brent, that's so sweet." she laughed and took the vase of flowers from the front seat before he could reach them. She saw a card.

"Kat, wait, don't!"

"They're beautiful!" She was just about to read the card when Brent promptly plucked it from its plastic stem.

"Why did you do that? These aren't for me, are they? These are for someone else. Let me see that card."

"No."

"Who are they for?" Kat grabbed the card from his grasp and read the name Courtney Starr written on the envelope. "Your old girlfriend?"

"She had a breakdown on stage last night," Brent said.

"I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for Courtney."

"She's a friend of the family. I have to go see her."

Kat envisioned smashing the vase of flowers on the sidewalk.

"She's in critical condition at Piedmont. Kat, she almost died last night."

Kat put the flowers back in the front seat of his car. Piedmont hospital was right around the corner. Had he just run into her and made up the 'don't go' stuff? Was Courtney the reason his trip had been canceled?

"Kat, she's a family friend."

"You were on your way to see her." Kat felt like crying but she wouldn't. "You know what, I need to get away and think about us."

"So that's why you're really leaving."

"Maybe it is."

"Fine. Go. And tell your friend Dade I said hello."

"Okay, I will." Kat stomped back to her car and slammed the door. So Brent knew about Dade. Of course he would, he had been at the funeral and heard what Dade had said to her. She looked at him. He stared back at her. She rolled down her window. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," he said.

"I have to go."

"I know."

"I'll call you when I get there."

"Kat, I love you. Courtney means nothing to me anymore."

Kat nodded. "If we get married, the first rule is no more of anything to do with Courtney Starr." She thought he might retaliate with a statement about Dade but he didn't. He only nodded.

"But for now I have to go see her," he said.

"And I have to go too," she answered. She started her car and he kissed her through the open window. "I'll see you in two weeks," she said.

*****

Kat drove the Interstate through Georgia into Tennessee and got off at the exit north of Chattanooga. She zigzagged up Lookout Mountain and exited the familiar back road that lead down the other side to the Keller farmhouse. She had not been here in almost ten years. The sight of the verdant valley below nestled between the mountains took her breath away. She pulled out her cell phone to contact Brent. She wanted to share this moment with someone.

No service. Welcome to rural living. She pulled into a country gas station down the road to use their pay phone. "I'm here," she announced when he picked up his office phone. It was eight in the evening on Saturday night and he was right where she thought he'd be.

"I can't stand that you're gone," he confessed.

"You sound like your mother."

"I need you here. I don't know what I'm doing without you."

A pinch of fear squeezed into her thoughts as she realized how very alone she was—Brent had been with her every day since her mother's death. "It's only a few days."

"But I miss you already. Look at me in my office at this hour. If you were here we'd be out having fun."

She could easily turn around. "I miss you, too." She had not arranged the trip very well. She had not even told her aunt and uncle what day she was coming, though she had written to them. They'd never know if she turned around now. But then her chance would vanish. It had been hard persuading Brent that she needed to go. But he would understand. Maybe he would come with her. "Brent, I think I--". Just then the sun turned the sky pink over the horizon. In the green meadow below a herd of Holstein cows grazed. The sight stirred something in her heart that she had not felt in a long time, not since she and her mother had moved to Atlanta. They had never returned, never visited, never even talked about their old home and now she knew why. Nora Keller had lost the love of her life and run away. Kat had been so wrapped up in her own grief she had not considered her mother's feelings. What else might returning to this sleepy little town reveal to her? She bit back her next words.

"Just stay in touch. Skype me every morning at work," Brent said.

"Okay."

"Tell me again exactly where you are."

Kat gave him the address of the Keller farmhouse.

"That's in the middle of nowhere."

"It's about three hours north of Atlanta."

"I might be up if I can get away."

"Okay," but Kat doubted it.

Returning to her car, Kat turned onto the winding rutted driveway of the Keller farmhouse. There were potholes the size of moon craters blocking her way but she weaved between them. Butterflies stirred her stomach. She turned on the radio and the lyrics of a love song confronted her with another reason for coming, a reason she continually ignored.

Kat pictured Dade as she'd seen him at the funeral and felt the familiar rejection she always associated with him. What had he wanted to talk about? The singer wailed on over her own broken heart. She peeked at herself in the rear view mirror and noticed the hurt on her face. "I hate country music," she said and turned off the radio.

Chapter 4

Dade Mathers preferred to sit with Barney in the kitchen of the Fish and Game Club rather than listen to the greedy jabbering in the dining hall. "They will never give up on that real estate deal."

Barney turned his attention away from an industrial size pot of boiling potatoes and gave him a crooked gap-toothed smile, "Well, look what the cat dragged in." The timer on the stove went off. "The star of the Daily Rainbow."

"Nothing's going to happen to the Fish and Game Club." Every time Dade read anything in the Daily Rainbow newspaper that he knew the inside story on, the article was always biased, and this morning's article was no exception. It was clear the paper sided with the developers.

"Except that there will be a different sort of fellow wanting to join if the Keller's sell, you know that." Barney wiped the steamy sweat from his forehead and sat down to shuck another few dozen ears of corn while the ceiling fans blew hot air around the kitchen. It was Saturday night with a full house of club members who wanted their supper.

"Nobody who can afford the type of housing the developers are proposing is going to want to join this run down place." Dade motioned to the ancient kitchen equipment and the dining hall beyond, furnished in handmade tables and benches. Even the dorms were old and sparse: two sets of bunk beds and two single beds in each room along with a shared bath with three other sets of rooms, no drawers, no mirrors, not even a counter. The showers trickled water and the toilets only flushed a few times in a row.

Barney shook his head. "You know as well as anyone that buildings can be renovated. The value of this place is in the land."

Dade's Fish and Game Club contained a spring fed lake for swimming and fishing, several hundred acres of dedicated hunting land with turkeys, duck, wild boar, and deer, and fifty more acres of nature trails tended by Hokey, the official Fish and Game Club gardener, so kids could hike and play without fear of gunshots. Hokey, a man as old as the kitchen equipment, and Barney lived in a tiny three-room cottage on the edge of Dade's property. They were Dade's only paid employees. The club was a nice getaway for folks but nothing grand. He built it by renovating his great grandfather's sharecropper housing. Friends and neighbors paid for membership. The dues were low, just enough to keep the place standing.

"Like I said, nothing's going to change around here. We're staying the same. Pan fry me a catfish, would you?" Dade asked.

"You got it, Chief," Barney netted one swimming in the long sink that stood against the sidewall, dressed it, dredged it in flour and spices, and threw it in the pan with some butter. "You find a birch tree yet?"

Dade shook his head. He needed to find a young sapling small enough he could soak and flexible enough to coil into the final central heart-shaped curlicue for the ornate headboard he was making to order for a customer. "I'm about ready to give up but I thought Hokey might know where one is."

"He might if anyone does."

Dade grew quiet.

"What's a matter, son? You got to pull yourself out of this slump."

"I know it."

"I hear they questioned Jason last night about the fire."

"Why are they bothering that kid as if he doesn't have enough troubles? I'd like to tell Sergeant Dumfries to go after the developer that was snooping around here and threatening me. The fellow offers me money for my land, well under its worth I might add, and after I turn him down there's a fire on my property. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out." Dade peeked out the serving window into the dining hall. Every seat had someone in it. He took his plate out to the porch. He didn't want people asking him a lot of questions anyway. He'd once been friends with Jason's brother Matt, and Matt had just gotten out of prison—for arson. It didn't look good for the Younger brothers.

Lenny Harris and Natalie, high school sweethearts that married right out of school, shooed their two young boys from the table to let Dade have a seat. "You're doing the right thing." Lenny referred to the article in the morning paper about the real estate deals Dade had been declining, along with news about the shed fire. Natalie agreed. "There aren't many men who would stand up against all that money being offered to you, and we appreciate it. I don't know what our kids would do without this place."

"I don't know what I'd do without all of you," Dade said.

"Hang tight. It'll pass."

Dade knew that Lenny meant more than just the land deal.

"You can't let Kat Keller get the best of you. God will provide. You just need to forget about her."

"I'm a bigger fool than anybody I know, letting my imagination take me to a place it was never meant to go." Dade had hoped to rekindle their relationship at Nora's funeral but Kat had been inconsolable, then the news of Kat's engagement a short time later closed that opportunity completely. He had one more chance with her, albeit a slim one. "Ken and Mary are a little disappointed she hasn't shown up yet."

"I've been praying for you to let it go," Lenny said.

"Me, too," Dade shrugged. It had been more than a month ago that Ken and Mary hoped for a visit from Kat but nothing had yet come of it. "It's not meant to be."

"There's a lot fish in the sea, right?" Lenny said.

"I guess when I went to the funeral and saw her, I should have known, you know? She really isolated herself from everyone. She barely nodded at me." Dade still felt the hurt of her total rejection.

"Kat was like that at her dad's funeral. Remember how she hid in the closet?"

Dade smiled. "Yeah, I remember." He would never forget the day he fell in love, seeing the fierce Kat Keller crumpled in her father's closet, her dark eyes peering up at him, her curly hair framing her tender face that pleaded with him for comfort. Dade had held her in his arms that day as they grieved together. The loss of Ian Keller his mentor nearly broke him as a young man and his efforts to help Kat through her grief had been more than brotherly, at least on his side. Forever after that, Kat had held his heart.

"Maybe you should go down there again. Go see her. It's better than moping around up here."

"No. She's engaged. I have to respect that. I don't think God would want me tearing something apart that He's trying to bring together." Dade finished up the last of his meal and went to look for Hokey. He found him sitting on a barrel behind the kitchen eating corn. "Nope, never seen a white birch tree in these parts. I've seen the red variety though. I'd look around water. Maybe a seedling sprouted since I looked."

"A seedling would be perfect," Dade said. "Keep your eyes open because I need one."

"For that pretty bed you're making for that rich fellow out in Colorado?" Hokey gnawed at his corn.

"That's right," Dade mounted his horse, Sally. He had just enough daylight to ride up to his grandfather's house on the hill. The house was over a hundred years old with high ceilings and large rooms, impractical to heat and cool, but full of character. It looked run down and abandoned but Dade loved it. He waved goodbye to Hokey and thanked him for keeping an eye out. Sally turned; she knew the way.

Dade hoped to fix it up and live in his grandfather's house. Dade's father, Buddy Mathers, abandoned it and built a smaller, more practical log cabin along a dirt road up the hill from the Keller's, nearby to where Dade lived now. The move was the first sign of his father's burgeoning anti-social behavior appearing in his late twenties. Every year he'd grown worse until, eventually, Dade's father abandoned the log cabin and his family for a cave in the woods, leaving Ian Keller to fill in as a father figure to Dade while Buddy dove deeper and deeper into seclusion.

Ironically, Buddy Mathers grew to become an expert trails man of the Appalachian Mountains adored by trail hikers who sometimes spotted him far up in the hills. Buddy knew every cave and cliff. He found lost hikers, fed them, and set them back on track. Occasionally he would show up at Dade's house for a visit but he never stayed long, not even after Dade's mother died when Dade was still a minor and needed a father.

Dade worried he might end up suffering the same mental illness as his father. His plans to reunite with Kat could be keeping him from starting a family like the rest of his friends. Was the hope of a life with her just a delusion of his to keep him from having a real relationship? He had to get over her. He willed himself not to look at the house or think of the beautiful dark-eyed and black-haired Kat Keller living with him happily ever after. Lenny was right. He had to stop thinking of her. The half-Irish, half-English girl-grown-to-woman rooted in his heart needed to be weeded out.

Would he ever find someone else to share his life?

He skirted the side of his grandfather's house and rode into the backyard where the view looked west over a steep decline. It gave Dade a good view of the trees below. Perhaps he would spot a white birch here. He pulled out his binoculars and looked carefully down the cliff to a small stream that ran by the Keller farmhouse. Like Hokey, he could not remember seeing a birch tree in these woods, and he'd lived here all his life.

"I might have to travel north to get more birch to finish the headboard for the young couple," he said to Sally. Sally whinnied back at him. "I could drive up there and buy what I need, or order it over the Internet."

Dade had ordered what he thought was enough, but it turned out he couldn't help using a little more. The bed was going to be one of his best. He was a perfectionist when it came to his craft. The young couple planned to put the bed in a tree house. The newlyweds sent him a picture of the tree house and the dimensions, asking Dade to make sure the bed would fit.

"Some people just have it all." Sally nodded in agreement. "Why is that? They got love, they got money, they just about got my pretty bed, and they got a tree house and a rather large regular house. Oh, and she has a nice daddy and so does he. They got a yacht the size of my lake, and a stable nicer than my house." Dade checked himself. "I shouldn't be counting." It just didn't seem fair.

Dade tried hard to do the right things in life. "I help at the pancake breakfast every Christmas and I take care to help the poorer folks around me, shoot them some deer every winter, turkeys at Thanksgiving, a wild pig here and there. I try to be a good person. All I need is one birch tree on this hill," he said to Sally who nickered in agreement.

Dade believed God would bring him a woman to share his life with, although probably not one named Kat Keller, as he'd always thought. Kat probably deserved more than he could give her, and now she had it in Mr. Brent Carroll, a southern real estate developer, so rich that he owned his own bank.

A flash of light on the road below caught his eye. He lowered the binoculars and spotted a bright yellow SUV stirring up the gravel, its chrome flashing in the low sunlight as it bumped along the rutted road.

The SUV was going way to fast. What was it doing on that road anyway? No one used that road anymore unless he was driving an army tank. A little ball of fur darted out of the woods in front of the vehicle. He checked his binoculars: a bear cub.

"Good, Lord, Father, that car's going to kill that cub." The fat, black, ball of fur wiggled across the road. Behind it, a much larger and infinitely more dangerous mother bear hid in the woods at the edge of the road. Dade threw the binoculars into his sack and grabbed his reins.

Sally and he plummeted down the cliff with rocks flying in their wake. Dade's horse took the steep hill in complete faith. Dade landed them at the bottom unscathed.

Just in time the SUV screeched to a halt. The mother bear and driver stared at each other, eye-to-eye.

"Stay in the car!" Dade yelled, "Don't move!"

Dade watched the car skid out in reverse. The back end flew out and the front end hit a deep hole. Quickly Dad pulled the rifle out of his pack. "Didn't I just tell that car not to move?" he asked Sally. He shook his head as he watched the mother bear charge, ramming her head into the side of the car, then turning to the front and ramming it again. Already off balance, the SUV teetered on two wheels for a moment, then fell over. "That poor bear's going to have a bad headache." To save her from a second charge, Dade shot the rifle harmlessly into the air, careful to tilt it slightly away and out of range of anything other than trees. The mother bear turned and ran, her little troublemaker scurrying along behind her and off into the woods.

Dade dismounted and peeked into the driver's window. Kat Keller lay unconscious on her side with her black hair across her face. Quickly, he opened the car door and unbuckled her belt. He pulled her from the car. He touched the ivory face framed in dark curls with brows over what he knew were hazel colored eyes. He had thought never to hold her again and here she was in his arms. "Kat?"

Chapter 5

Kat felt his hot breath on her face. She remembered the sound of the rifle. I'm shot. She tried to open her eyes to see who he was and a wave of nausea assaulted her. She felt so confused. She heard the anxious neighing of a horse nearby and smelled the acrid scent of gun powder.

"Are you okay, Kat?" The man's soothing voice, tender and filled with concern, sounded familiar.

"I think so," Kat touched her forehead, trying to locate the pain. "I have a terrible headache."

"Yes, and you have a knot the size of a grapefruit."

"My back hurts. I'm shot."

"No, you're not shot. And that scrapped back is my fault, I'm afraid. I pulled you out of the car but I had to drag you across the gravel."

"Thanks," she struggled to sit up, and opened one eye at a time to guard against another wave of nausea. Everything looked blurry and out of focus. "I think that's what woke me up."

"Sorry."

"No, really, I mean it. Thanks for helping me. I can't believe what happened."

"It's pretty unusual." He let go of her so she sat on her own.

Kat scrambled around in her dazed brain to make the identification. The man said, "You got between her and her cub."

"Was it a grizzly?"

"No, just a little black bear. I've seen those two before. There's some construction going on further up the mountain and they bulldozed her den. Usually the bears stay out of the way."

"She wrecked my Land Rover."

"It's got a few dents. It looks like you might have broken the axle."

Kat's heart pounded as if her unconscious already knew who the man was and was warning her to stay away. Kat wobbled as she got to her feet, her head swam in a dizzy swirl, and she grabbed his hand to steady herself. Her eyes came to focus on the handsome sandy blond-haired man with the deep blue eyes and her knees buckled. He held her steady. "Dade?"

"I knew it was you when you didn't listen to me and backed your car up."

"Dade Presley Mathers!" Kat's thumping heart unnerved her.

"So you remember me," Dade laughed. "I wasn't so sure you even knew who I was. You must've hit your head pretty badly."

"Of course I remember you. I was just a little dizzy. You look bigger." She had heels on the last time she'd seen him at the funeral. He had to be at least six feet tall.

"You too."

"Thank you very much." Kat stumbled on the gravel.

"Whoa," Dade grabbed her arm again.

"Ow, my head," she winced at the sudden jolt.

"Better let me help you. Can I get your bags? I'll load them on Sally and we can walk the rest of the way, if you feel up to it."

Kat nodded.

He clambered through the car's back window and pushed her bag out, carried it over to his horse, hooked the handle of her bag around the horn of the horse's saddle, then led the horse by her reigns. "I'm afraid riding Sally would be a bit bumpy for you, maybe give you more of headache than you already have." They headed toward the farmhouse on foot. He held her arm to steady her.

Kat braced herself as they headed down the familiar road. She couldn't wait to see the house she grown up in. "I feel like I'm walking back into my childhood. Even you're still hanging around my house, only this time with my uncle instead of my father." Kat careened from side to side. She tried to concentrate but her thoughts raged and her ears rang. She couldn't tell if it was from the wash of emotions she felt at being home again and seeing Dade or the hit on the head.

"Actually, I'm kind of glad you're here." he said.

"What possible difference could it make to you whether I visit my family or not?"

"Still the same old Alley Kat," he used his nickname for her. "I was just saying it because they need a lot of help."

Kat stopped, pulling her arm out of his grasp. "Don't call me Alley Kat."

"Okay, let's try this once more, right from the beginning. We're getting off to a very bad start."

"Why don't we start by you not hanging around my family all the time." She knew she was being unreasonable.

Dade said, "It's very nice to see you again Miss Keller. You're looking beautiful, as always. I see you've kept your trim figure."

"I'll thank you not to refer to my figure." Kat shook him off and walked without him. Dade was making her churlish. Her heart fluttered at the sight of the Keller farmhouse as they round the bend in the road. An elderly couple hurried off the porch, waving at her. Kat glanced at Dade who smiled broadly at the reunion, his good nature rising above her fractious one. What was he so happy about anyway?

"We heard the shots. Kat." Her Uncle Ken threw his arms around her in a bear hug, "I can't believe it's you. Are you okay?"

For a minute he looked just like her father, same build with a head full of short and wiry curly black hair like her own but turned to salt and pepper, and the same lopsided grin. He smelled of Old Spice aftershave, coffee, and mountain air. "I'm fine."

Her Aunt Mary squeezed between them and kissed Kat's cheek. "You darling girl, you came! Are you okay? Why didn't you call?" Mary inspected the bump on Kat's head, and then took inventory of every other bump and bruise. "We'll need some ice for that head," she ordered Dade.

Mary led Kat underneath the porch light for a closer examination of her back. "I'm fine," Kat laughed. Her jitters with Dade were pated by the joy of being with her relatives. "A little shocked but fine. At first I thought Dade shot me."

Dade returned with the ice and handed it to her. Mary kissed him on the cheek and Kat huffed at her affection of him. He shrugged apologetically at Kat.

"Well, you're both okay and that's all that's important." Mary turned to Ken, "We need to fix those potholes."

"I thought that bear cub was a big dog, so I honked at it. Then the mother jumps out of the woods and charges at my car."

"I was sitting on the hill watching the sun go down. I saw the whole thing. I pulled Kat out of the car but I scraped her back. I was afraid the car would catch fire." Dade offered a chair to Kat, but when she hesitated, he laughed. "I grew out of that trick of pulling the seat out from under people, Kat. I'm not twelve anymore."

Mary put ice on the bump on Kat's forehead, and sent Dade back to the kitchen for a bowl of warm, soapy water. "Your back probably hurts more than your head." Mary modestly lifted the back of her shirt and washed her wounds with the soapy water.

"Not until you started cleaning it." Kat held tightly to the front of her blouse, glancing at Dade who had respectfully turned the other way.

"You're in good hands now," said Ken. "Mary's nursed more wounds than I care to count."

"For once I'm glad you had that shotgun with you. Dade is always armed," laughed Mary.

"Ouch." Kat jumped as Mary dug out flecks of stone from the scrape on her back.

"That was the deepest piece, hon."

Kat winced at the sight of blood on the tweezers.

"Everything I do after this is going to hurt less than that one." Mary turned to Dade, "Please get the iodine."

Dade yielded to Mary without question, very uncharacteristic of the boy Kat once knew. He dutifully brought her the iodine.

"This won't hurt a bit. That's the best thing about iodine. Not like these new creams and sprays they have. It makes a pretty mess, too."

"Better take a look at the gas tank and siphon it out before night falls," Ken suggested to Dade. "It could start a fire. I got a gas can 'round back of the house in the workshop. Maybe we can stand the car upright. Bring Sally."

"Watch out for bears," Kat called out to them as they departed.

They laughed.

Kat turned to her aunt, "I'm going to give Dade a piece of my mind for dragging me over the gravel."

"I suppose he was anxious to get you out of the car in case it exploded. You were lucky he was around. That's Dade for you; breeze doesn't blow that he doesn't know about."

"He's always been nosy."

"I didn't mean it that way. He's a real catch around here. Or did you fail to notice how tall and handsome he's become?"

"I guess I missed that." But she hadn't. Even in her dazed, dizzy, and semi-conscious state she'd seen it.

"The girls at church swarm over him like bees to honey."

"Oh, come on, Aunt Mary, Dade, that backwoods hillbilly? You can hardly understand him when he talks."

"You forget that's how everyone talks around here. You'll get used to the accent again. And Dade's no slouch. He sells handmade furniture all over the country, writes books on hunting and fishing, and lives off the land like a true outdoors man."

"My daddy taught him everything he knows about making furniture."

"The point being there is that he learned everything your daddy taught him, and was willing to learn even more. He's sharp and has a good head on his shoulders not just for looking at."

"Sounds like he's stolen half your heart already, Aunt Mary."

"I guess he has."

Kat could hear the smile in her aunt's voice.

Returning with the gas can, Ken held a small bouquet of blue cornflowers for Mary from those growing wild on the side of the drive. "My sweetheart's favorite," he offered them to her like the Picasso valentine in Hand with Bouquet.

Mary hugged him.

Dade groaned playfully. "They're always like this; you'd think they were two honeymooners."

I want a man love me like that. Brent in his three piece suit gathering wild flowers for her...fade to buying wild flowers at the local florist...fade to flowers in his car...fade to anger.

"I didn't want her to be jealous," Ken disappeared into the house, and returned with a bouquet of red roses. "These came for you earlier. I guess we had a heads up that you were coming."

Kat opened the card: I miss you already, Love Brent. A guilt offering. She set them on the table.

Mary asked about Kat's wedding plans.

"I'm not sure when it will be," Kat hedged, "but, of course, whenever it is you must all come to the wedding. Just don't pay any attention to anything my soon-to-be mother-in-law or her friends might say to you."

"We'd certainly like to, that is, if you think it's okay. I know we don't fit in with that crowd." Her aunt looked insulted.

It had been a dubious invitation. Kat began to back-pedal. "Oh, of course Mrs. Carroll will welcome you. It's just...well, she's a bit different. She says things without thinking." Ken, Mary and Dade looked at each other in confusion. Kat tried to explain again, "What I mean is, I really want you to come." She turned to Ken, "Do you think, well, if you wouldn't mind, do you think you could walk me down the aisle?"

Ken scratched his head, "Now that's a tough question to answer. How about, yes?" He hugged Kat. "I was wondering if you were going to ask."

"You and Aunt Mary can stay at my apartment, or even in Mom's condo for that matter, if it's not sold yet."

"Either one will be just fine," Mary said.

"And of course, Dade, you're invited too." The lone wolf expression on his face caught her by surprise.

"I think I'll pass and keep a look out up here, make sure everything's okay."

"I'm sure the bears will behave." Kat chuckled but she laughed alone. "What did I say?" she asked at the sudden silence.

Dade quickly downed his lemonade, "I should get Sally home."

"Now wait a minute, Dade. You can't just up and walk out, though you're good at it."

Mary cleared her throat. "We're more worried about the two-legged animals up here than the four-legged ones."

Ken added, "The ones on two are more treacherous."

"Dade?" Kat prodded.

"There's been some vandalism."

"Dade," Kat demanded.

"All right, some pyromania."

"Someone's been starting fires?" Kat turned to her aunt and uncle. "I want to know everything, right now," Kat said.

Ken looked apologetically at Mary, "We didn't want to tell you so soon. We don't want to scare you away, but someone's been threatening Dade to sell his property."

"I'll never sell."

"They burned a building on his property," Ken said.

Kat gasped, "Not that pretty stone house on the hill! Oh, they couldn't have."

"Not that one. An old horse stable but it could have started the whole forest on fire. And when I find out who did it, they're going to be behind bars for a long time." Dade clenched his fists.

Kat recognized the hard look on Dade's face, the one he'd worn permanently as a boy. "But who would do that?"

"I was approached by a representative for a private investor a few months ago. I just blew it off; people ask to buy my land all the time. This guy was different though, very intense, wouldn't take no for an answer, even came by my house. Finally, he left town. Then this happened."

"You think he started the fires trying to get you to sell?" Kat asked.

"Who else?"

She turned to her aunt and uncle, "Did they approach you?"

Ken said, "I instructed our lawyer to decline any offers to sell below a certain amount of money."

"But why would someone who wants to buy the land do such a thing when they could've started the whole forest on fire? If they want the land, they don't want it burnt." The two properties together were just under a thousand acres of prime forestland in the Smokey Mountains, right next to the national forest. A fire on either property was a concern to both parties.

"Some people don't take no for an answer," Dade reminded her, "especially when it involves a lot of money."

Kat's mother never mentioned the monetary value of the Keller property. "What did they offer you?"

"Not much. Not that it matters, but I've had a whole lot better offers."

"What about recently, Uncle Ken. Has anyone offered you money lately?"

Ken nodded but quickly ended the conversation. "We don't need to be talking about that now. My goodness, let's just enjoy what's left of the evening."

Her uncle looked tired and pale, symptoms of the heart condition that made him more prone to the affects of stress. Perhaps it was a good thing that Dade had been checking in on them. She smiled gratefully at Dade now that she understood the danger involved.

"Enough of all this," Dade eased the tension, "Whoever started that fire is probably long gone now that he knows I don't scare easily." He pulled out a deck of dog-eared playing cards, evidently postponing his earlier decision to leave.

"Rummy is my favorite card game," she warned.

They spent the rest of the evening sitting on the porch joking about the bad-mannered forest animals and catching up on other news. When Kat won five hundred points first Dade gathered his cards. "Don't forget to lock your doors tonight." He trotted off the porch and turned off a garden hose that had been watering the vegetable garden. Then he walked down to the barn door and locked it.

"He acts like he lives here," Kat remarked.

"He practically does," Mary laughed.

Than night, just to be on the safe side Kat locked the screens on the windows in her bedroom. The loft bed and bath where she slept looked out onto ground level as the old farmhouse was built on a hill. She undressed and slipped under the sheets, lying on her side, her sore back modestly opened to the night air. She listened to the bullfrogs croaking by the creek not far away. It felt good to be in a house with people she loved and who loved her. She felt more relaxed and content than she could remember. She felt so at peace with herself.

Maybe she'd stay longer than two weeks.

Chapter 6

A week later, Kat spotted the bear at the edge of the woods near her house. "You mean you didn't get rid of that bear? I've been walking around in the woods by myself for a whole week with that bear still around?" The bear lumbered across the hill into the woods, her little cub following behind. "I thought you shot her."

"Of, course not. Why should I do that?" Dade looked at her like she was crazy.

"All this time the bear could have been stalking me."

Dade covered a smile.

"Dade Presly Mathers! That bear tried to kill me."

He winced when she mentioned his middle name. "She was just protecting her little one. If I shot her, what would her poor orphaned baby do? You don't really want me to kill her, do you?"

Kat sat quietly at the breakfast table considering the cuteness of the little cub. "No, of course not. I just don't want to be thinking she's my neighbor. Can't you scare her away, far away? I just assumed you took care of her in some way."

"I just scared them back into the woods. I shot into the air, not at the bears."

"That bear is out there running around."

Dade laughed, "Looking for her next victim."

Even her aunt chuckled. Kat shook her head, pushing aside Brent's bouquet of roses to make room for a plate of scrambled eggs with spinach that her aunt had made for them. Mary cooked greens at every meal for Ken in hopes that it would improve his heart disease.

"Mary's not too bad with a rifle. She'll protect you," Dade said. "I wouldn't bet on him, though," he pointed to Ken snoring on the porch. "Even a roaring bear wouldn't wake him."

Kat slid the whole pile of eggs and greens onto her plate. She smiled at Dade.

Dade crossed his arms. "I forgot you woke up mean in the morning."

"And I forgot how you always come here hungry."

He threw his napkin on the table in mock anger. "I think I'll go have breakfast with that she bear. I'm particular about who I'll eat with."

Mary shook her head at Kat.

"He's always hanging around here," Kat complained. "Just like when he was a kid. What's he doing here so early in the morning anyway?"

"He usually comes to check on us in the morning. You haven't run into him before because you sleep late."

"He doesn't need to be here while I'm here." Kat said.

Mary shrugged her shoulders. "He knows a lot about what needs to be done."

"I know what to do."

"This past week Dade has taken the trash to the dump, mowed the lawn, cleaned out the gutters, brought us groceries from town, painted part of the shed, tended the garden, and probably five or ten other little things that I didn't notice."

Kat considered her uncle sleeping in the chair. When he did help around the house, the work exhausted him so that it was hardly worth the effort. Mary had enough on her hands feeding and caring for him. "I guess I should have let him have a little breakfast."

Mary laughed, "The least we can do is feed him."

"It's hard for me to see him around here all the time. It reminds me of when he kind of took over my dad right before he died."

"You got mighty jealous as I recall from your father's letters. Our feelings of jealousy can tell us something about ourselves. They let us know what we yearn for and how to get it."

"More attention from my father?"

Mary shook her head, "That's the feeling in it's jealous mode. What was the true feeling, the one you had before you blamed it on your father or Dade?"

"I was lonely."

Mary nodded. "That's right, and God can help you with that."

"I am sure He can if He wants to," Kat started in on the breakfast dishes.

"Oh, He wants to, Kat."

Kat shrugged. She wasn't so sure. "If God cared about my loneliness wouldn't he have saved my mother from cancer and protected my father from the car accident?"

"So that's why you won't come to church." Mary and Ken had gone to Sunday service without her. "God is spirit child. He's not a fleshly animal like us. He saved your mom and dad as sure as He saves all who believe in his Son. Both your parents were faithful to the end."

Kat couldn't argue with that but she didn't have to like it. "I won't be alone for long. I'll marry Brent and have kids right away. I need people around me, Aunt Mary."

After doing the breakfast dishes, she trekked up the hill in front of the farmhouse to make a call on her cell phone to Dade. "The axle is broken, just as we suspected, and a new one is on order from the manufacturer. Turns out nobody drives that road anymore, that's how bad it is. The church built a whole new road. In any case, the axle may take a while to get here." It was so quiet she could hear the grass growing. "Brent? Are you there?"

"Kat," he finally spoke, "I miss you so much. I'll come and get you today. Please tell me you will come home."

"Do we have to go through this every time I call?" she answered. Her aunt and uncle had no Internet connection and so no Skyping was available. It was lucky she got a cell connection but she had to go all the way up the hill to get it. It was an effort to call and the calls often left her anxious.

"I just want you home."

"I'll be home soon," she said, but the old farmhouse felt more like home every day. "It's just that my car is still in the shop. They're waiting for a part."

"I told you I'll come get you."

"I can't. I need the car. Why don't you come up for a visit? Maybe you'd like it up here. Maybe we could live up here."

"I can't leave the bank. There's no way we could live up there, you know that. When are you coming back? Can you give me a date at least?"

"I'll let you know tomorrow."

"What is that sound I hear?" he asked.

"Aunt Mary is shooting tin cans." Another tin can sitting on a tree stump pinged, then another on the washing line pole, then a small tomato paste can on the old water pump. Her aunt pulled the trigger again. Bang! Ping! She nicked a can off a bench by the stream. "She's practicing with her rifle."

"Your aunt has a gun?"

"She's a great shot. Everyone up here has a gun."

"I don't like that. Guns are dangerous."

"It's a different lifestyle up here. I'm perfectly fine, great even."

"You mean you're fine without me."

"I didn't mean it that way. I meant you shouldn't worry." These phone calls to Brent were exhausting. Usually she went along with whatever he wanted but standing up for herself was turning out to be a contest of wills. She finally said good-bye, turned off her cell phone, and looked out from the hill at the farmhouse in the morning light. It was a picture worth painting, a charming house in the woods by a stream with a hill of grass nearby and the beautiful old oak tree that had inspired her love for trees and the painting she'd sold to Brent. Beneath the grand old tree were several family graves, including her father's, and beside them a bench, a peaceful spot to sit and pray.

Then she remembered the bear and turned quickly around to look behind her. No sign of any bears, but there was a trail leading into the woods and up to Dade's house, and a second trail off that which she could not recall. She headed into the woods to find out where it led.

The trail skirted a steep cliff and a canopied underpass so thick with wisteria vines that it shutout the sunlight. Void of their heady spring flowers, the vines were still strikingly beautiful in summer with their graceful cascade from the tops of the trees that edged a banked cliff, down past the path to the bottom of the steep escarpment on the other side. Sheltered from wind and rain and blanketed in silence, she stepped into the underpass and an eerie premonition made her skin tingle. She heard the rustling of leaves and spotted birds darting in and out of the vines. Cautiously Kat continued, the way ahead indistinct in the dim light. She heard rustling behind her but the trail was too narrow and too dim for her to see what had made the noise. It veered to the left, further obscuring the light shining through the opening. Kat picked up her speed partly from a lingering and unexplained uneasiness, and partly from a natural desire to pass quickly through the dark passageway. She heard a twig snap behind her that made her jump. She took a few cautious steps and heard the sound again. She froze. Someone or something was following her. She swallowed thickly, "Who are you? What are you doing here? This is private property." her property to be exact, or was it Dade's? She wasn't sure of the borders on this new path.

A figure appeared at the bend in the path behind her, a murky light shadowing his features as he brazenly he walked towards her. Kat recalled her aunt's admonition to give more caution to animals on two legs. "Stay right there," she ordered but to no avail. The man took a few more steps toward her. Kat dashed away from him, only to hear his labored breathing running behind her.

The steep drop to the left where the vines grew terrified her. He could push her off the cliff. Around the bend a ray of light appeared and promised the end of the underpass, giving her a boost of encouragement. Kat sprinted towards it, only to trip and stumble on a root in the ground. Her stride widened wildly as she fought for balance, losing the precious lead over her pursuer. He gained on her and roughly shoved her into the wall rather than off the cliff. She fell awkwardly onto her arm in the dirt. A sharp pain made her yell, "Get away from me!"

"Go home, if you know what's good for you." The man threatened, leaning menacingly over her.

"Get off my land," Kat kicked him in the shin and he bolted. She scrambled to her feet to get a better look at him, but he disappeared further up the cliff. "And don't come back." She reached the end of the underpass. She looked around. He could be anywhere.

She continued on the path which she could see led to the church. Her arm swelled up fast. She needed help. Coming to the door to the church, she faltered. She had not entered a church building since her mother's funeral.

"Miss?" A bearded man dressed in khakis and a white collared shirt peeked out from behind the side of the white washed church, his light eyes full of sympathy. "What happened?"

"Someone pushed me down and I hurt my arm." Kat recounted the incident. "I didn't get a good look at him but his voice sounded old."

"Looks like a bad bruise."

"I think I broke it."

"Nah, you couldn't move it like that if it was broke."

"Are you sure?"

"The only way to be sure is to get it x-rayed. I can take you into town, but I can't stay. I've got a big wedding today."

Kat debated. "Maybe I should have my Aunt Mary look at it first. She's a nurse."

"Don't tell me it's Kat Keller? I heard you were in town."

Kat frantically searched his face for recognition. "Reverend Barry." She had not seen him in almost ten years.

He laughed. "Don't worry; your secrets are still safe with me."

"I'd forgotten all about that part of my life." During the period between her father's death and her move to Atlanta, Kat desperately needed someone in whom she could confide and Reverend Barry often got an earful. "I guess I should be going." Kat wanted to flee, "and..er,.. let you get back to your wedding preparations." There was a florist's van parked not far away.

"Nonsense, I'll walk you home." He added, "I look a little different with a beard, don't I?"

That and the twenty-five extra pounds but Kat just nodded politely.

"I was sorry to hear about your mother. Nora Keller was a fine woman." Reverend Barry led her to the rutted road instead of heading back up the shorter path through the woods, just to be safe. On the road the church's welcome sign read: If you are feeling low come in for a faith lift.

"We've missed you. Ian left an empty hole in this church after his accident. This town was just never the same. Then you and Nora left, then Dade, but he's back."

"Dade left?"

"Yes, shortly after you did. He lived with a foster family after his mother died. She went a year after Ian but then she'd been sick a long time as you know."

"I know he left Rainbow Valley to live with foster parents." It must've been hard for him losing everyone he loved and then having to live with strangers. "My mom offered to bring him with us but he wouldn't come along to Atlanta."

"That would've been very awkward for a boy in love with you."

"Maybe but he wasn't really in love with me. I think I was like a leftover from his love for my father."

Reverend Barry laughed, "A leftover? No, Kat. You are no leftover."

Kat took a deep breath to clear her thoughts. She was marrying Brent. Dade no longer mattered. She tried to concentrate on what Revered Barry was really saying. She answered, "Thank you. I still miss Daddy, too, especially after Mom died. It seems funny to be back here. Nothing else's changed though; even Dade Mathers is hanging around like he used to."

"Ian was everything a young fellow like Dade Mathers could want in a father: great hunter, respected by everyone in town, tough, and a real outdoors man. Dade idolized your dad. He had a hard time when he died." Reverend Barry wiped the sweat from his brow.

"He had a hard time—Dad wasn't even his father. Dade acted like he was—" Kat caught her breath and cut her sentence short, remembering Reverend Barry's sly ways.

"I'm sure you can understand now, being so much older and wiser, why your father reached out to Dade like that. Deserted by his own dad and his mother dying of cancer, Dade was wild. Your dad tamed him, traded the wild lion in him for the Lion of Judah."

"I remember. That was when my father forgot he had a daughter." The lion talk completely confused her but she knew better than to ask for an explanation. The reverend was on Dade's side.

"Ian never forgot about you, Kat. You were the apple of his eye. He was so proud of his girl."

Kat held back tears. Revered Barry could always turn her into to jelly.

He stroked his neatly trimmed beard, a handsome addition to his appearance, "As I recall, you and Dade were pretty close."

"How could I help it? He was around all the time."

"You two were the best of friends, and maybe in the end, a little more than friends?"

Kat shrugged over the unsorted feelings from his abrupt ending of their relationship. "I would've come home to see my aunt and uncle regardless of Dade."

"Of course you would've. There's no doubt about that."

The farmhouse appeared around the bend. "And I'm engaged. Should I really be even talking this way about another man? Isn't that wrong?"

"What's wrong is to not seek God in your decisions. Have you prayed about your engagement to Mr. Carroll?"

"This is the part where I squirm," Kat laughed, recalling the cadence of past conversations with the pastor. "No, I haven't. I haven't done anything about God since my mom died. I'm not sure I want to. I wasn't even going to come into this church, but you met me outside."

"What's this? Remember your roots. You're the daughter of Ian and Nora, two of God's faithful followers, and niece to Mary and Ken who also serve faithfully. You belong to Christ, Kat, he won't let you go. He'll find your lost way and bring you back."

Kat liked his words of reassurance. She wished she had his faith. "It is good to talk to you again."

"Make no mistake," the Revered Barry kept her, "the Lord left to make a place for us. Heaven will hang suspended over the earth, large enough for trillions of people, seven floors made of precious gems and below, the Earth completely restored. All of its animals created in peace and you, Kat, you with your mom and dad and all of the saints will go there. Your parents are already waiting for you. Who is to judge God for bringing your mother now?"

The Twelve Trees by the River of Life pictured what she thought heaven would be like. She liked Reverend Barry's description, too. "How can you be so sure?"

"Why, it's in the Bible. Right there in black and white. Christ has a wonderful plan for us, Kat. You can't read the Bible without always remembering death is a passage to life in heaven. All of the saints write about it. John even saw it. And why wouldn't Christ want to show us some of it? Paul writes he cannot wait to go, though he is willing to stay and serve. Don't let go of your faith, Kat."

"I lost my faith when Mom died." Kat shook her head. "I don't even know if God exists anymore. I miss my mom so much."

"You are grieving. Sometimes we don't feel the presence of Christ in our lives, but he is always there. Death can bring despair and take away our hope and faith in the beauty of God's ultimate plan for us to live in heaven with him. There are all sorts of beliefs out there, I know. Read the Bible because that is where you will find faith, Kat, if that is what you are low on."

Kat didn't want to read the Bible. "You said there is a wedding today. Who's getting married?"

"Clarissa and Mark."

"I knew her. She was a class ahead of me." Clarissa had been a sophomore in high school the last time Kat saw her.

Reverend Barry nodded. "Are you coming?"

"I wasn't invited."

"Oh, you are if you're in town."

"Why?"

"Because everyone's invited. They invited the whole church."

Kat laughed. "She hasn't seen me in nine years."

"Well she can see you today. It's about time."

Kat shook her head. "I can't walk into church without remembering the funeral. I don't go to church anymore."

"You came today."

"I came because I was hurt." She lifted her arm.

"That's why most people come."

Kat rolled her eyes at him and laughter bubbled out of him like tonic. The pastor had always been a happy fellow. His faith made him joyful and Kat loved that about him. She needed more joy in her life.

"You really shouldn't be walking alone," Reverend Barry said on a more serious note.

"It's my property."

"I know, Kat, but the whole town is torn apart about this development plan."

"Dade will never sell."

"What about you?"

Kat shook her head adamantly. "Dad never wanted to sell."

"You must realize that Ken is sick. Heart disease is very unpredictable in the elderly."

"But my aunt is fine."

"She's seventy-four years old; she'll be all alone at the edge of a vast national forest."

"She still does rifle practice every morning," Kat did not think of either of them as frail, though her uncle was sick.

Reverend Barry laughed. "I'm not saying she can't take care of herself, or that there wouldn't be anyone helping her."

"I hadn't thought of Aunt Mary." There was no one else in the Keller family that would take care of her aunt; she and Ken had no children of their own. All this time she had only been thinking of herself.

"She'll want to move down to Atlanta with you and worship with people in the church that knew your mom." When Kat did not answer, Reverend Barry pointed to Kat's arm. "And now another threat, first Dade, now you, that should tell you something about where you stand in all this." Reverend Barry shook his head. "It used to be a right neighborly place, but not anymore."

"Why do you think he would he tell me to go home?" Kat asked about the man who pushed her down.

"I don't know. Things start going bad and it snowballs. It's hard to figure out what people are thinking. One thing for sure is there is trouble afoot. Just don't be walking alone in the woods, even if they are your woods."

A black cloud suddenly billowed up from the hill behind Kat's house. "Is that smoke?"

It mushroomed out, pouring black soot into the sky. "Call the fire department." Kat tossed her phone to Reverend Barry. She raced up the hill and turned onto the path that lead to Dade's house. The smoky air choked her breath and her feet weakened from running.

She found Dade's house unscathed and whispered a prayer of thanks even though she had just confessed a lack of faith to Revered Barry. She pressed on towards an open field not much further away, where another shed dried by years in the sun blazed. In a moment, it exploded into flames, discharging a searing hot wind. The roar drew her back.

By the time the firefighters arrived the shed was destroyed. They used their hoses to soak the pasture land around the shed and prevent sparks from igniting the surrounding woods. Dade arrived with a shovel and a group of friends who dug a trench around the burning timber box. Reverend Barry returned her phone and asked, "When will it end?"

Dade pounded his shovel into the ground and whipped the dirt in the air behind him in rapid succession. Kat stood back, cradling her arm. "I can't believe it," he said to her after digging the trench. He rested his weight on the upright shovel, wiped the smoky ash from his face that dripped with sweat. "Whoever did this is somewhere nearby." He pointed to her arm. "What happened?"

"I'll explain later," She said.

"I'm worried about your aunt and uncle."

Kat nodded and made her way towards the path that led back home. Mary and Ken sat on the porch, firing questions at her as soon as she sat down. A moment later, Officer Dumfries drove up in his patrol car. "I'm waiting for Dade Mathers." He took a glass of lemonade from Mary. "I want to ask him a few questions."

"Why?" Ken asked.

"Just part of the investigation."

"Dade didn't have anything to do with this fire." Ken assured him.

"How do you know that?" Dumfries sipped his drink.

"Because I know Dade Mathers and I know he doesn't start fires."

"Ken," Mary cautioned. "He's not accusing him."

Ken looked sharply at the officer, "He better not be."

Dumfries shrugged. "I'm just doing my job."

If he were doing his job, none of this would be happening. Just then Dade drove up in his jeep. "Look, he's headed this way," Kat pointed. Officer Dumfries could've found Dade at his own place since Dade obviously went home and cleaned up first. He was dressed in a suit and looked like he was going out somewhere.

"I was digging trenches," Dade answered when Sergeant Dumfries asked where he was. "I didn't see you out there helping, Henry."

"We found your gas can by the shed."

"So?"

"Doesn't look good."

"Anyone could've taken my gas can and used it," Dade hit the railing with his fist. "You know I didn't have anything to do with this. Why would I start a fire on my own land?"

Dumfries shrugged.

"You done investigating? Because I'm done answering," Dade sat down on the porch steps, took a glass of lemonade and a sandwich from Mary, and began eating.

"I just came over for a friendly chat and to make sure Ken and Mary were okay," Sergeant Dumfries said.

Mary grabbed the empty glass of lemonade from his hand. "You just told us you were investigating. And Ken and I are fine."

Sergeant Dumfries turned to Dade. "I just think it's kind of strange finding your gas can at the scene of the crime." He tipped his hat and got into his car.

"At least he knows when he's not wanted," Mary said after he'd left.

"Who do you think stole your gas can?" Kat asked.

Dade shook his head. "I can't believe he's questioning me."

Kat told them what happened to her arm.

"When was that?" Mary asked.

"Just before the fire, maybe thirty minutes at the most. I went over to the church and Reverend Barry walked me home."

"The church! Oh dear, we forgot to tell you about the wedding," Mary said to Kat.

"That's okay. Reverend Barry invited me." That was why Dade was in a suit. Mary and Ken looked like they were going too.

"What did he look like?" Dade asked about the man who pushed Kat.

"He was older, but it was dark. I couldn't see his face. He had a rough voice."

A shadow of recognition crossed Dade's face. He stood up and looked into the forest.

"What?" Kat asked. "Do you think it was the same person who started the fire?"

Dade shook his head. "There wouldn't have been time. Unless he doused the shed with gas and then ran after you."

"Then he'd have to go back again to light the fire," Ken said.

"But if he was up at the shed, how would he know you were out walking?" Dade looked at Kat.

"It doesn't make sense that he was the one to start the fire." Kat knew it would be unlikely.

Dade finished a sandwich Mary made for him. "I wish you had seen who it was in any case."

"It was too dark in the underpass." Kat would not be walking that way again.

Dade rubbed his face. "If I don't figure out who's doing this, I won't have any land left."

She felt the urge to put her arms around him. That mad dash up there to his house had Kat's true feelings for Dade rising to the surface, breaking through the thin shell of resolve in the face of his misfortune.

"The best thing to do right now," Ken stood up, "is get along to church. That's where you'll find your support, Dade."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Dade said.

Ken stumbled on the steps and Dade caught his arm before he fell.

"Looks like we could all use some support," Mary rushed over to help.

Ken laughed and put his arm around his wife. "I'm okay. My foot fell asleep."

"We can just stay here. You don't have to go to church," Kat told her uncle. "I'd be happy to stay home with you."

"And miss the big wedding?" Ken asked.

"Don't you want to go?" Dade asked Kat.

"Well," Kat stuttered, "I'm not really into church anymore."

"You mentioned you weren't attending much." Mary acknowledged.

"Well," Kat began again, "I—"

"Oh, leave the girl alone," Ken headed for the car. "It's fine if you don't want to go."

"At least come to the reception. You don't want to miss all the food." Dade said.

Mary stopped in mid step. "I forgot all about the pot luck afterwards."

"It's all right. They're not going to throw you out if you don't bring something," Dade pointed out.

They headed towards Dade's jeep leaving Kat behind. They all turned to look at her before getting in, "Kat?" Dade waited for her answer, leaning slightly forward, as if he would run to her at the slightest whisper from her mouth. He had been a tough and calloused boy last time she knew him. How had he gotten rid of all that anger? How had he become so caring and giving? Kat smiled. She used to be so proud that Dade was her friend because no one messed with her because of it. Now she felt proud to know him for just the opposite reasons, not that she'd ever let him know that. "Okay," she relented, "I'm coming."

Chapter 7

"I need to change. I can't go to the wedding looking like this." She needed to take a quick shower and clean up the bruise on her arm, no doubt she smelled like smoke.

"I'll drive," Ken said, "and you two can walk over."

"Bring some of those strawberry tarts and some cookies from the tin. We really shouldn't go empty handed," she told Dade.

"I'll be just a minute." Kat ran in to shower and change her clothes. In front of the mirror, Kat took an accounting of herself in a simple skirt and blouse. She looked like a completely different person from the one Brent knew. Her heart was pounding, she felt anxious and excited at the same time to be going to church, not that anything would happen. Christ was a forgiving God. It was herself she had to face. It was one thing to look in a mirror but to see into your own soul, to take an accounting of who she really was would be so, well, disappointing. Then to be back in a church and remember her mother's coffin, her waxy face. She hoped she would not start balling her eyes out. Kat swallowed a lump of fear and left to catch up with Dade.

"Let's go through the path. I want to see where you were pushed." Dade carried a plate of tarts and cookies and began walking up the hill. "By the way, you look beautiful."

"Oh, knock it off. You know I'm not. You said I was too fat, remember?" Kat tried to look as cantankerous as possible. She didn't want her tender feelings for him to turn into romantic notions.

"I said you had a great figure."

"Which meant you thought I was fat." Kat ran up the hill, hurrying ahead of him, keeping her feelings firmly in check, and not stopping until she reached the underpass. "Hurry up," she told him. She pointed to a patch of dirt, "There is where I was pushed."

Dade shined a flashlight from his key chain onto the marks in the dirt where she slid to the ground. "Did you see which way he ran?"

She pointed ahead of them. "I couldn't find him outside the underpass."

"He would've gone up the side of the cliff then, and headed for the cave on the other side," Dade said.

"How do you know?"

"It's hard to disappear off this trail unless you go up because going down is too steep, and once you're up, it's hard not to run into the cave. My dad lived in that cave for a few years," Dade reminded her.

"Oh, that cave. I thought it was normal then but it's actually, well, pretty bizarre that your dad lived in a cave."

"It's no different from the homeless in the city who live under bridges and old abandoned buildings," Dade said.

"No, I guess not." Kat took the plate of cookies and tarts so he could get a closer look. "Some folks at the Fish and Game Club said your father has been seen around here." She had eaten lunch several times at the club already and listened to the local chatter. Kat liked the club's friendly, laid-back atmosphere, and, like all local hangouts, gossip was a common pastime.

"Yea, he's around somewhere."

"Do you ever miss him?" Kat asked.

"All my life. He wasn't much of a father but I never mind seeing him. He's shy, as you know, and not easily contacted. I saw him last year, but if he's near this part of the woods now, I don't know where." Dade continued to inspect the patch of ground for clues. "There's not much to see here, just some scuff marks in the dirt. Let's go out and look." Outside, Dade found leaves ripped off the vine and broken twigs leading up to the cave. "He went up this way, into the cave, just as I thought."

"You're a good tracker."

Dade shook his head, "Not like Mark Kepper. Remember him?"

"The boy with the big birth mark on his arm?"

Dade nodded. Their schoolmate was famous for a birthmark in the shape of the United States on his upper arm. "He's not a boy anymore. He's the best tracker I know. He learned from his grandfather, a full-blooded Cherokee. Mark is one of the most respected woodsmen in these parts now. If you need tracking done, Mark's the one to see."

"Will we see him at the wedding?"

"Him and a lot of other people you probably haven't even thought about for a while. But they'll all remember you Kat," he said.

People didn't forget around here. Several of her childhood friends had already recognized her at the Fish and Game Club. It was fun to see her young friends grown, some married and with children.

They followed the path out of the woods to the church where people milled around outside greeting one another before taking their seats inside. Kat chatted with a few people Dade knew, some of them old friends, and then went inside the church to sit with Ken and Mary. It was not as traumatic as she thought it would be to return to church. In fact, it felt great. The little church was beautiful inside with lots of wildflowers in the windows and on the altar. Delicate lace ribbon draped the center isle on either side and on the floor lay a white silk runner where the bride would walk. It was nothing like a funeral.

Dade walked up to the altar and picked up a guitar. He winked at her and Kat leaned back against the pew. In a few minutes, as the church fills with guests, Dade began to sing. He sang the romantic lyrics so sincerely. "I didn't know he was such a good singer," Kat whispered to Mary.

"He's wonderful." Her aunt was practically cooing over him.

When Dade finished singing Reverend Barry welcomed the groom to the front beside him, and nodded to the woman at the piano to begin the Wedding March. The ring boy and flower girl led the bridesmaids to the front, then Clarissa appeared at the back of the church, her white lace dress embedded with sparkling pearls and her face radiant with love. "She's beautiful," Kat said. As the bride glided to the front of the room on the arm of her father, Kat took a minute to look around. "The church is packed. Is it always like this?"

"Everyone likes a wedding service," Mary answered. Concerning the crowd, she added, "On Saturday nights we have an informal service. Most of the people who go to that service are here, along with many of the youth because Dade has a youth Bible study after the service, although it's canceled tonight."

"Dade? A youth leader?"

"Sh-h-h," several people in the pew ahead of her turned their heads.

"He can't be a minister," Kat whispered.

"Oh, he's not an ordained minister, but he could be. He's got the passion."

"That's impossible. Not Dade Mathers."

"Why not?"

Kat shrugged. "I just never thought of him like that." Dade had changed a lot since she'd known him. He controlled his temper now, which was horrible when he was as a boy. He helped Ken and Mary who were able to live easily in the farmhouse because of his kindness to them, and he was active in service to the church. Her mother would love him, not that she hadn't before.

Kat smiled at the familiar faces of friends who smiled back at her in welcome. They looked happy to be in church, comfortable with each other and with God. Kat wanted that too. She needed to get back into worship but when she thought of how badly she had let her mother down, how disappointed God must be with her, a lump stuck in her throat, and she did not know what to do. She felt so unworthy. All of the sudden Dade seemed better than her. He would never approve of what she had done. There was a good reason why Dade had left her after all. He must've known that she would not be a very good Christian.

The bride and groom's vows to each other were written by themselves, full of tender and committed love. After the couple said, 'I do,' Dade sang another achingly romantic song, his eyes turning to Kat now and again. His glances reassured her that maybe she wasn't quite as bad as she thought. He wouldn't be singing to her like that if she were truly rotten. Then Kat remembered she hadn't told him, or anyone. No one really knew her—except God. Kat heard a small inner voice say: tell them. Confess.

"He wrote that song," Mary told her.

"How do you think he knows so much about love?" Kat asked.

"Absence makes the heart grow fonder." Her aunt smiled at her.

"What do you mean?" Kat puzzled over her aunt's answer. "Does he have a long distance relationship with someone?"

"Can't you see that he's in love with you, Kat?"

"No." He would've made some effort to see her or contact her before now. He's the one who never called, never wrote back even after her confession of love. Oh, the thought of it was so embarrassing. He has a platonic affection for her certainly. Her Aunt Mary was letting the sentiment of the wedding cloud her reasoning. "I really can't. He's very nice to me Aunt Mary, but he ended whatever there was between us a long time ago." She sat back and folded her arms in front of her chest effectively protecting her heart. "He hurt me really badly, Aunt Mary. When we moved he promised me he would call and write and he never did. He never answered my letters and he must've changed his phone number because the number I had stopped working."

"Then ask him why, Kat." Mary's softhearted face shined with love. "It's plain to see that you are both attracted to each other. Ask him now, before it's too late." She looked pointedly at Kat's engagement ring.

Perhaps her aunt was right. The wedding should be making her think of Brent. Brent would make the perfect husband and father. He was handsome, rich, smart, and totally in love with her. So what if she wasn't head-over-heels in love with him like she had been with Dade once upon a time. She wasn't fourteen anymore. But what if she took a chance with Dade again? What if she opened her heart to him? What if he hurt her again? She couldn't bear that.

At the reception in the fellowship hall Dade brought a plate of sweets over to the small table where Kat sat and took a place beside her. It was time to get some answers. When she asked about his work at the church, information poured out of him as if a dam broke, "I was an angry young man when you left. My mom passed away, as you know, and my dad was rarely around. Remember how he showed up like a shadow on the periphery of the cemetery the day of my mom's funeral, and then slunk back into the mountains before I could even say hello?" Dade rolled his eyes. "I figured God had taken both my parents away from me, so He didn't think too much about me. He also took Ian Keller and you."

Kat looked up from her sandwich, "Me?"

"I was sixteen when you left, Kat. Think about that."

Kat felt her face flush. "So, go on. What happened next?"

"After your father died and you and your mom moved to Atlanta, I missed you badly. I was just waiting until I turned eighteen so I could live on my own land. I didn't care how I was going to manage. I would do anything. And I did. I did some things I'm not too proud of. I was forced to enter foster care and I moved in with a strict Christian family. I could not date or be alone with girls. I couldn't even go to the school dances. Every night my family went to church. On Sundays, we went twice. On Mondays and Thursdays, we had prayer meetings. On Wednesdays, we went to choir. On Tuesdays, we made sandwiches for the homeless, and on Fridays, we attended a Bible study. I realized that one of the main things I missed about your father was his faith. I found a lot of the same qualities in the other Christian people I met at my new church."

Kat sipped her tea and nibbled on a cream cheese sandwich and relished the words, 'I missed you badly', or did he mean he missed her family? "And then?"

"At first I went to church with them only because I had to. I didn't pay any attention and I figured all I had to do was suffer through it until I turned eighteen. Something must have gotten through to me though, because one day I was sitting in church with my foster family and I started thinking about Jesus. By that time I knew a lot of facts about him. I started considering Him as a savior instead of a punisher. For the first time, I thought of Him as someone who died for me so I could live forever. The thought got me a little freaked out. I wondered what it would be like to see my mom and Ian again in heaven."

"That is pretty freaky to think about, I know." Hope like that hovered at the edge of her faith, too.

"Yeah, and I kept thinking about it. I couldn't think of anything else. About a month later, I was sitting in the woods and I wondered if heaven would be just like a perfect day. That day the weather was just right, the sky was crystal blue and the sunlight was shining in rays through the trees, then all of the sudden I thought if this were heaven I'd be sitting in the woods just like I am now, except there'd be nothing with death in it. There'd be no dead leaves or fallen trees, no flies or other insects that need to reproduce in rotted things, and no fear in the animals around me. All these changes came to mind. I realized there'd be no sun and instead there would be the light from the glory of God—I'd heard that in church, and just then I felt Him all around me. I knew His presence. Just like that, in an instant."

"In the woods you felt Him?"

"Exactly. The woods even looked different. The light looked golden and the leaves on the trees that blew in the wind seemed like a sign that He was passing through the woods. It was a holy thing that happened. It was a glimpse, a visual preview, a peek at what it could be like."

"And then what?"

"And then I knew I'd never be the same."

"Have you ever had that vision again?"

"All the time, Kat. I sense Him everywhere and in everyone. In fact, the vision never left me. What else could I do?"

"But go into the ministry?"

Dade nodded. "I'm not officially a minister but I do a lot of volunteer work for the youth. I got a grant to go to a public college, and I took some religion courses." Dade popped a brownie into his mouth for emphasis. "Now, let's hear your story."

Kat felt almost giddy at the opportunity thrown in her lap. "When we moved to Atlanta I had a really hard time adjusting. I wrote all the time to my best friend who never wrote back."

Dade hung his head shamefully. "I'm sorry Kat."

But just when she had him where she wanted him, a group of young people suddenly gathered around their table and interrupted Kat's one chance to hear Dade's explanation. She wanted to scream in frustration.

"This is Jason Springer," Dade introduced Kat to the boy who the police suspected started the fires. He looked about fifteen years old dressed in an old T-shirt and baggy black pants. Hair that hadn't seen a pair of scissors in months covered his eyes. His mouth dipped at the sides in a scowl, a tough expression for one so young. He nursed a large chip on his shoulder.

"Hi Jason, I'm Kat Keller," she held out her hand, forcing him to shake it which he did, awkwardly.

"Jason's been coming to our youth group for a couple of months now. He and I are fishing buddies, right Jason?"

Jason grunted affirmatively, turned away, and shuffled off to another table, following along with the group.

"He's got a ways to go yet," Dade said.

"He reminds me of someone."

"Me?" Dade laughed at her comment. "Definitely."

A group of teenage girls motioned Dade over to their table. "We'll talk more later, Kat."

That's not the answer she wanted. She expected more to her question about why he dropped her so suddenly, but she nodded. She turned to Mary, "You're right, those girls are all over him like bees to honey."

"Those are the ones I was talking about." Mary turned to a group of older women more Kat's own age, all single like her and all watching Dade. Then a tall and willowy brunette rose and followed him to the table and took the chair beside him. "That's Jan Morris."

Dade casually touched Jan's arm and a flash of jealousy shot through Kat. "Is that his girlfriend?"

Mary laughed. "Dade's interested in all the girls and none of the girls."

"Not very serious?"

"He's taking his time. One day I'm afraid he's going to wake up all alone."

Just like me. Seeing his eyes light up at the sight of Jan Morris caused Kat to feel his rejection all over again, making the past feel like the present. Dade never cared about her. He probably liked how all the women flocked to him. She regretted opening up to him and admitting he hurt her. He caught her looking at him and waved her over but Kat shook her head. His fan club was big enough.

Kat ignored Dade. When the music softened and couples got up to dance, Kat held her breath. If Dade danced with someone, she would leave but Dade left the group of women and sat down with a group of his hunting friends and their wives. He glanced her way but Kat hid her eyes. It wasn't easy ignoring him. Finally, the newlywed couple cut the cake and it was time to leave.

Dade put a hand on Kat's shoulder before she could make her exit. "I'm going to help clean up a little. You go on without me."

"I wasn't planning on leaving with you."

Dade took his hand away, leaving a shadow of disappointment in its place but Kat shrugged that off. He had promised to talk later but he wouldn't. He's conveniently forgotten. Brent was the man who really loved her. So why did her emotions keep slipping off the leash like a reckless pup and bounding off into long forgotten territories of the heart? It was the effect of the wedding and how Dade had sung that incredibly romantic song. She need her emotions back in check. She would go home and stop tempting herself.

"You never call this late," Brent answered his cell phone.

"I know. I was out late at a wedding. I needed to hear your voice," she said. The emotions riding her settled a bit at the sound of his voice. She asked him, "What is that music I hear? Are you at a club somewhere?"

"Yes, I'm out with my friends. We are listening to some live music."

"Not Courtney Starr I hope?"

"No. You don't need to worry about her."

"I'm not. Turns out we have a friend of the family too and I just went to the wedding with him."

"You went to a wedding with another man? You mean Dade Mathers."

"He's a friend of the family, just like Courtney. Except he was never my boyfriend."

"Well I am jealous. No man could resist falling for you, Kat. Would you please not attend functions with other men?"

"And what about you?"

"Gladly. I never was into men. Now when are you coming home?"

Kat giggled. "As soon as my car is repaired. I miss you so much." Brent answered her with tender words. His devotion to her calmed and reassured her. If someone like Brent loved her, she couldn't be that bad. She hung up the kitchen phone only to hear Dade's voice outside on the porch saying good-night to Mary and Ken. She hurried out to the porch in time to see him leave. "Wait," she called, knowing he had come to talk with her after all, but he waved goodbye and got in his jeep.

"I think he got a little tired of listening to you talk with Brent," Ken said. "I think Dade still holds a candle for you."

Life was so very complicated. "Really? But he hasn't said anything. And he spent all his time at the wedding with Jan."

"Well, you are spoken for, aren't you?" Ken pointed out.

"I guess I am. But I still don't like it when people ignore me." The lie popped out of her mouth. Not a lie exactly but an untruth since she was the one who had ignored him. She felt ashamed for having said it and tears welled in her eyes.

"He's hardly left your side. If you ask me, I think Dade pays too much attention to you." Ken shook his head. "Be careful you don't lead him on."

"Me lead him on? I don't trust Dade, Uncle Ken. He let me down once and I can't let that happen again. So don't worry. I won't be leading him on."

"It might be time to forgive him for that one," Ken said.

"Forgive him? You are wrong. He doesn't really care about me. His feelings for me vanished a long time ago." Kat preferred the anger in her voice to the engulfing helplessness of her tears.

"You don't have a long time ago yet." Mary said, "You're young."

"Dade stopped being my friend when we moved. He never wrote or anything."

"Maybe he has a good reason for that," Ken noted. "Maybe he came over tonight to explain that."

"What difference does it make when I'm engaged to be married? Besides, I asked him why he never wrote and he has no answer," Kat said miserably, realizing just how awful her situation really was: being in love with another and engaged to someone else. The harsh reality of her situation left everyone speechless. She sat down on the porch steps and gazed at the pale moon, a mere reflection of a greater light. She didn't buy any of Brent's talk about not still loving Courtney Starr. Not only was her situation miserable but she and Brent were two people in love with love itself, both hoping that they could recapture in each other what they once felt for others.

I will be sad all my life with Brent. It was a short prayer and it made her think of Dade's reference to a strict foster family who would not let him have anything to do with girls. Then his explanation for not joining them in Atlanta came to mind: 'I was sixteen Kat, think about that.'

Real love burned and hurt more often than not, and it was wild and uncontrollable. If she gave herself to that kind of love, would she always be a victim of conflicting passions, unsure in his love from one minute to the next? In the dark, tears rolled down her face. Everyone had left her.

Kat recalled the flowers Brent bought for Courtney. He had seen her that week, Kat was sure of it. But when? How could he have gone to see Courtney when he was supposed to be out of town? He couldn't have, unless he had lied to her about being out of town. Had he lied to her?

Brent does not love me, either.

Mary came over and sat down beside her. She put her arm around her. "I'm sorry, Kat. We shouldn't be meddling in your life." Mary married Ken right out of high school. Had her aunt ever had to deal with such complicated feelings?

"To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure about marrying Brent Carroll. I know he's everyone's dream bachelor, but I don't know what he sees in me." She sniffled and wiped her tears. "I'm worried that Brent's been seeing another woman, Courtney Starr, behind my back."

"The country music singer?"

"Yes. I'm worried he's spending his time with her. Aunt Mary, why can't I trust him?"

"Has he ever cheated on you before?"

"No. I have no reason not to trust him but something holds me back."

"I just read an article in the paper about Courtney Starr. I believe I saw it in the Life section." Mary retrieved The Chattanooga Times Free Press newspaper from inside the house. "Here, there's a picture of her."

The last person Kat wanted to see was the beautiful Courtney Starr.

"She collapsed on stage." Mary held the paper up so she could see. Taking up a good quarter of the paper was a publicity picture of Courtney Starr that made Kat blink in astonishment and then blink again.

"What?" Mary asked.

"That cross around her waist," Kat said, recognizing the same cross she had pulled out from under her mother's bed the day she and Theresa went to her mother's condo to get her Bible. The cross belonged to Courtney Starr.

"What is it, honey?"

Kat turned away from the paper. Brent brought Courtney Starr to his mother's condo. "I think I finally found my reason for not trusting him." Kat sobbed at the truth written in black and white. She rushed into the house and slammed the door to her room. This had been a horrible day. Her whole life and all her plans were ruined. She had been totally fooled—twice.

Chapter 8

"What happened with you and Kat?" Lenny and Dade sat with a group of folks on the porch singing old country western songs. Most of the people on the porch had gone to the wedding and were staying the night at the Fish and Game club.

Dade changed the subject. "Mark looked pretty nervous, but he got through it all right."

"Did you talk with Kat?"

"Yeah."

"Not much going on there, is there?"

"How can there be? She's engaged. Besides, I never see her at church. I don't think she goes," He couldn't very well get involved with a woman who never went to church.

"Kat Keller? Couldn't be. She comes from a family of solid church-going folks. If she's not going to church then some thing's wrong," Lenny said.

"What does it matter? Even if she weren't engaged, I couldn't hope to have the kind of relationship I want. I need a woman who believes like I do."

"Have you asked her about her faith? Losing your beliefs is painful. It's not like you to leave someone dangling, especially someone like Kat."

"No. I don't need to ask. I know she's still heartbroken over her mother's death. Everyone in our church was praying for her mom, knowing Kat she probably asked everyone they knew. There were hundreds of people praying."

"It's difficult to understand when prayers like that are not answered," Lenny said.

"Not to mention the car accident that took her father. She didn't do too well after that either. But how can I help her when my emotions are all wrapped around her? I'll end up getting the short end of the stick." She'd never forgiven him for not answering her letters. She made it clear at the wedding that she wanted no part of him.

Lenny said, "You know getting hurt is part of the deal, right? Just look at Christ. Grief can do funny things to people."

Lenny wouldn't say that if he had seen how Kat ignored him at the wedding and then overheard her conversation with Brent. Dade knew where he stood with her.

Lenny changed the subject to the one everyone was talking about. "What's your take your shed catching fire?"

"Another attack by those land developers who are trying to scare me off my property."

"What are the police doing about it?"

"Chasing after me. They think I want the insurance money."

"You have insurance on those old buildings?"

"A little. Not enough to warrant jeopardizing the whole forest. Then they started questioning some of the youth around here, including Jason." Jason had enough problems. He didn't need adults in authority treating him like his brother Matt. Jason had so little self-esteem and the encouragement Dade had given to build him up was going to vanish if Officer Dumfries didn't leave him alone. Dade remembered what it felt like being a member of Matt's crowd. He had gotten in a lot of trouble. Like Matt, most of those guys were now in prison for one thing or another. He didn't want Jason going there too.

"I can't believe they'd think Jason would start fires on your land. After all you've done for him, he'd never do that."

"I know he didn't do it but try to tell Sergeant Dumfries that. It's like talking to a wall."

"Do they have any clues?"

"They found my gas can near the shed." Dade bristled. It was circumstantial evidence, nothing more.

"So what? That doesn't mean you did it."

"Exactly, but it does mean someone's been up near my house and in my workshop. Between these land developers and Kat, I'm going crazy. I need to find some birch wood and finish that bed. I need to get away and stop worrying. I'm thinking about heading up to the scout cabin north of here, but I'm afraid to leave. I'm afraid they'll start another fire. Meanwhile, staying is killing me. Every time I hear one word about Brent Carroll I want to hit something."

"Why don't you let me and Natalie take care of things? We'll keep an eye out. We're here all week. And Hokey or Barney can stay at your house if you're worried about it," Lenny said.

"I don't think they'd be that bold to go and burn my house down. They're just picking off little sheds and stuff. They're trying to scare me."

Lenny shook his head. "I don't know. Anyone who'd start a fire in a forest is not very trustworthy. I think you underestimate them."

"Maybe, but I would like to get away." Dade could count on Lenny to be true to his word. "I'll take you up on your offer. I'll leave tomorrow and be back before the end of the week." The prospect of a few days away gave him some relief. The scout cabin was a place where he could take some time alone to pray, and he sure did need it.

After a glass of lemonade and some more talk, Dade drove home and went to bed. What a horrible night. The reality of losing Kat had him in its grips. He tossed and turned and finally fell asleep.

He dreamed he and Kat were racing horses across a field by his house. The air was damp with a passing shower, and the heat of the setting sun rose up a golden fog. He entered the woods with Kat not far behind, and headed for his house. This dream house had only one room with a fireplace. He spotted a small door in the wall and entered, descending a flight of rickety stairs to a small basement where the walls began to open to a different forest, murky and smelling of decay. He realized his mistake too late when thick vines began to grow around the stairway to the top floor. The stairs would soon crumble beneath the weight of the vines. If he didn't get back upstairs he would never see Kat again. He grabbed the vines and climbed up the steps but the wood was rotted and he tumbled back down. He tried again, this time using only the vines to make his way back up the steps. The door at the top swung open and Dade found himself back in the room with the fireplace. Outside he looked for Kat and called to her but the fog would not let him see and in his heart he was afraid she would fall into the earth like him and not be able to climb back out. "She's lost."

He woke with a start, hearing his own voice. The sheets were tangled around his legs and the room was hot. Dade went to the open window, gulping in the fresh air. The dream felt so real.

A three quarter moon high in the sky made shadows and caught movement near the edge of the woods. Someone was out there. "Hey, you!"

The shadow darted back into the woods. Dade hopped out of the window and ran back and forth along the edge where he had seen the figure and where the shadow had entered into the woods. He followed the trail but it led to nowhere. Barefooted, Dade ended his chase empty-handed and sore-footed. He stood surrounded by the dark woods, not knowing which way to go and wondering if the shadow had only been some animal, maybe even that silly bear.

Back at his house, the digital clock read 1:43. The cross he wore around his neck lay beside it. He climbed back into bed and fell asleep. In the morning, Dade prayed as he packed for his trip up to the scout cabin, talking to the Lord as a friend and a brother. "I know she's lost. You don't have to scare the wits out of me. But what am I supposed to do? She's not mine to care for. She's promised to someone else." Dade stuffed his Bible, a change of clothes, soap, a toothbrush and some canned food into Sally's saddlebag along with what was always in there: string, a first aid kit, a knife, matches, a few fishing hooks, and a flashlight. Behind Sally's saddle, Dade tied his bedroll and rifle and headed north to the cabin. Sally walked through the woods while the prayers spilled out of him in a torrent of thoughts.

"Okay, so I do love her and You could probably use that love I feel to get me to talk to her and show her how much You love her. I know You want me to do that, and I want to do that but I also don't want to get my heart bulldozed by her in the end." Dade grabbed a passing branch and stripped it of its leaves. Coming to a steep rise, he lightly prodded Sally over the rocks and into the harder terrain with the branch. She usually needed a reassuring tap on the hind quarters to get her going through rocks. She was touchy about her feet. "Maybe that dream was a reassuring tap on my hind quarters to get me moving. Okay. I know You want me to talk to her but I also know that You know how hard it is for me. If she's not going to come back to You then I can't go to her, right? How can I marry a woman who doesn't have You in her life? Right? That's all supposing I would even have a chance at marrying her, which I don't." Did Kat love him at all? She had once. "Okay, I can tell, Father, that it doesn't matter. What matters is that I love her, and so I have to care for her. Okay, okay, okay. I got it now." though it took him two hours to figure it out. "I'm not even looking for that birch tree."

The noon sun was high and hot. Dade walked Sally to the creek for a drink and a little rest. He sat down and tried his hand at fishing while Sally munched happily on the grass alongside the creek. He hadn't thought to bring a pole, so he made do with a stick and the string and hooks from his saddlebag but nothing much would take his worm bait. Fish liked to feed in the morning and at night. Back on the trail, Dade also prayed for the person that started the fires on his property. "How can anyone think that they can scare me off my land? I'll never leave it." Dade trusted that God would protect him. "Just don't let anything happen to the people, God. I mean Ken, Mary, Kat, Lenny, Hokey, Barney and all those." He prayed for each of them while the afternoon lagged into early evening when Dade found himself singing his favorite hymns. Praying always calmed him.

The scout cabin was north of a shallow pond where campers bathed. Dade let Sally graze freely while he took a dip before it got too dark. Inside the cabin Dade found cans of tuna stacked in the kitchen cabinet along with boxes of milk and some packages of beef jerky. He took the a can of stew from his saddle bag and searched the kitchen for a can opener. Meanwhile dusk crept darkly into the cabin where in addition to not having a can opener, the electricity didn't work.

Hungry but unable to do anything about it, Dade watched the stars come up. He tied Sally up for the night and returned to the cabin to make his bed. He stumbled around in the dark and laid his bedroll out on one of the cots. In his prayers he said, "Good Father, no more nightmares, please," and fell asleep.

Dade woke to the sound of a discordant choir of insects and frogs belting out primitive songs. Then he heard the sound that had really awakened him: the sound of shuffling feet. Was it Sally or some other animal making the shuffling noise? He peeked out the window by his cot and then heard the noise again. It came from inside. He froze and laid motionless on the cot, staring into the blackness, as the hairs on his neck rose.

Dade heard breathing. Whoever or whatever was inside the room with him smelled badly. Slowly he crept out of bed and moved stealthily to the door. He grabbed the handle and then felt a hand grab him by the shoulder.

"Son?"

Dade dropped to the floor. "Dad, you scared me to death."

"Sorry."

"Why didn't you say something? What are you doing sneaking around in the middle of the night?"

"It's only about ten o'clock. I thought you'd be up." Buddy reached over and flipped the light switch. "You got something against electricity?"

"It wasn't working."

"You got to turn on the generator."

His dad looked ragged as always. His goofy, gummy grin shined all over his face. Dade was amazed to see him actually standing in a building. There was something tightly wrapped in newspaper under his arm. "What is that?"

"Rabbit. Are you hungry?"

"Starving."

They hung the rabbit over a fire in the outside pit where meat cooked faster than in the oven. For someone known as a recluse, his dad was downright social. "Doc Martin gave me some sociability pills," Buddy said. "I have a condition."

"I know."

Buddy wanted to know about Mary and Ken. "I always liked Ken," he said.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Dade knew his father never showed up just to say hello.

"There's two fellows starting fires on your land, son. You have to do something about them."

"You saw them?"

Buddy scratched his beard. "Not up close. I seen two guys hanging around. Once, just before the shed took fire. One was tall and older, in his teens, the other looked young to me." The rabbit crackled and popped in the fire and Buddy got up to rotate it.

"Who are they?"

"I don't know. I didn't get a good look." He stepped back into the cabin and returned with a pot of canned vegetables.

"Where'd you find the can opener?" Dade asked.

"In my pack."

Dade would have to add one to his permanent collection in Sally's pack. There were still a few things he could learn from his Dad. Dade accepted a leg off the rabbit. "So you're hanging around watching over things?"

Buddy nodded. "I didn't like them setting fire to the shed, even if it is a rundown piece of junk. I didn't like what I saw in town, either, and what I heard people talking about in regards to the land around here. I thought maybe I could help you out."

Dade wanted to laugh at that. His father never helped him, but he held his bitter tongue. His father was not like other people. He was uncomfortable whenever more than one person was around. If someone else walked up right now, his father would be gone within minutes. "I'd appreciate whatever you can do," he said.

Buddy ate the other leg of rabbit. "I think I've seen the same two at the bank. One's dark-haired, shorter than us, under six foot, and the other's tall for his age, about five ten or so. He looks fourteen, fifteen, hair all in his face. He's ugly. Oh, that reminds me, will you give me a hair cut?"

Dade got the scissors out of his saddlebag. He wasn't about to let his father change his mind about a hair cut. Under the porch light he had him sit on a stool. Maybe he could get him to bathe. Living like a hermit didn't do much for one's personal hygiene.

"I saw them up by your place and scared them off. They took your gas can. Then I saw them again at the old sheep pen. I guess they torched that. I don't know, son, they're just bent on burning things."

"That's definitely them. Sergeant Dumfries found the gas can by the shed. I think they want to scare me off my property. I think they've been hired by some land developers."

Buddy wiped his neck free of the loose hair. Dade was no hair a stylist but the haircut was still an improvement. "They'll have to do more than that to scare you. Thing is, I'm afraid they might do more. What are you going to do?"

Dade would have to get his father to go to the police with this new information. "Do you have any proof?"

"I never saw them start the fire," Buddy acknowledged. "It's just that what I have seen adds up. At least, it clears other possibilities. Plus, I can't figure out what they're doing at the bank. Twice I've seen them go into the bank but they never come out."

"When did you see them go into the bank, Dad?"

"The first was, well now actually, both times were after the fires," Buddy ran his fingers through his new, shorter hair. "It was late in July the first time, and then again just a couple of days ago."

"They're going in there to get paid," Dade said.

"And both times were on Saturday, or maybe Sunday. I only know the bank was closed."

"I think we're getting somewhere, Dad."

"I think we are, Son."

Buddy stretched out on the ground close to the fire and rolled over with his back to Dade. Dade took the hint, returned to his cot, and lay in the dark with more questions than answers. Who were they meeting at the bank? Was Tom Mercer the banker involved in the fires? Had he hired those two? What was going on?

He closed his eyes and tried to ease his mind. These were questions he could not answer tonight and one sleepless night was enough. He was not about to get himself all worked up again. He fell asleep counting his blessings.

All week Dade's father helped him look for a birch tree while they did a little hunting and fishing. Buddy was always ready to show Dade something new about how to survive in the vast wilderness. Dade never expected much of his father anymore but these pills he was taking really seemed to help him. He seemed almost relaxed. He hadn't spent so much time with his father since he moved out. On their last day together, they returned to the cabin with another rabbit and a trout. Buddy picked some wild dandelion greens and a few other plants Dade could not name to go with their meal which was okay considering it had no salt, spices or other flavorings. Afterward Dade persuaded his father to wash in the pond, giving him a bar of soap and a toothbrush to keep. They splashed around in the water like kids, laughing and enjoying the rest of the morning before Dade had to leave.

Buddy sat down on the edge of the pond, his pants legs rolled. Dade packed his horse for the ride back and then sat beside his father at the edge of the pond to say good-bye. "What's that black bruise on your leg?" Dade asked.

"That's your girlfriend kicking me. She's got a kick like a mule."

"You mean it was you that pushed her?"

"Well I couldn't have her running into those two guys. She was headed straight for them."

"That was the day shed was burned."

"That's right. I had to choose real fast if I was going to follow those guys or protect Kat. I know she would've seen them. What's worse, they would've seen her. So I ran after her and scared her a little."

Dade shook his head. Why hadn't his dad just talked to Kat and explained things to her like a regular guy? "She's not my girlfriend, Dad."

"Well you look at her like she is."

"I do?"

"Yeah, all goofy-looking like someone's hit you over the head with a ten pound rock."

Dade shrugged. He knew his father watched him from afar. Some would call it spying but Dade kind of liked it. "I guess I do sort of still like her."

"She looks at you, too."

"She does?"

"You bet she does, Son."

His father had the talent to bring everything down to the basics of life. Nothing was complicated for Buddy Mathers. If he thought Kat had feelings for him, then maybe she did. Hadn't he felt it all along in the way she looked at him sometimes, the way she teased him pretending she didn't like him, the way she turned up whenever he was around? He'd seen her watching him at the wedding, and blushing when he saw her. She cared for him. Startled by the clarity of it, he got up and mounted his horse, ready to run back to the old Keller farmhouse and confess his feelings, but then he hesitated, slipped down off the saddle in his confusion, her engagement and her lack of faith confronting him like a stonewall.

Buddy burst out laughing.

Chapter 9

"Don't rush to conclusions," Mary said when Kat finally calmed down by the end of the week and could explain that she'd found the silver cross around Courtney Starr's waist under her mom's bed. "Have you spoken with him yet?"

"Not yet," Kat sipped a cup of coffee. There were 32 missed calls on her cell phone, all from Brent.

"Give Brent a chance to explain himself."

"It all adds up." What was there to explain other than the obvious, that Brent used the key she gave him to bring Courtney Starr to her mother's home and that they stayed the night? "The air conditioning was on in Mom's condo. They must've just left before Theresa and I got there."

"He probably has an explanation."

"I should've known that someone like him was using me." Kat said just as Dade appeared at the kitchen screen door.

"Can I come in?" he hesitated.

"Of course," Mary waved him in. "You don't need to ask. We're glad you're back. We missed you."

"Are you sick?" he asked Kat. "I don't usually see you up this early."

"I'm fine." Kat hadn't slept for days. Aside from her own pain, her uncle had been sick all week with fever. She and her aunt took turns sponging him in cool water and rubbing alcohol, and giving him medicine. His weak heart did not leave him much extra energy when he fell sick.

Mary set a plate of sausages and pancakes on the table. Dade devoured the food. His appetite amazed Kat, especially since her own was practically non-existent.

Dade took a long gulp of orange juice, "You're making me self-conscious."

Kat shrugged and wandered out to the porch. She heard Dade ask her aunt some nosy questions about Brent. Dade had heard more of their conversation than she thought. She covered her face in her hands. He came out and sat beside her. "So you know. Well, don't say anything," Kat warned.

"I'm not going to."

"I feel so stupid."

"You're not the stupid one. He is."

"He's made a fool of me."

Dade put a brotherly arm around her, a kind of half hug. "When people lie, it's easy to believe them, especially if we want to."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm guessing you were pretty low in spirits when you met him, right?"

Kat nodded. "The day I met him he was when I found my mom. He was there."

"And lonely, right?"

"I never felt so alone after she died."

"So there is Brent, he's rich, he knows everyone who's anyone, and he makes you feel like a princess."

Kat smiled. "That sounds funny the way you describe it."

"The point is, princess, you are a beautiful woman and he was just coming out of what was probably a pretty sad relationship himself. It says in the article that Courtney Starr checked herself into a rehabilitation clinic, sounds like she has a problem. That can be a real hardship on someone who cares for you."

"You mean hard on Brent?"

"She probably broke his heart."

"I don't think he has one."

Dade laughed. "Then he sees you. You're every bit as beautiful as Courtney Starr, except you don't drink or take drugs. You're fun to be with, intelligent, sophisticated, charming, did I say gorgeous?"

"Not that exact word."

"It seems to me that you two kind of collided into each other, you running from grief, and him running from a bad relationship."

"And he cheated on me."

"Why did he take her to Nora's? I mean, it seems like he took a chance doing that." Dade took his arm from around her shoulder. "I think it might be hard to have a...um....relationship with someone who just collapsed on stage."

Kat ignored his logic. "He knew I never wanted to go back to my mother's condo. I couldn't. It brought back too many memories. He was selling it for me through one of the real estate agents his bank works with, so I gave him a set of keys. He told me he was going to put everything in storage, but I knew I needed to get some stuff before he did that. So I called Theresa and she went into the condo with me and I got the stuff I wanted. That's when we found the belt." Kat stared at him, watching him think through what she had just told him

"What did you want out of your mom's house?"

"Only you would be so nosy as to ask, Dade Presley Mathers."

"Yeah? So, I'm nosy. So what was it?"

She would not tell him about the photos. "It was my mother's Bible."

"Great. You should read it." The hope on Dade's face crushed her heart.

"I haven't looked inside yet. I just can't. It has all her notes written in the margins, and all her favorite verses underlined. It tells so much about her, it's so personal. I couldn't leave it there. I couldn't even look at it, not after I had let her down so badly, but I couldn't put it in some cold, mildewed, dark, nameless storage place, either."

"Kat, that's so sad, you're going to make me cry."

"I know. It's really sad."

"Why do you feel that way about your mother's Bible? Why do you feel like you let her down? What happened that you're not telling me?"

She shook her head, remembering the night her mother passed away. "I had so much faith in prayer, Dade. I really believed that Mom would live. I never thought for a moment that God would take her. I'm sorry. I can't even talk about it more than that."

"There's something pretty serious going on up in that brain of yours. I think you need to tell me. Maybe not now, but you need to talk about that, Katherine Keller."

Kat knew he was right. She laid her head on his shoulder. "No one calls me Katherine."

"No one calls me Presley," he gently set her aright to look her straight in the eye. "I want you to go inside and take a good long nap. Then I want you to tell me whatever it is you are not telling me. I'll come back after your nap. I'll take you out to eat, and you'll feel a lot better, okay?"

Kat smiled at his plan to take care of her. He was trying to gain her trust again and what she should do is go inside and never talk to him again. "Okay," she said.

Kat woke to Dade calling her name from outside her window. "Time to wake up, Sleeping Beauty."

"I could accuse you of being a Peeping Tom," she yawned.

"I don't think Peeping Tom's wake their victims."

She grinned at him. He sure was handsome.

"I'll wait for you on the porch," he said.

She padded out to the porch in jeans and a T-shirt, stopping at the door to pull on a pair of boots. "I don't think I want to go out to eat."

"No, no, no. You're not getting out of it that easy. Mary made us lunch. I'm taking you, Miss Keller, to the falls."

Thank goodness. She thought he was taking her to a restaurant. She should've known better. "What falls?"

"Hear that, Mary?" Dade yelled, "She calls herself a native here and she doesn't even know where the falls are."

"I'll know after today."

"That's right, use me for my knowledge. Get what you want out of me and then toss me aside."

Mary rolled her eyes and then handed him the basket of lunch.

"Okay, walk or ride?" he asked Kat.

"Ride."

Dade took her over to Sally. "I thought you meant a car."

"That's pretty funny. Come on, up with you."

Kat climbed into the saddle and then Dade squeezed in behind her. They sat so tightly together Kat felt uncomfortable. When he slipped his arm around her waist, Kat wriggled off the horse. "We're walking."

Sally pranced about, "You scared her," Dade settled the horse. "Just jump on back then. You are prissy." Kat looked up at him. "Come on," he shoved his stirrup at her.

"Okay," Kat scrambled up onto the horse's rump and held onto the saddle. Dade took off. "Dade! Dade!" she screamed as they trotted up the hill, bouncing her around like a rag doll. "Slow down!"

"Oh, all right, I'll walk her but you deserved that."

Wild flowers edged the path winding up the mountain that led to the falls. Kat could hear the water. "We're only riding part way because the last part of the path is dangerous for Sally. Not many people know about the old Indian cave behind the falls on your property. There are Native American drawings on the walls, and the town's records show that during the Revolutionary War a group of soldiers hid there from the British." Dade dismounted and helped Kat. He carried the basket of lunch and left Sally grazing just off the trail.

The path became slick and steep. It led to a flat cliff wet with the spray of the falls. Dade took her hand and helped her across, holding the basket of lunch in his other hand. The cliff gave entrance to a cave behind the water pounding down the rocks. The inside of the cave was dry. "It's so cool here."

"Natural air conditioning."

"It even smells good."

"That's the honeysuckle growing on the side of the cliff."

Kat smiled. "This is a great place."

"It'd be gone if we don't work to protect it."

"You mean, if I sold it." The cave was on her property.

"Exactly."

"Is that why you're so attentive to my aunt and uncle, so they can live here and I won't sell?" Kat took a blanket from the basket and laid it on the ground.

"You're not one to side step around an issue are you?"

"Just wondering."

"Ken and Mary would know I want them to be happy."

"That property's been in our family for a long time," Kat said. "You don't have to worry about me selling it."

Dade took her hand. "I want to show you something." He pulled her towards him. Kat drew her hand back, not ready to trust him. One dumping from him was plenty. "All right, come on over here then. I was going to tell you to close your eyes but I can't if you won't let me guide you. You'll walk right off the cliff."

Kat followed him to the edge of the cliff, right up against the water. The sight was amazing.

"Cat got your tongue?"

"Oh, Dade," she laughed, seeing a million rainbows in the spray. "It's so beautiful."

"That's how you look to me."

Kat turned to find him only inches away. She could've easily leaned over and kissed him. Had he planned it this way? What about Jan, the woman he'd sat with at the wedding?

"But only when you're smiling."

"Is it my imagination, or are you coming on to me?"

"You're not used to too many compliments, are you?" Dade laughed.

"Well there was the attempted hand-holding. And then before that the little bit about riding in the saddle in front of you."

Dade shook his head. "Honestly, Kat. I'm not, but now that I know you're sensitive to me, I'll back off."

Kat shrugged. "I'm not 'sensitive' to you.

"Come on. We haven't even eaten lunch."

"Okay. I'm sorry if I made a big deal about all that."

"All what?"

"You know what."

"Oh, that." He said. "Yeah, that." Dade laughed.

Kat couldn't help laughing too, but before she could follow him back to the blanket, he grabbed her and held her around the waist. "Dade! I said no more."

"Sh-h-h," he whispered. "Look."

Kat looked through the spray to where Dade pointed at a group of three men on the other side of the falls. "They have no right to be in my woods. What are they doing?"

"Checking out your property."

"They can't do that."

"Trust me, Kat. This is no time to assert your family's landowner rights."

"But they have no business up here. They're trespassing."

"Look closely at the bald one's hip."

"It's a gun!"

Dade nodded. "That's okay. They have no idea we're here. They can't see us behind the falls." He looked at Kat.

"What?"

"Unless they spotted Sally."

"Oh, no."

They froze. Dade held her tightly around her waist, his breath close, his body wrapped around her from behind so that Kat's thoughts raced to a place she knew they shouldn't. "Did they hike up here in their suits?"

"No. There's a road not far from them. They're moving on. Just pray she doesn't whinny."

The men turned around and disappeared into the woods. "This is serious, isn't it?"

Dade let go of her. "Phew! No wonder I couldn't get anywhere with the investigation. Did you recognize Sergeant Dumfries? The other two are the local hotel owner, Joe Williams, and Tom Mercer, the bank owner—all three stand to make a profit if I sell my land to the developer."

"But why are they on my property? I thought they wanted yours."

"They think they can get yours easy enough, as you can see, since they're boldly scoping things out already."

"What do you think they're looking at?"

"The top of these falls is pretty flat. Anyone who wanted to develop this land would probably dam the water there. No doubt they plan to create a few lakes. It wouldn't be hard but this pretty little place right here would be gone."

"I can't believe I didn't know about this place before," Kat said.

"Your dad brought me here to hunt one day."

"He never took me."

"Your dad was the top marksmen in the state, did you know that?"

He was such a know-it-all when it came to her father. Of course she knew that. "He had great eyesight. So do I."

"He could shoot a target from 200 yards. He stood right behind these falls and killed a twelve point buck through the heart, right across the water, about 120 feet away."

"I remember that day," Kat smiled. "He said he got it for me but I got mad at him because I didn't like him shooting those cute deer."

Dade sat down and set up the lunch Mary made for them. "He taught me how to butcher and cure the meat. He never shot anything for sport. He shot for food."

"I know. Stop acting like I didn't know my own father. I knew him better than you."

"Okay."

"I did."

"I know you did. Gee, Kat, can't we talk without getting into a fight?"

Kat sat down and bit into a chicken sandwich, regretting her outburst, "Okay. I guess I am being a little touchy. So tell me about you instead." She casually picked up the other half of her sandwich. "I want to know everything that happened to you after we left Rainbow Valley."

"I told you before. You left and I went into foster care. I was biding my time until I turned eighteen. The land belonged to me when my mom died, but I couldn't actually own it or live on it until age eighteen."

"I don't know why you didn't just move with us."

"Your mother asked me."

"I know," Kat said. "So why didn't you?

"It wasn't right, not the way we were going."

"I was only thirteen. I hated you as much as I liked you."

"I wouldn't have let you hate me for long."

"How do you know?"

Dade smiled. "I don't."

Kat wanted to question him again about her letters, especially the last one, but what was the use? He had no answer or he would've given it. Besides, Dade looked completely absorbed in eating, as if he hadn't eaten at all for the week that he was away. She picked at the remainder of her food and then stood up. "Let's go."

Dade and Kat folded the blanket and tied the basket onto Sally's saddle. On their way back, Dade stopped by his house. "I have to get my Bible. It's the only way I'm going to get through all this pyromania stuff."

"You're going to pray the bad guys away?"

Dade nodded. "I expect you'll be at church tonight?"

"Didn't you just go to church last night?"

"It's Sunday night. The last time I was at church was this morning. You missed this morning." He ran into his house while Kat waited.

Kat knew Dade attended a Friday night Bible study, too. Mary had told her about the young adult study he led. That was probably the one church related event she might get herself to go to but he had not invited her. It's probably the group of young women she'd seen him with at the wedding reception, the group with Jan Morris. Dade wouldn't want her there. Kat had lots of fun at her college Bible studies but she was a different person then. She had so much faith. Now she had none, like in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, she was the seed planted on the path where it never took root. Maybe that wasn't completely true. She did believe. She didn't understand. Could God love her through her anger over taking her mother? Maybe she was the seed in the weeds. God was so confusing.

If it were just a matter of her mother dying naturally, perhaps she would still have some faith left but the fear deep inside was that she may have hastened her own mother's death. That night, that horrible night. If only she could take it all back, relive it, make a different choice and not have gone to the gallery. If only she'd stayed home. She would've seen her mom growing weaker and known she needed to go to the hospital. Kat wiped the tears off her face. How can God forgive such selfishness? If she hadn't gone out with Brent that night, her mother might still be alive. How could she forgive herself?

She always blamed God but it wasn't Him. It was her. She was the one who let her mother die. A darkness engulfed her. Please take away this horrible guilt, God. Do I really have to live with this my whole life?

Dade came out of his house with his Bible. "Church can be something more than just an obligation. Some people like going to church. Kat? Are you listening?"

Kat pulled herself together. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about God and church. "Mary says you make furniture like my dad used to." She glanced beyond his log cabin. "What's that building back there?"

"That would be the workshop."

"You have any furniture I can look at?"

"I'm making a king size bed out of paper birch for a fellow in Colorado."

"Birch is a white tree, right?"

"Right."

"We don't have many birches, do we?"

"No, we don't. Most of the South is too warm for paper birch trees."

"So how are you making it if we don't have any?"

"I ordered some. I had to hire a trucker to haul the wood down. Quite a production but the customer has money to pay for it. He's putting it in a tree house he built," Dade frowned.

"The bed?"

"That's right. The guy's getting married and wants to surprise his bride."

"I like that."

"You'd want a tree house for your wedding night with a king size bed in it?"

"Wouldn't you?"

"Well, now that you mention it, I guess I would." Dade gestured for her hand, "May I?" He led her to the workshop.

"You could look at the stars at night and feel the cool breeze, like the Swiss Family Robinson." She had always liked the story of the Swiss Family Robinson.

"Feed the squirrels."

"I hadn't thought of that."

"Wait till you see the bed." Dade opened one side of the double doors and flipped on the light. Kat stared at the most beautiful king size bed frame she'd ever seen. It was made entirely of branches bent into circles and hearts entwined, sanded to a smooth ivory color.

"The base is made of cured wood and the curlicues are birch branches that were soaked and then bent and dried to shape. Birch bends easily."

"It is gorgeous."

"Thanks."

"What does something like that cost?"

"It doesn't matter. He'll pay whatever I ask and I'll probably ask twice the cost. That's my usual price. This is the only bed like this I've ever made and I'm almost done. I just need to find one more birch tree."

"I thought you had the wood delivered."

"I did, but I counted wrong. I need another one because I want to add a another heart on the headboard," Dade smiled sheepishly.

"Oops?"

"Yeah, oops. Anyway, I'll find one. There's got to be one somewhere."

"Dad never had this many tools," she noted the shelves stocked with all sorts of saws and measuring equipment, sanders, and many gadget type things she never saw before.

"I've got a tool for just about everything."

"Seriously, how do you make it out here? You don't have a job, at least, I never see you going to work. And these tools must have cost a fortune," Kat asked. She promised herself she would never accuse him again of being nosy.

Dade laughed. "You know. Your father did it. It's called living off the land. I do a lot of hunting. I fish. See that smoker out there? Over there's my garden. I have food and shelter, what else do I need?"

"And you make furniture."

"It's the same way your dad lived."

As they walked back, Kat peeked into one of the windows of his house. "Let's look inside."

"No, thanks, I've seen my house."

"Come on. I want to see how you live. I want to see what your house is like."

"No, Kat. We don't have time."

"Yes, we do."

"No, we don't."

"Yes, we do," she took off running, rounding the corner just as Dade grabbed her. "What's wrong Dade? Do you have something hiding in there? You have a secret life?" Kat laughed, wriggling free and bursting through the front door.

"That's my personal stuff."

She stopped in her tracks and stared at the room. "It's beautiful. Did you make all this furniture too? Where did you get these paintings and those beautiful rag rugs?"

"These are all things made locally. I have a good eye. I sell my furniture at a lot of craft shows all over the state and find stuff."

"Who are you, Dade, some backwoods millionaire?"

Dade laughed nervously. He dashed around her and stood by the bedroom door. "I make some money building furniture, and I have a couple of hunting books out on the market. I know how to make money."

"I guess you do. I'm very impressed. I thought I'd find, well, tree stumps as tables or something along that line. But this, I'm impressed."

"Good. Now let's go."

"Where does that door lead to?"

"What door?"

"The one you're standing in front of."

"Oh, this one?"

"Yeah."

"My bedroom. And you are not going in there."

Kat smiled.

"No, you are not." He grabbed her and held both her arms at her side, turned her around and led her out the door. "Now up you go," he pointed to Sally.

Kat ducked under his arm so that his wrist turned backwards and he had to release her—an old trick of her own, and she ran back into his house.

"Kat, no!"

"Yes," she threw open the bedroom door. The bed wasn't nearly as impressive as the birch one in the workshop, but very well made. There was nothing really out of the ordinary until she spotted the photograph at his bedside. It was a picture of her with her mom and dad. She picked it up.

"I'm sorry."

"I don't even have a picture of my family this good."

"You can have that one."

"Where did you get this?"

"Your mom gave it to me the day you two left. The day you moved."

In the photograph, Ian, Nora and Kat stood in front of the Keller farmhouse, her dad's arm around Nora and a hand on Kat's shoulder. She stared at it. "He always loved you best," she said of her father.

"No, he didn't."

"You know he did. He was always with you."

"Kat, it's not true."

She looked at Dade, knowing all the pain was showing on her face.

"He spent so much time with me because I wouldn't leave his side. I was like his shadow. I followed him everywhere. I'm sure he was sick of me, but he never showed it. He was the father I never had."

"You had a father."

"Don't be mean," he whispered. He took the picture from her and set it back on the bedside table. "Your father taught me how to be a man. I needed him. If it weren't for him, I don't know what I'd be today."

"I hated you Dade Presley Mathers. You always used to smirk at me whenever he chose you over me."

"I was jealous," Dade admitted.

"You were the mean one."

Dade shrugged. "I was pretty mean. I was a tough kid."

"Everyone at school was afraid of you."

"Except you."

"I knew you wouldn't hurt me."

Dade sat down beside her on the bed. "I hope you still know that."

"Everyone knows that now. Everyone loves you. You're completely changed."

"After you and your mom left, I got into a lot of trouble. I was angry, Kat, and I had a really hard time. I started going to church. It was the only place that reminded me of you." Dade hung his head. "I really missed you."

"I missed you, too."

"Really?"

"Well, kind of. A little bit."

Dade laughed.

"I missed hating you."

Dade laughed louder. "I bet you did. You did it so well."

Kat smiled. Suddenly, sitting on the bed with him made her very nervous. What was wrong with her? One minute she was full of jealous hatred for him and the next thinking thoughts she should never be thinking. She couldn't even hold his hand without getting jittery, or ride horse back with him behind her. It was ridiculous. He had been like a big brother to her, only the kind every sister hated and then she had fallen for him. She should have known better. She should have respected his position and been more of a sister to him.

"What's wrong?" he whispered. His laughing stopped.

Kat stared at him. "Do you still keep my letters?" she asked.

Dade put his hand over hers and kissed her softly on the cheek. With his other hand, he opened the bedside drawer. Inside was her last letter. The one she had railed at him for not answering, the one in which she admitted her deep love for him.

Her own familiar handwriting stared at her. She remembered writing his name on the envelope now worn with handling. He must have read it over and over again. She took the envelope from him and opened it. She skimmed the angry words, the accusations, and the threats until in the last line she saw the words she would have done anything to take back when he never answered: Dade, don't you know how much I love you? She had tried to block them forever from her memory. Please come back to me. The anguish and pain she felt when she wrote that, the devastation her own father's death had caused her, had caused them.

She folded the letter and put it back in the envelope, and handed it to him. "Why didn't you answer me?"

"My foster parents weren't really foster parents, Kat. The Grey House is a boys' home for juvenile offenders and they were the directors. I was sent there by the courts. I'd been running with a group who made and sold methamphetamines—you know what it can be like here, and Dad called the police on me."

Kat did know. Methamphetamines were dangerous drugs and kids got caught up in them all the time around these parts. "I thought your dad was out of your life."

"Dad always knew what I was up to. He sneaks around watching me, even now."

She shook her head. "Dade, I had no idea." She never imagined Dade would have been so foolish. Her father would not have liked it at all. She could see the hurt on Dade's face as if he knew what she were thinking, and maybe he did. Kat saw that there was some wisdom in shame.

"Anyway, she mailed this one to me after I was released, admitting that there had been others. They'd just thrown them away. I wasn't permitted to be involved with girls. But this last one, for some reason, she couldn't ignore. I guess she had been reading them. She just didn't feel right throwing it away. I tried to write to you but I couldn't. I felt so," Dade hesitated, struggling to explain. "I felt unworthy. Here I was a penniless, country bumpkin, just out of this Christian boot camp practically, and you were headed off to college. I never cared about school but when I got your letter, it changed everything for me. I decided to make something of myself. I got my GED and went to college. Then when Nora died, I thought I could talk to you but you were too deep in your grief. I didn't know what to say. I'm sorry. I had no answer for your accusations. I had nothing."

She said, "And now I'm engaged." Her hand grew cold as Dade drew away. Kat could not decide what to do about Brent's unfaithfulness so she had done nothing. She had even stopped checking her phone.

"I think we better go," he replied.

Kat took his hand. "I would've been loyal to you."

"And I would've ruined our relationship like I did everything else. In fact, I did ruin it." He stood up and Kat had no choice but to follow him out the door. She mounted the horse behind him. She wanted to say something to him but Dade was like a man she had never seen before, lost in regrets. He kicked Sally and took her directly home.

Chapter 10

"There's only one other thing that would make me happier," the chills and fever gone, Ken dug into a plate of fried fish and chips at the Fish and Game club, "if my niece would join me at church tonight."

Kat pretended not to hear. She ate hungrily until her plate was empty. She leaned over the table, "That Barney makes the best catfish I've ever tasted."

"And you can tell him so. Barney never misses a service."

Kat groaned. She knew she was not likely to out-maneuver her uncle. Sunday night church was shorter and more focused on fellowship, and Ken wanted her to come. She looked over at her aunt.

"It would be wonderful to have you join us," her aunt said. No help there.

A cozy and friendly church service might not be that bad. She might see Dade there since he headed the youth ministry. She missed him. After his confession to her she had scarcely seen him. "How can I resist a chance to make you happier?"

"This is so informal," Kat said when she sat in the pew with her uncle. "I kind of like it." Dade sang and played the guitar for the band. Kat looked around and smiled at several people she knew. Once again, the church welcomed her and Kat relaxed into the music, clapping her hands, singing along with everyone else, and learning the songs projected on the screen.

Ken tucked Kat's hand under his arm, "I love to sing, but I miss the old hymns. Maybe I ought to start an old fogy's church service and teach Dade some of their songs."

"I don't think you should take on anything new right now, Uncle Ken."

"Nonsense. You can help me. We can offer free hearing aids, that'll get them here."

Kat laughed. "I'd come to your old fogies service. I like the old hymns too."

"It might be just the thing to put you back in his arms."

"Whose arms?"

"The Almighty God's arms, the arms that hold the universe."

Kat shivered, "Faith is easy for you, Uncle Ken."

"Not for me, for God. If you believe."

After church Kat slipped outside and sat on the steps while people divided into various study groups. She didn't want to join them. She'd seen Jan Morris and Dade together. She would hardly feel comfortable going to the young adult study group. "I'll just wait for you out here," she told her uncle.

"We won't stay long," Ken promised her.

The night was warm. At the edge of the forest, where the trail that led to her house began, the forest looked dark and spooky. A shadow lumbered along the edge of the tree line. Kat stood, and the movement stopped.

"It's the bear," Dade said, squeezing her shoulder and making her jump. "She sees you."

"I was just about to scream." Her heart raced.

"The bear has lost her home. She has nowhere to rest."

"Is she going to attack?"

Dade shook his head. "She'll settle down as soon as she finds a home for her cub."

Kat tried to picture the bear as a loving mother looking out for her cub, homeless and needy. It took some of the fear out of her. "What will happen to her?"

"She'll find a new cave soon enough. She has to make sure no other bears are in the territory. I suspect she'll end up living on your property."

"That would be awful. I'll never get rid of her."

"I kind of like her. If it weren't for her wrecking your car, you'd probably be long gone."

"She seems like a mean bear to me."

"Just hurt. She lost her home and is worried about her cub. Makes her kind of ornery—like you."

Kat laughed, "Me?"

"You're a little ornery, and hurt. You've always been a little ornery and hurt."

"What are you talking about?"

Dade stepped back, holding his hands up. "Can't touch you, can't talk about your fiancé, can't talk about your dad, and then there's the really big thing we can't talk about."

"What?"

"Your mother."

Kat staggered back at his direct hit, stunned that he would say these things to her. Him! Dade! The guy who dropped out of her life in one day, Mr. Silent, himself. "Who are you to say that to me, Mr. Dade Presley Mathers, Mr. Wonderful, Mr. I've-Got-It-All-Together? You think you have all the answers and that you can take care of the whole world. You act like you're some Rock of Gibraltar that no one can ruffle."

"I told you about me. It's not me holding it all together."

"You're darn right it's not you. You're just a—" Kat would not finish. She was not going to say a 'backwoods hillbilly'. Besides, he was impressive, a talented artisan, an author, and spiritual leader. The awful realization that maybe Dade did have it all together struck her as almost funny.

"It's God."

Kat rolled her eyes at him.

"He's given me direction and purpose in life. It's your turn now, Kat. Why are you so unable to come to terms with God in your life?"

How could she explain her weak faith? Even she didn't understand it. It confused her to think about God. She took a deep breath and sighed heavily. The depth of sadness inside that one sigh surprised her.

"Look, I'm sorry," Dade nudged her, "Come on, I came out to show you something."

Kat looked skeptical.

"Really, I want to show you my dream. I think you got the wrong impression of me at my house this afternoon, like I've got some sleazy bachelor pad out in the woods. I want to show you who I really am."

"How can I say no to that?"

"You can't."

"Oh, no. I can because I have to drive Uncle Ken home and he's teaching right now. I can't interrupt him."

"I already told him," Dade said. "He knows how to drive, and he has keys. He'll be expecting you back at the farmhouse."

"Making plans behind my back?"

"Just offering options. You can say no."

She said yes. Dade drove them up the back of the mountain to his grandfather's estate that overlooked the valley. The run down house brought back memories from when she was a girl. Even then Dade had dreamed about fixing the place up and living in it. He had held on to the dream all his life. "It's mine. My ancestors lived here. I own it."

"I know. I remember it. It's falling down."

At the front door he took out a key and unlocked it.

"Why do you lock it when all the windows are broken?"

Dade flipped on the lights. He paid to have electricity. "This is the foyer. Look up there at that old chandelier. Over here is the living room. This is the music room," he walked her through the house. "The kitchen is huge, isn't it? I want to fix it up, get married, and have kids here."

Kat smiled kindly. It was a money pit.

"But that's not the best part." He walked out to the backyard. High on top of the hill they could see all of the stars.

"I feel like I can just reach out and touch one," Kat pointed to the cluster that streaked the sky. "I can see the Milky Way. Look, a shooting star."

"You see them all the time out here."

"Did you make a wish?"

"No."

"Why not? Don't you wish on stars?"

"Sometimes but if I really need something I pray for it. Not that I always get it. What about you? Did you make a wish?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"None of my wishes come true."

"It's just a game," he laughed. "If you really want things to come true, then I guess you should switch to prayer."

"None of my prayers come true, either."

"What do you pray for?"

"I prayed for my mom to get well."

"God doesn't always answer our prayers like we think," he said.

"What's so hard about that? Jesus made people well. He knows what I wanted." Kat squeezed her eyes shut but tears fell down her cheeks anyway.

"Look what I've done. I've made you cry. I took you out here to cheer you up and I've made of mess of it."

"You want me to tell you about my mother?" she asked.

"Very much."

"You want to hear something? Something I never told anyone before?" she demanded and he nodded. "I went to her condo that night. Usually we'd have dinner together but I wanted to go to the gallery. I wanted to see if my painting sold. And it did, and it even won Best in Show. I did that instead of feeding my mom. It was important to keep her eating, you know. She was going through all these chemo treatments and it was making her nauseous. She had terrible sores on her skin and her hair was falling out in clumps. She wouldn't want to eat but she was pretty good about it. Mom would've tried. I had taken her for her last chemo treatment that morning. I had to use my key to get in and then I saw she was asleep in her bed, just like I'd left her. She'd been sleeping all day. I woke her before I left and she looked up at me and told me she loved me. 'Go and take care of yourself,' she said. I wasn't too alarmed. The day of the treatments always took a lot out of her. She looked more tired than usual that day, her skin was pale and drawn and her eyes were glassy and dull. I felt for a fever but she was cool. So I just thought we'd skip dinner and she could sleep."

"Go on," he encouraged her.

"I said, 'I'll let you sleep this time, Mom,' because I...I wanted to go to the gallery. Theresa the owner would be there. She had such an exciting life and mine seemed so sad. I wanted to go out and have fun with people my own age. I was glad Mom was asleep. I was relieved that I didn't have to have dinner with her. I kissed her on the cheek. That's when she said, go and take care of yourself, like that, well she was always saying last words, you know? Because I think she knew she was dying and she had time to say stuff. So she said, take care of yourself, but those really were her last words to me and I just ignored them because I never thought they really would be."

"Go on," Dade put his arm around her.

Kat wiped her face and tried not to hiccup so she could tell the rest, the very worst of her story. "I went back that night but I couldn't wake her. Brent called the ambulance but I was still thinking Mom was going to wake up. When they came they covered her head with a sheet. Then I knew."

"You did the right thing."

"I should've called the hospital that afternoon and not gone to the gallery." She hated herself for not staying.

"You didn't know."

"I could have saved her."

"She told you to go," Dade rubbed her back.

"She could tell I wanted to go. That's why she said that."

"No one would've known that she would die that night."

"I left her alone."

"She wasn't alone. God was there."

Kat cried bitterly. She took Dade's hand and squeezed it as if she might fall off the cliff in front of her and into the dark abyss below which was ironic because that was where her own little farmhouse stood.

"It's okay."

"No. I could've stopped it."

Dade lifted Kat's chin so she had to look at him. "Did you hear what you just said?"

Kat nodded.

"That's why you acted like that at her funeral, ignoring everyone, hiding in the library. You really think you're to blame for your mother's death?"

Kat sniffed. "Yeah, I do."

"She told you to go."

"I could've taken her to the hospital that night instead of going to the gallery and then out for coffee. I hate myself."

"It was her time, Kat."

"I was selfish. I put my own interests before the life of my own mother."

"You thought your mother needed a good night's rest."

Kat fell silent. She stopped crying.

"Do you want your mom to be happy?"

"Of course."

"Well, she is. She had a lot of faith. And one day you'll see her again."

"Those are just pretty words we tell grieving children." When he didn't reply, she said, "That's all they are."

He drew her to her feet. "No, they're not. They're the words of Jesus Christ, His promise, and His purpose for us."

She'd heard that all her life. "I can't scale this wall of doubt. I can't come over to your side. The wall's too big. I just can't believe anymore." She closed the door on Dade by admitting her doubt. Dade could never give his love to a woman without faith.

"There's all sorts of stories about people scaling walls and even walls tumbling down in the Bible," Dade whispered in her ear.

"You won't give up on me?" She asked.

"I'll never give up on you, Kat," he promised.

Chapter 11

Dade knelt beside his bed wrenched by Kat's guilt over her mother's death, and her loss of hope in God. "If only she can forgive herself," he prayed. "We always want to be perfect, but there is a difference between being perfect in our own eyes, and being made perfect by You. Please help her to understand that. Forget I said that I didn't want to get hurt, Father," recalling his last prayer for Kat. "Let those words be as far from Your ear as the West is from the East. I gladly lay down my heart for her. Use my feelings of love for her as an offering to you, and as a reflection of Your love for her. Amen."

The next day he fasted to prepare himself for God's use. He wanted his heart to be right. He prayed throughout the day as he worked. There was nothing like praying to give a person peace.

The wooden bed frame looked ash white when he rubbed it with a natural polish and a clear coat of polyurethane to make it shine. All he needed to finish now was the last heart on the head board. It was the center heart he was missing. No matter, God would provide.

That night before bed he prayed, "Whatever You require, give me the courage to do it."

Fortified by the day of prayer and fasting, Dade went to Mary and Ken's the next morning. As usual, Mary had a plate of buckwheat pancakes and eggs with spinach waiting for him. Ken made room for him at the table. "We missed you at breakfast yesterday," he remarked.

"I worked all day in my shop. I'm sorry. I should've called."

"On that pretty bed, no doubt. I hope those two realize what a gift they're getting." Ken poured Dade a glass of orange juice. "Slow down there, boy, those pancakes aren't going to hop off your plate and run away."

Mary set down a plate of sausages.

"I've got to go into town today, need anything?" Dade asked.

Ken retrieved a couple of prescriptions from the kitchen drawer and handed them to Dade.

"These are for pain, Ken. Are you hurting?"

"Just a bit a night," he admitted. "I have a lot of joint pain that keeps me up."

"Keeps me up, too," Mary chuckled.

"I'll be happy to fill these for you," Dade accepted a grocery list from Mary, "and get these for you."

"I don't know what we'd do without you, Dade," Ken patted him on the shoulder.

"Oh, you'd be fine but I suspect Kat would get a little less beauty sleep," Dade slipped the lists into his wallet.

"Hey, didn't I see a plate of sausages?" Ken asked.

Dade wiped his mouth. "You'd probably eat more, too."

In town, Dade checked on Kat's car. "Still waiting for the axle," Eddie Lewis, owner of Rainbow Valley Auto Parts, showed him the shipping receipt and the back order notification. "As soon as I get the axle, I'll get right to work on it. That's what I told the other fellow yesterday."

"Who was that?"

"Don't know his name. A huffy sort of fellow, time is money kind of guy. A city boy."

"Yeah," Dade figured it had to be Brent calling the only auto garage in town. He's the kind of guy who would want his fiancé home. It is all in God's hands, he reminded himself. "Okay, just put it on my account. Let me know when it's done."

Dade drove to the bank next to deposit a couple of checks that came in the mail. His books were selling pretty well, and he had sold some furniture to one of the local furniture stores. He met Officer Billings outside the bank, writing up a parking ticket for some out-of-towner. "This guy always parks here. Well today I'm giving him a ticket."

"I've seen this car around before." Dade admired the sleek red Mercedes. "Nice car."

"Everyone's seen it. Sits here like an elephant right in a no parking zone. Atlanta tags. Those city folks think they own the world."

"Tourists. Can't live with them and you can't live without them," Dade said.

"This one's no tourist. Sergeant Dumfries knows him. I tried to give him a ticket before and Dumfries tore it up. Well, he can tear up this one too. I hate it when folks think they're better than everyone else and don't obey the law."

"Who does the car belong to?"

"Ah, some guy named Brent Carroll."

Dade choked on his words. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm sure."

"I've seen this car around all summer." What was Brent Carroll doing here even before Kat had come to visit?

"He does business up here of some sort. He wears a suit." Officer Billings slipped the ticket under the wiper. "It's a pleasure to give him a ticket. We're lucky to have Mayor Dolan or we'd have folks like Dumfries selling this town for all it's worth."

"He's in on the development." Dade said.

"You're darn tootin'. He deserves more than a ticket. I've lived here for sixty-three years and I wouldn't live any other place. I don't want it over run by a lot of retired city folks. Dumfries is getting too big for his britches."

Dade drove home and tried to make sense of what he'd learned about Brent. He hoped Kat knew just what kind of guy she was marrying. What would he be doing up here except planning the development of Kat's land? Was Brent marrying Kat so he could acquire her land when her uncle died, and then turn over a huge profit by developing it into a retirement resort? Dade recalled Kat's own words, 'I should've known that someone like him was just using me.'

Brent Carroll was using Kat. He didn't love her. He wanted her land.

And then he wanted his land.

Dade slammed on the breaks so fast his head nearly hit the steering wheel. "Good Father," he yelled, "he's not only stealing my girl, he's stealing my land!" Dade looked at the road ahead of him. "Brent Carroll's ruining my life." A fury built up in Dade so strong he wanted to turn around and take a sledgehammer to the red Mercedes. He prayed to bring his temper under control. Were the two guys his dad saw go into the bank in some way connected with Brent, whose car was parked outside of the bank? Was Brent Carroll behind the fires?

"Am I putting two and two together and getting five, Lord? Am I jumping to conclusions? God, give me patience!" Dade pressed his hands to his forehead and took some deep breaths. He needed time to think this through. Regaining a modicum of sanity, he started his car again and drove back to Mary and Ken's, not sure how long he could keep himself in check or what he should do. Old fears and angers rose up with the shock of Brent's involvement. Life had dealt him a bad hand, he had all the hard luck and no one else, thoughts that had once made him a bitter youth before he turned to Jesus Christ, and the familiarity of it shook him to his very soul.

As he drove up beside the house, he concluded that he would do nothing for now. Dade handed the groceries to Mary and the pills to Ken. He would just keep himself busy and pray about it.

He started weeding in the garden, as usual, getting the hot work done first. The September mornings were a little cooler but the afternoons could heat right up into the nineties. Then he collected the paper trash and burned it. He put the garbage in the mulching can. He headed down to the barn and hopped on the mower. Kat came out on the porch with the morning paper and waved to him as he drove past. He waved back like everything was fine. The ancient tractor made a roaring noise as he steered it up the hill. The noise helped to keep him from hearing his own thoughts.

Chapter 12

Kat glanced up from the newspaper to see Brent's red Mercedes weave easily around the ruts and potholes in their long driveway. It passed the large oak tree and the family cemetery. As the ancient mower roared across the hillside, the sleek Mercedes parked on the grass in front of the farmhouse. Brent crossed the lawn and came to a stop at the foot of the steps.

"Can I come up?" He had an edge to his voice.

"Of, course."

He kissed her on the cheek and then grimaced at her cool reaction.

"You must've left early in the morning to get here." The mower had awakened her or she would still be sleeping.

"I can't sleep while you are away."

Kat's aunt and uncle came out to the porch and introduced themselves. "Come into the kitchen and have something to eat. Will you stay for lunch? Mary made some sandwiches for us." Mary waved her hand for him to follow her inside.

"I don't want to take anyone's food," Brent said.

"You can have mine. I'm not really hungry." Kat remained in her seat.

"Oh, no, you're the one who should eat. You're wasting away to nothing." Brent laughed as if nothing were wrong between them. "You won't fit into your wedding dress."

Kat eyed him suspiciously. "We all have our faults."

"You hide yours well." Brent said. "Won't you join me inside?" His manners were charming Mary but Kat was not in the mood.

From inside Kat heard Mary say, "Maybe you two should talk first. Find out what's bothering Kat."

"I think I'm bothering her," he said. She braced herself when she heard him come back outside. "Kat," he pleaded.

"Why did you come here?"

"You invited me, remember?"

"You just blew me off the day I invited you. Why didn't you call and let me know you were coming?"

"I did. Check your cell."

"It's not charged."

"That would explain all my unanswered voice mails to you."

"I didn't want to talk to you," Kat turned away from him.

"I'll leave right now." Brent marched off the porch.

"Good. And you can drive right back to your girlfriend."

Brent turned to face her. "So that's what this is all about."

"Courtney Starr."

"She's my friend. That's all."

"No, she's not. I found her belt with the cross under my mother's bed. Can you explain that?"

Brent hesitated.

"Right in my own mother's house. You brought Courtney Starr to be alone with her in my mother's house. How could you?"

Brent stammered, "I brought her there--"

"No kidding."

"...because she was sick. She had just collapsed on stage and she wouldn't let anyone call an ambulance. She wouldn't go to the hospital. So I took her there. It was the closest place I could think of."

Kat looked up the hill at Dade. "So you were in town that day," she pointed this out because he was supposed to be on a business trip.

"I came back a day early but late that night." Brent looked up at the hill. "I told you the trip was canceled."

"And went to her."

"I went to be with my friends who happen to be her friends, too."

"That's just great," Kat said.

"I would've gone to see you but it was late. You're in bed by eleven. I wasn't going to wake you."

"So you went to see Courtney Starr perform and then you brought her back to my mother's condo." Kat crossed her arms.

"Why do you keep looking up at the gardener?"

"He's not the gardener."

"Who is he?"

"Never mind."

"I'm warning you, Kat, you stay away from that guy."

"You're the one who's cheating."

"She was sick."

"I don't care and I don't believe you. Why were you there when she collapsed?"

"You're really something, Kat."

"What?"

"Don't look at me like that, like you don't know. You've played me for a fool. Now that you have all this you don't need me anymore, do you?"

"All what?"

"You're rich. One day soon you will own all this land and this house. And here I sit, like yesterday's dinner, not very appealing today, huh?"

"You know my uncle has no intention of selling." Kat said.

"It doesn't take anyone to tell me. I can see it. You're the meanest woman I've known yet. I love you Brent, you say, but when my world falls a part, where are you? You run off. I was at the club because that's where my friends are. Did you expect me to stay home waiting for you?" he asked.

"What do you mean your world is falling apart?"

"You know my parents are in the middle of a divorce. My family is breaking apart and my good friend is in rehab. She almost died that night. I thought I had a good woman who loved me but obviously I was mistaken about that, too."

"So you brought her to my mother's condo," Kat would not let him reason away his unfaithfulness.

"It's a block away from Eddies Attic where she was singing."

"And you did what with her?"

"I called my doctor, of course. He came over and we talked her into going to the hospital. She was close to overdosing. She's got a problem. I don't just leave my friends when they have problems."

"And I do?"

"You left me," He said.

Her aunt warned her not to jump to conclusions. Maybe he was innocent.

Brent continued, "Her belt probably slipped under the bed and no one noticed it. The doctor had to take it off to examine her."

Kat had jumped to conclusions that were wrong. He hadn't been unfaithful, had he?

He approached her and whispered in her ear, "I need you." he put his arm around her.

"I can't leave right now. My car isn't ready," Kat stepped out of his embrace.

"It will be today. I have the part they need in the trunk. I called them."

"You called them without talking to me first?"

"I got what they needed and brought it up here. I'm tired of waiting for you, Kat."

"How did you know where my car was being repaired?"

"There aren't that many garages in Rainbow Valley. It's a small town," Brent said.

Kat wondered how he knew the expanse of her family's property. He'd said 'all this land,' but Kat couldn't remember telling him how much land her uncle owned, and he wouldn't know just by looking. Why couldn't she just trust him?

Brent pleaded, "Come home with me."

"I can't."

Disappointment crossed his face. She was wrong about Brent being unfaithful, but his relationship with Courtney still seemed wrong to her. But what about her own relationship with Dade? She was guilty too. "I'm sorry. It's not that I intend to be mean. Or that I'm leaving you like yesterday's dinner. I came because my aunt and uncle are the only family I have now. I've seen so little of them throughout my life. They are all I have left, please understand. I'm sorry about your mom and dad. I should have realized how much it was hurting you, but people make their own choices and I can't change them. My coming back will not bring them back together. And I'm sorry about Courtney Starr. I know that must be very difficult for you right now. I read in the paper that she is doing better."

"Yes, she is. But it was touch-and-go for a while there. I didn't know if she'd make it."

"I can see that you still care very deeply for her," Kat said.

Brent rubbed his face. "She's just my friend. You are so jealous."

"It's not about Courtney or my aunt and uncle's money. I can see where you would think that it is, but it's not. It's about family and about roots. This is where I grew up, where I learned about so many things. This is home to me." The truth of it became clearer to her. "This place is a healing place for me."

"You grew up in Atlanta."

"No Brent. I used to live up here when my dad was alive. I needed to come here and I need to be here for a while longer."

"How much longer?"

"I don't know." Kat wasn't going to limit herself.

"What about our wedding? When is that going to be, Kat?"

Kat pulled the ring off her finger and handed it to Brent.

"What are you doing?" He stepped back, raised his hands, unwilling to take it.

"I'm staying up here until things settle down. Someone's starting fires on the property next to us. I can't just leave my aunt and uncle."

"Fine, I can understand that. Just keep the ring. Please. I want to marry you. I'll wait however long it takes."

Kat shook her head. "I may never go back to Atlanta," she said, knowing it was true.

Brent grabbed the ring. "All right then, have it your way." He stared her down. "You'll be sorry." Then he stomped over to his car.

Brent was used to getting his way. She'd seen him angry before but never at her. He slammed his car door, gunned his engine, and then sped off down the driveway.

Mary poked her head out the window, "Is it safe to come out?"

"I've never seen him act that way towards me," Kat said. "Were you listening the whole time?"

"I'm sorry. It was hard not to when you're standing right outside the window."

Ken came out to the porch and hugged her. "How you feeling, hon?"

"Oddly enough, I feel relieved."

"Then it was the right choice."

The mower came down the hill and into the shed. Dade's shirt was with soaked in sweat. He took off his University of Tennessee Vols cap and wiped his forehead. "I've seen that car before." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"You couldn't have. It's Brent's car," Kat said.

"I did. In town, several times, in front of the bank. He always parks it illegally."

"It can't be," Kat thought this was the first time Brent had been up here.

"I don't like the way he pulled out of here," Dade said.

"We broke up."

Dade blinked. "You what?"

"We broke up."

Dade picked her up off the ground and swung her around. He grinned from ear to ear.

"Dade! Put me down!"

"Hallelujah!" Dade shouted.

Kat laughed. "Not one to hide your feelings, are you?"

"I don't like that guy one bit. It would've broken my heart to see you marry someone like him," Dade said.

Kat turned to Ken, "You don't look very surprised."

"No, not really. Most people don't leave their fiancés for a month."

"Has it been that long? I guess I was the last to realize it."

"No." Dade answered, "Brent was the last to realize it."

Kat looked down the road where a dusty cloud had begun to settle. "He threatened me," she said quietly.

Mary nodded, "I heard him. He said she'd be sorry."

"I have a friend at the bank. I think I'll see if she can answer a few questions for me." Dade put his cap back on his head.

"What do you mean a few questions? You have more to say, I can tell." Dade sounded like he knew more than he was telling, but he wouldn't say more. She shook her head in confusion and sat down on the porch. Her voice trembled, "Why would you do that, Dade? Why would you go to the bank and ask questions? Tell me."

He sighed. "You remember the guys we saw when we went up to the cave behind the waterfall? One of them was Tom Mercer, the local banker, remember?"

Kat nodded. "So?"

"So, Tom has financed most of the real estate deals around this area and probably wants to finance the development deal for any land sales that come through in the future. Tom may not have the assets to finance the development of both our properties put together. If that were going to happen, it would take millions of dollars. And Brent's bank may not, either."

"But together?"

"Now you're thinking what I'm thinking."

"That's why he was interested in me. I always wondered what he saw in me." She put her head in her hands. All Brent really wanted was her land.

"Kat, you're so much more than that," Dade said. "He just can't see it."

"That's right, honey," Mary said. "It's not a reflection on you. I'm sure Brent loves you—how could he not? He just wasn't up front with you about all his plans."

Ken said, "When money is all a person is looking for, that's all he sees."

Ken looked like her father again. She remembered the first time she saw the resemblance. He loved her, that's what she saw. The same expression of love was on his face as was on her father's when he looked at her. Her father did love her and so did her uncle.

Kat was lucky to have this time with him. She wondered how she might have handled this situation without her aunt and uncle's support, and knew it would have been a crushing blow to her if she were alone without any family to help her through. A verse from the Bible came to her mind: God puts the lonely in families. Perhaps God was not so very far away after all.

After Mary and Ken went back inside, Dade took her hand and Kat stood up. "We'll get to the bottom of this," his face set in that stubborn cast that she recognized from his childhood. She touched his cheek tenderly with her free hand he turned his face into her hand and kissed it.

Chapter 13

"It could've ended differently." Kat licked a spoon of vanilla ice cream from the Moo Town Creamery in Rainbow Valley. Several weeks after the failed romance with Brent, she was still unsure what her next move would be. A second bout of fevers left Ken as weak as a kitten. Mary needed help with him so Kat had negotiated six more months on her Atlanta apartment lease at the new price. That left her with some time to decide where to live, and the option to return to Atlanta if she chose.

The sun was still hot at the end of September. Her aunt and uncle relaxed beside her in the shade outside the creamery while they waited for Dade to return from the bank. Some of the leaves were turning a golden red at the tips of the trees. The tourists were gone from town and kids were back in school. "He could've spent the day with us, enjoyed life a little but he didn't. He just came to take me back into his life, his house, and his world. Up here people take life slower and I like that. Brent never understood me and how upside down my life had become when Mom died."

"You're making long-range choices right now," Mary glanced at her bare ring finger.

"That's right," said Ken. "You are defining your life."

"What choices? You mean marriage?" Giving Brent's engagement ring back was the only definitive choice she had made.

"Yes, and where you'll live and what you'll do," Mary added.

"I feel like I'm avoiding that decision right now."

Mary nodded. "Avoiding one outcome is a way of choosing the other, right?"

"And who you'll spend your life with," Ken said. "I didn't like that Brent fellow the minute I saw him. I didn't like how polished he looked. His nails were shining for heaven's sake. I like men to have dirty nails."

"Uncle Ken, he's a banker. Bankers are different. They're not like Dade." Kat knew where the conversation was headed.

"Dade is a fine young man."

"Will you stop?" Mary said.

Ken shrugged, licking his butter pecan ice cream cone. "We better hurry up and start explaining things to her."

"Explain what?" Kat asked.

"Why are you being so contrary today?" Mary asked Ken.

"Don't be annoyed with him, Aunt Mary, explain what?"

Ken smiled but Mary shook her head, "Oh, go ahead and tell."

Ken said, "I wanted to live here when you and your mom left for Atlanta because when I look out from the porch, as far as I can see the land belongs to our family. It's a pleasure for me at the end of my life to see the land that my great, great grandfather bought is still there and still part of the family. I look out and I can see how God cares for it. I feel blessed to have it. It's never had any other meaning to me besides just having a place to call home that I can share with others."

Mary nodded in agreement. "Well said."

"This land of mine is now considered prime real estate. Brent Carroll, in one cursory visit, spoke about a reality that you, Kat, with your tender and pure heart had not even considered. The truth is I received several offers for my land just recently, all of them good and fair. The latest one is twice the amount of any other. It's hard not to take a good look at it."

"You mean the one to develop the land for retirees? The one Dade thinks that Brent is behind?"

"Dade received an offer from the same fellow as we did but Dade also received another offer much lower. I never received the low ball offer. Only Dade was approached."

That's because by marrying her, Brent considered the land to be his. He didn't have to make Ken an offer. That is, if Brent was the one behind the low ball offer. "There's competition for the land?" Kat asked.

"Apparently. Real estate can be a cut throat business, and people talk. The whole town knows what's going on." Ken shook his head.

"That loud mouth Sergeant Dumfries, not to disrespect the law, is the one who's talking to everyone, trying to get people to buy into developing the land. We have plenty of fine police officers, but I don't trust him ever since he tried to pin that fire on Dade." Mary said.

"Dade saw Sergeant Dumfries at the falls with Tom Mercer," Kat told them.

"What were they doing there?" Mary asked.

"Trespassing," Ken pointed out. "Dade was also approached by these other land developers. These people are a well-known real estate development company from Chattanooga. They want to do the same thing, change the land into a recreation area for retired folks. It's fairly easy to do with all of the water on our land."

"And they're the ones with the high offer?"

"That's right," said Mary.

"Frankly, we're tempted. Mary is going to be alone and I don't want anything to happen to her."

"Uncle Ken, don't say that." His last bout with illness scared them all. Even now, Kat could see a pallor to his skin she didn't like.

"It's no secret. Mary and I both know it, and we talk about it all the time."

"His heart is getting weaker," Mary warned.

"I've lived a full and blessed life already."

Kat's eyes filled with tears. "I don't want you to go, Uncle Ken. Maybe there will be another miracle, and another, and another."

Ken put his hand over hers. "I appreciate your thoughts, Kat. I love you, too, and I'm not anxious to leave this world, but the reality is that it's likely."

"That's why he's always resting, to stave off the onslaught of the recurring fever that weakens his heart." Mary said.

"Anyway, the agreement would be that we'd sell the land, but the house and the yard would remain. Mary would always have a place to live and enough money to employ someone to take care of her."

"What about Dade?"

"Dade doesn't want to sell. He would keep his land. He's agreed to allow a road to be built through his property so people can get around more easily, but none of this has been put in writing yet."

"So Dade knows all about this second offer?" Kat asks.

"He worked it out with us so Mary could be taken care of."

"Knowing how fiercely Dade protects his land, allowing a road through it is a real statement of how much he cares about us," Mary said.

"I'd have to agree with that." Kat wanted to end the whole conversation.

"The land belongs to us, Kat, that includes you," Ken said. "We need to do with it what makes sense to us. Every Keller has had to make this decision. If you really want to move up here and keep this land, we won't sell."

"You mean it?" Kat asked.

"We just don't know what you want to do," Mary said.

"You'd give up all that money for me?"

"What do we need of money? We're at the end of our lives. Your happiness means so much more to us. If we thought that you would cherish this land for the rest of your life, we'd never take that away from you. I'm just concerned for Mary. She may need someone to take care of her." Ken took Mary's hand.

Kat nodded, finally understanding, "Choices. I have to make a choice."

"That's right," said Ken.

"The choice is yours, dear," Mary said. "I can't live here alone, but if you want to move up, then we won't sell."

"The money or the land, that's the choice," Ken said simply. "The money will eventually be yours. You and Mary can invest it and live off the interest alone."

Kat nodded, hugging her Aunt Mary. "Give me a little while to think it over. I want to make the best choice for all of us."

Ken agreed. "That's what I hoped you would say."

Mary would end up living in the middle of all that construction work if they sold. The building would go on for years—no more quiet country life. Yet, she and her aunt could live anywhere they wanted. They could travel, even live for a time in any of the cities of the world, New York, London, Paris or Rome. They could move to the beach. Kat loved the ocean. The possibilities were as delightful as the creamy bowl of vanilla ice cream and suddenly her future did not seem so dull.

Finally, she understood. This is what Brent saw all along.

When Dade returned, the back of Dade's shirt was wet with the effort of walking several blocks in the heat. He sat beside Kat eating her ice cream. "If you were a cat you'd be purring."

"Meow," she smiled. "What did you find out?"

Dade turned to Ken. "You don't look so good."

"Oh my," Mary said. Ken looked suddenly ill.

"You were fine a minute ago." The discussion had obviously taken a lot out of him. "We should go," Kat quickly collected her purse.

"He missed his nap," Mary said. "And it's so hot."

"Oh, stop fussing," Ken said. "I just need to get home. We can talk at the farmhouse." He yawned. "Kat's right. Let's go."

"I'll drive," Dade offered.

Ken snored in the front seat the whole way home until the rutted drive. "We need to fix this road before winter," Ken woke when the car jolted over a new bump in the road. "No one will be able to get in or out of here if we don't."

"Don't worry, Uncle Ken, I'll take care of it." Kat reached from the back seat to put a hand on his shoulder. "I don't want you to worry anymore."

Ken put his hand over hers. "Thank you, sweetheart."

Dade stopped in front of the farmhouse, helped Ken out of the car and up the porch steps, and then into bed where Mary and Kat tucked Ken in under the covers.

"He's too tired to talk more," Mary said a few minutes later, "even though he's very excited for us."

They sat in the shade of the porch. Dade unbuttoned his shirt, offering apologies for his bad manners. "I can't stand wearing it because it's all sweaty."

"It's fine with me," Kat said.

"It's too hot," Mary added.

"I've got these light weight wool pants on but they're hot." He leaned his back against the railing. "Brent's definitely involved in some way. He's been to the bank two or three times, the first time in May."

"That's when we met."

"Did you tell him about this place?"

"Yes. We had a long talk the first time I met him. We talked all about our lives, and I told him I grew up here on the edge of the national forest."

"That would've been a red flag to him," Dade said pointedly.

Kat crossed her arms and looked down at her feet. "He used me right from the start."

"Don't be too hard on yourself. When people set out to deceive, they can do a pretty good job of it for a while." Dade said.

"You knew it in your heart," Mary reminded her. "You knew something was wrong."

"So, now what?" Kat asked.

Dade shook his head. "I think it's over. You broke it off with Brent, so the whole thing has fallen through. Now they don't have your land or my land."

"Did you find anything else out about Brent?" Kat asked.

"Nothing conclusive, Jan isn't privy to any of the files. She's just a loan officer."

"Jan?"

Dade nodded, "Yeah, Jan Morris. She's my friend at the bank."

"You mean your girlfriend?" Who had been making eyes at Dade all during the reception.

"I think I have a raspberry tart to make," Mary said, hopping up from her seat and hurrying into the kitchen.

"She's not my girlfriend," Dade said.

"She looked like your girlfriend at the wedding."

"Well, she's not. We've dated a few times but nothing more." Dade said.

"But if you were going to have a girlfriend, she'd be it."

"No, she wouldn't be it. What's with you? You are a jealous, green-eyed Kat."

"I'm not jealous."

"Yes, you are. You are jealous of my friendship with Jan, of my relationship with your aunt and uncle, and of my relationship with you father. In fact, I don't think there's anyone in my life you're not jealous of."

"That is the most conceited remark I've ever heard. I certainly am not jealous of you. I was just wondering. Look at you sitting there with your shirt off and in your suit pants looking like something on the cover of GQ. You probably think all the women are after you," Kat said.

Dade laughed. "I do not," but he put his shirt back on.

"I'm going in to make a raspberry tart too."

"Fine. I've got to get ready for the Bible study tonight."

"I couldn't care less what you have to do. Will Jan be there?"

Dade kept one foot on the steps of the porch and leaned forward. "You know what you need?"

"No, and neither do you."

"Yes, I do." He took both her hands and pulled her to him. "You need some reassurance."

Kat pulled away and turned on her heel, then she stomped into the kitchen, leaving Dade alone on the porch. She picked up the pail of raspberries she picked that morning and set it in the sink to rinse. She looked out the kitchen window and saw Dade walking up the hill, his head held high with his strong shoulders thrown back with confidence. "Why is he whistling?" she asked Mary. "He is the most infuriating man." She turned to her aunt and was about to complain more when she remembered how much her aunt liked Dade. Instead she turned to the dough on the table. She pounded it. There was something about being angry with Dade that felt very safe. She folded the dough and punched all the air out of it, blocking out the thought of how he might have reassured her.

Chapter 14

Dade looked at himself in the mirror. Not that he would ever want to be on the cover of GQ, but it pleased him to know Kat thought he qualified. Dade whistled a tune from church as he recalled the near kiss. "We have to get her back to You," he told God in his very unconventional way of praying. "Let me know whatever I have to do to show her how much You love her, and I will." Dade glanced at the framed photo of Kat and her family. "Maybe You could give her a little nudge to come to services tonight. She knows I'm going and if she wants to see me, she'll be there, right?" Dade had mentioned the study several times.

The Friday night Bible study was a small group of ten or so. They brought food to share afterwards. As soon as he walked into church, he smelled his favorite fried chicken and his stomach growled. His best meals came from this study. Lenny and his wife brought a plate of cookies and brownies. Clarissa and Mark, the newlyweds, Jan Morris and her friends, Lenny and Natalie, and a group of people Dade knew from high school sat in a circle waiting for Dade, but Kat was not among them. He waited a few more minutes before beginning, certain that Kat would walk in any moment. All through the study he watched the door. It was no use though. She never came.

"What's the matter tonight, Dade?" Jan made room for him in line for food, "Where's your girlfriend?" she teased.

"I don't have a girlfriend," Dade said.

"It's obvious you're very taken with Kat Keller," Jan whispered.

"It is?"

"Of, course. Everyone can see you were looking for someone tonight." Jan helped herself to some chicken. Moving quickly to the casserole, she admitted, "She's very lucky, even if she doesn't know it. Did you invite her to come?"

"She's lost her faith in her grief over her mother. I don't know if she would come."

Jan shook her head, "You didn't answer my question. Have you invited her?"

"She knows the study is open to her. I've mentioned it several times."

"Did you specifically invite her?"

"No, I guess I haven't in so many words. I hadn't really thought I had to." That is, until this moment. He sat down at the table with Jan.

"Why not?"

"She's not very happy in her relationship with God because, well," Dade hesitated. Kat told him about the night of her mother's death and how strongly she felt she was to blame for it, but she had told him in confidence and Dade couldn't break that, "because her mom died too young and she doesn't understand why."

"Oh, I guess there's not much you can do but pray for her."

"I do."

"I will, too." When the rest of the group joined them, Jan announced, "We have a new person on our prayer list, Kat Keller."

Dade held his breath. He certainly didn't expect her to tell everyone what he just told her. Jan continued, "She lost her mom a few months ago and is having trouble understanding her death. We need to ask God to remind her of His presence." She turned to Dade and put her hand on his arm. "Sometimes the only healing measure left to God is to call His children home."

Dade swallowed thickly. Jan's words touched his heart. He nodded. He looked around at his group of friends, realizing they all knew how he felt about Kat even though he had only told Lenny. Love is hard to hide. He looked at Lenny who smiled at him. "Don't worry, Dade, God will take care of her."

Later, on his drive home, Dade thanked God for his Friday night study. Tonight they tended to his particular needs, encouraged him, and reminded him that God was there for Kat. In a way Kat did come, maybe not in person, but her guardian angel or her spirit or whatever one called it, had come. He drove into his driveway and parked the car.

"You always help me, God. I've barely uttered the need, and You have met it." He slipped underneath the covers of his bed. "I tried to manipulate her Lord. I hoped she would come to be with me, not to learn about you. I'm sorry, I should ask her outright, just like Jan said. I know it's not me she's rejecting as much as it is You, but somehow that just makes me feel worse. Next week I want to ask her to come to the study. Give me the right words."

The next morning Dade took one more look for a birch tree on the other side of the mountain. The trip gave him plenty of time to pray more for Kat's faith, for her willingness to come to a study, and for some Christian friends to help her. He needed to trust God that his prayers would be answered. He knew his Bible study friends would be praying for her too. Why hadn't he put her on their prayer list months ago?

Chapter 15

All weekend long the hillside that led to Dade's house showed no sign of him. Kat found herself picking up his various chores around the house. By the end of the day, she was tired and the garden still needed watering. She sat on the porch and absently stroked her lips, remembering his near kiss.

"These are the best raspberry tarts I've ever tasted." Ken rocked beside her eating a second tart to increase his weight. Kat and her aunt had spent all weekend making them with the wild raspberry bushes that lined the back pasture. "I don't think there's anything to be worried about. No one's started any fires for several weeks," he said. "Or are you looking up there for some other reason?"

Kat cast her eyes from the view of the hillside.

"I think we can all give a sigh of relief that the danger is passed." Mary yawned. "I better go close up the shed and water the garden a little before it gets too dark."

"I'll do that, Aunt Mary. Uncle Ken will nod off in his chair if you don't get him to bed soon." Kat stepped off the porch and hosed the rows of turnips, spinach, kale, and pumpkin. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught movement on the hillside and saw Dade mounted on Sally at the edge of the forest. He turned his horse down the hill and cantered towards her. She saw the bedroll tied to his saddle.

"I thought you'd have been here for the raspberry tarts," she said.

Dade wore his usual attire of jeans and a button down shirt. The night air was cool but his skin was warm when she touched his arm. "You're sweating."

"I'm a hard working man," he said.

"Not hard working enough. You didn't water the garden."

He took the hose from her.

"Where were you?" Did she sound too possessive?

"Out looking for a birch tree."

"Did you find one?"

He shook his head. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Why not?"

"I was thinking."

"About what?"

"About you Miss Keller. I'm always thinking about you."

"And?" she asked.

"I thought maybe we could, well, you could meet some of my friends. You're not really doing much over here to meet people."

"I have been lonely," she said but she hadn't thought it showed. "And worried. Uncle Ken's pretty weak. He's a lot for Aunt Mary to take care of all by herself."

"You really are a caretaker, aren't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you spent a lot of time caring for your mom and now here you are doing the same thing for your uncle."

"Maybe I shouldn't make too many friends right now. I don't have a lot of time." Her uncle was so sick. He would die alone, while she was out having fun with new friends.

Dade turned off the water and put the hose away. Kat stumbled behind him in the dark and he caught her in his arms. "You're so tense, Kat. I really want to lighten your load a little."

"What do you mean?" She leaned into the embrace.

"I want you to come with me to the Friday night Bible study. You can get to know some people our age, and get their support. I'm worried about you. You need more people your own age around you. You're carrying a huge load caring for your aunt and uncle in the middle of nowhere and right after you lost your mom." Dade tenderly massaged her shoulders.

Kat began to relax a little more. "You really have been thinking about me, haven't you? I just don't know if I want to leave them even for an hour or two."

"You have your cell. The church is five minutes away from your house."

"I know but I'll have to talk about God and you know I feel so confused about Him right now. How could I go to a Bible study?" She felt herself tense up again and he stopped the massage. She had weeded the garden for hours and her back ached. She put his hands back on her shoulders and smiled at him.

"You don't have to say anything if you don't want to. No one will expect you to. Besides, confusion about God is often the normal state. I feel pretty confused about God sometimes too."

"You do?" Kat had always taken God for granted. Maybe that was her trouble. Instead of using God as granter-of-all-requests she should approach Him in some other way.

Dade laughed and began messaging her back again. "It's not so much about understanding God. It's more about trusting Him."

Trust Him with her requests? That didn't work the last time. "I don't think I'll ever understand." She hesitated, "Is that study with the group of women I saw you with at the reception?"

"Are we going to get into that conversation again?"

"I guess not. Not if you're going to stop massaging my back."

"Good, because there's nothing there for you to worry about; we are all just friends." He resumed the message. "Well, will you come? We have a pot luck afterwards."

"Why am I not surprised? Your church always has pot lucks. Why is that?"

"We like to eat, but this is different. All people our age. Pot lucks are a time to sit and get to know one another. It will be perfect for you."

"Okay, I'll think about it. I know I could go. I mean, I don't think I could go to church just yet, but I could go to a Bible study. I have been pretty low these past few weeks. I need some cheering up."

"Great. I'll take you this Friday, okay?"

Kat turned to him. "Maybe not that soon, but soon. I'll go soon."

"Whenever you're ready, Kat, just let me know." Dade finished his massage and pulled her into his arms. Above them the quarter moon hung in the sky like a winking cat's eye. October was a mischievous month, and Halloween was only a few weeks away.

"Goodnight, Kat." Dade kissed her softly on the cheek before he let go of her, then he rode back up the hill along the edge of the forest to the entrance to the path that led to his house. There he turned and waved back at her, the sky bright with the light of the moon and stars behind him.

A chilly wind blew from out of nowhere as she head back to the house. She opened her bedroom window to let the cool breezes blow. Nestled deep in warm blankets, she woke to frantic pawing outside her window and the acrid smell of Sally's sweat. She opened her eyes and saw Sally looking straight at her. She gave a half whinny half screaming sound that terrified Kat.

She leaped from her bed and ran to the window. Sally reared and trotted back and forth in front of her, her wild eyes peering at Kat. She pulled on her jeans and a sweatshirt and climbed out the window to grab the horse.

The night air smelled like smoke. Kat led the horse around to the front of the house and looked up at the hill where a billowing black cloud mushroomed into the sky, blocking out the light of the stars and moon where Dade lived.

Quickly, she mounted Sally and kicked her into a run up the hill and through the path. Sirens screaming through the night air turned Sally into a thunderous run. Kat laid flat on the back of the horse with two fists full of mane and her knees digging into the horse's sides. Sally stopped at the end of the path, unwilling to go any closer. "Dade!" Kat slipped off the horse and darted towards the house on foot. She opened the front door, slamming right into a thick wall of smoke. She turned away and sprinted up the side of the house to peer into the bedroom window. The intense heat of the flames singed her bangs and the smoke choked and burned her throat. She cried, "Dade wake up!" but her words fell into a spasm of coughing. She ran to the back of the house and found him safe from danger, using the garden hose to soak his workshop.

He pointed behind her and yelled something Kat could not hear over the sound of the rushing wind made by the fire. The first spray of water from the fire hose ricocheted off the house and slammed her to the ground. She got up soaked and dripping from the rush of water. She ran over to Dade. "What can I do?"

"Here," he handed her the garden hose. "Soak the roof. I don't want the workshop catching fire if the sparks fly overhead." Only one story high the hose easily emitted a steady stream of water onto the roof but a feeble one compared to the fire truck's water hose.

Dade disappeared in and out of the workshop hauling his tools in a wheelbarrow. Piles of tools soon littered his yard. After he brought out the last of his tools, he grabbed the hose from Kat and threw it on the ground. "Help me move the bed out."

They opened the double doors and hurried in after the bed. She tried to lift her side but the bed would not budge. "Push the end instead and we can drag it out," Dade said and they quickly exchanged sides for ends. He lifted his end easily. "Now, just push yours."

Kat grunted with the effort as the bed slowly moved when suddenly a spark of fire caught on the ground outside. A line of flames raced around the outside of the workshop. Kat screamed when the workshop burst into flames. Dade ran to her and held her protectively to him as the flames leaped and roared around them.

"We're surrounded by fire," Kat said.

"Someone soaked the ground around the workshop with gasoline."

They searched for a way out. "Dade, we've got to get out of here." Tongues of flame licked the sides of the workshop, and then, as if the walls were invisible, the flames suddenly slipped inside and smoke engulfed them.

"God in heaven, save us," Dade prayed. A burst of air blew the smoke away from the door. "This way to the door. Quick."

A line of fire reached from one side of the door to the other. Since the doors were open, there was nothing above for the flames to light but she would still need to hop over the flames. She knew it was their only hope. Then, like an answer to Dade's prayer, just beyond the line of flames, Kat spied the hose lying on the ground, water still pouring out. "Dade, look."

"If I can get that hose, we might get out of here." The door frame burst into flames. "We've got to hurry. Let's just dash across and hope for the best."

"Don't leave me," Kat said.

"Come with me or we'll never get out. No one even knows we're in here Kat."

"I'm afraid," Kat couldn't move; her fear freezing her in place.

"We'll jump over the flames. Ready?"

Despite her nod, she wriggled free of his grasp just as he leaped over to the other side, leaving her alone and still surrounded by flames. "I'll catch fire. There's no way." Kat fell to her knees. The intense heat and smoke filled the space around her. "Dade!" She called. "Please come back. Please, come back," she cried.

"I'm here, Kat, just on the other side. Don't panic. I'm going to get the hose."

Kat heard him but she could no longer see him, smoke billowing all around her. The flames fed by the wind rose all around her. "Where are you?"

"You remember Kat. Just on the other side." A small squirt of water appeared and disappeared. "Oh, no, it burned through the hose."

"Dade! Help me!" Her hope was gone. "Oh, please God, I'm frightened. I'm going to die in here," Panic squeezed her throat. "Please help me," she prayed.

"I'm here, Kat. Look for me. Look to the door."

She searched wildly around her but she was completely disoriented. Which way was the door? The smoke burned her eyes. "Oh, God, I need your help!"

"I'm here, come out."

She followed the sound of his voice. The smoke became lighter, mixing with air. That must be the door. "Stay calm. Come out," he said again and this time, the smoke and flames parted. Kat saw the shape of a man with his arms outstretched. "Come to me," he said. The assurance in his voice calmed her. Kat mustered her courage and stumbled into his arms. "I love you, Kat," he held her tightly as they walked closer to the flames that still burned across the doorway where someone had soaked the ground with gasoline. "You are precious to me and I will never leave you. We will always be together my beloved child," he whispered in her ear just as he led her through the flames to the other side.

Dade grabbed her in a fierce hug. They held each other. "It's a miracle," Dade whispered. He touched her face and her hair. He ran his hands over her clothes, checking for sparks or burns. "You're not even hot." He took her face in his hands. "It's a miracle," he said.

"Did you call me? Was it you who walked me out through the flames? How did you do that, Dade? You led me through the flames and smoke."

"I saw you walk right through the flames, Kat. I was ready to plunge in there and find you. I was saying a quick prayer before I went in, and then you walked right through the flames but you were alone—I wasn't with you, Kat."

"I was afraid. I couldn't move. Then he came to me. He held me, and he led me out." Kat sobbed.

"I believe every word, Kat. As truly as I'm standing here, I saw you walk through the flames." Dade said.

The firefighters aimed their hose on the shed now. A blast of hard rushing water shot past them onto the workshop. Engulfed in flames, the house would burn to the ground, but there was still a chance for the workshop. Dade led Kat to safety, away from the fire and they collapsed on the edge of the lawn. One of the firefighters ran over to them. "Dig a trench as fast as you can. That'll keep the fire from entering the forest." The firefighter handed out more shovels to a carload of people who drove up to help. Kat recognized Reverend Barry among them. A little later, Ken and Mary drove up in their car.

"We came to help," Ken said, grabbing a shovel.

"I couldn't stop him from coming," Mary took a shovel too and joined the group. With so many hands helping, in a short time they dug a large trench between the edge of the forest and Dade's property.

"We can widen it," Dade said. "And let's get that garden hose over here."

Sergeant Dumfries drove up in the police car. He stood away from the crowd and motioned to Dade to come over and talk to him. "Not, now. Help us," Dade yelled, the rhythm of his shoveling uninterrupted.

They worked furiously through the night, ensuring that the forest would not catch fire. The fire smoldered. Dade's house suddenly collapsed, charred and soaked into a pile of burnt wood. The danger passed as they brought the fire under control. Every muscle in Kat's back and arms ached. She sat down just as the thin light of dawn marked the horizon. The exhausted workers and fire fighters collapsed on the ground beside her.

With the morning light the night's devastation came into focus. The group of fire fighters, neighbors and friends stared at the workshop. The walls remained, though singed and blackened, and the roof had not fallen but it was charred to a deep coal black. Inside, the birch wood bed stood eerily safe and untouched, like bleached white bones in a charred black box on a bed of ash.

"It is holy," she said to Dade who sat beside her. The horror of being trapped in the workshop and her miraculous release built up her faith. The sight of the workshop and the beautiful bed appeared a testimony to God's incredible mercy to spare her life and rescue her completely unharmed, not a black burn on her or the bed. She could still feel the arms of her savior holding her and hear his voice telling her that he loved her.

"At least we succeeded in preventing the fire from reaching the forest," Reverend Barry said, munching on a white powdered donut brought by one of the police officers.

"You were smart to get your stuff out of the workshop," Mary pointed to the piles of tools.

It was all he had left. "At least no one's hurt." Dade put his hands over his face.

"I'm sorry, Dade." Kat said and tried to comfort him by putting her arms around him.

"I know."

"All your nice stuff."

"It doesn't matter."

"All that beautiful furniture you made."

"Kat."

"What?"

He looked at her and Kat saw tears on his face. "We could've died in there."

"It's my fault, isn't it? If I hadn't gotten involved with Brent—"

"Sh-h-h." He touched his finger to her lips. "Thank you for waking me. You saved my life."

Kat shook her head, did she hear him correctly? "Me? No. I didn't wake you."

"I thought it was you. Just before the fire I felt someone shaking me."

"I woke up to your horse neighing outside my window. I smelled smoke. I don't know who woke you up. No one was in your bedroom by the time I came. You were alone when I saw you, soaking the roof of the shed with the hose. Even the fire truck had arrived." Kat said. "Remember?"

Dade shook his head. "Someone woke me. When I opened my eyes he was gone, whoever it was. Then I heard a rushing sound of wind, and the next moment my house was in flames. I had just enough time to get out through the window."

"I'm so glad you're not hurt."

"Maybe it was an angel who woke me. Maybe I dreamed it."

"Maybe the Lord saved both of us," Kat smiled.

"Kat, sure as I know anything, I know God helped us out of there. You have to have faith, Kat, to see God's miracles."

"I know Dade. I do have faith. I thought I lost it but I have it."

"You still believe, Kat. Deep down inside, you never lost your faith. You just forgot how it worked."

A shiver ran down her spine. "You need to be patient with me, Dade. I am trusting God. I'm not sure why he took my mother and my father from me, but at least now I know he loves me. I will try to have more faith. I'll come to the Bible study soon." She looked over at Ken who sat apart from the group, leaning against a singed maple. "We better get Uncle Ken home." Ken would be the next to be taken by God. He warned her to be prepared, and this time she planned to prepare herself. "We are all of us on our way to die. Everyone. Doesn't that seem odd?"

Dade rubbed his forehead wearily. "Time is so fast for each of us, Kat. You'd think we'd be a little nicer to each other, help each other out instead of greedily vying for every opportunity to promote our own interests at the expense of others." Looking out over the charred ruins, he shook his head. "The Bible talks about His second coming as being something that will happen right away even though it's been two thousand years. Time is linear to us but we know that it is not to God. Our lives are quickly consumed. No one has very much time here."

Sergeant Dumfries and an assisting officer cordon off the area with yellow tape. "Go on home everyone. We need to do some investigating."

"Come on, Dade. You're exhausted. You're coming home with us," Mary took his hand and led him to their car. "You can clean up and rest at our house. I'll tell Hokey you'll need a room down at the Fish and Game Club. He can get one ready."

"We'll need him to stay a few minutes, Mary," Sergeant Dumfries said. "You go on. I'll bring him down in the cruiser."

Mary nodded and then assisted Kat with getting Ken into the car. Kat stared miserably at the officer who seemed to have no sympathy. Did they think Dade started this fire too? Kat climbed into the driver's seat with Ken already nodding off beside her. Mary nudged him from the back. "You can sleep in a little bit but I think we need to wash off that mud first." Kat drove them to their house and helped get Ken to the outdoor shower.

"Satisfied now, you two?" Ken asked. He climbed into bed.

"I'm worried about you," Mary kissed him on the cheek. "Your heart is too weak to be shoveling dirt like you did."

"Don't you worry," he said, winking at Kat. "A little rest and I'll be fit as a fiddle."

"Yes, he'll be sleeping for another week."

Kat kissed him as his eyes slowly shut and he drifted into a deep sleep. When he was rested she would tell him about the miracle of her rescue from the flames.

Kat showered and dressed and waited on the porch for Dade. Mary dried her hair beside her. "The last time he worked himself like that, he fell sick with exhaustion," Mary said about Ken. "He shouldn't have been out there but he wouldn't sit by without helping."

The police car drove into view, stopped, and dropped off Dade. Kat gave him a towel.

"I forgot to bring clothes," he said.

"You forgot you don't have any clothes."

"You can wear a pair of Ken's jeans and a shirt. They might be a bit short and wide in the waist, but they'll do till we can get to a store." Mary put a hand on Dade's shoulder. "Don't you worry; we'll see you through this, whatever it takes."

"Officer Dumfries is trying to pin it on Jason and his brother. Matt was released from prison just before these fires broke out, but he's paid his time. There's no reason for Dumfries to think those two are responsible. Matt got into a lot of trouble but he wouldn't want to damage my property."

"It's ridiculous. And Jason would never do such a thing," Mary said.

Kat remembered the scruffy looking youth Dade introduced at the wedding.

"Honestly, the people that man picks to investigate are a waste of time. Why doesn't he go after those three you saw at the waterfall?" Mary asked.

"Because he was one of them," Kat replied.

"I just hope Jason and Matt have a good alibi. Dumfries is headed out there now," Dade said.

They fell silent, too polite to say his name in front of Kat. "He should investigate Brent, or someone should." Kat said it for them. "Whoever started the fire at Dade's house is in some way connected to Brent."

"I think you're right," Dade agreed.

"He threatened me," Kat said. "He might follow through on that."

Dade and Mary exchanged glances.

"He might." Kat said. Brent had been very angry and hurt.

"We can't disregard a threat," Dade agreed, "although I'm not sure why he's continuing to try and scare me off my property when he knows you are not going to marry him."

"Maybe he's not trying to scare you," Mary said. "Maybe he's trying to kill you."

Brent had accused her of cheating on him with the gardener. Brent knew who Dade Mathers was; he'd met him at the funeral. He probably knew a lot about him since Brent was so interested in the land.

"It certainly seems that way," Dade admitted. "Would Brent do something like that?"

Brent had become increasingly controlling and manipulative in the last month. "I know he must be pretty desperate for money if he went to all that trouble just to get me to marry him. But what good would trying to kill Dade do him?" Kat could not believe Brent would murder anyone.

"I don't think wanting to marry you is a mark of desperation," said Dade. "He is greedy, but I agree with you. He has no reason to want me dead or destroy my land."

"Except revenge," Mary pointed out. "Love gone sour. You think he didn't care about you, Kat but love comes in many flavors and this one is starting to taste bitter. I think we should hire a private investigator."

"Mary's right. We won't get anywhere with Sergeant Dumfries in charge, especially if he's friends with Brent. And I'd really like to know what Brent Carroll was doing all this time he was so called courting me." Kat said.

"There are no private investigators in Rainbow Valley," Dade noted.

"What about Atlanta?" Kat said. "I can drive down tomorrow. Why don't you stay with Ken and Mary so I won't worry," she said to Dade. It would give him some time to himself without a lot of people at the lodge bothering him with questions. "You can have my room. I'll be back in a couple of days. We'll find out what's what with Brent Carroll."

"We've got to do something to end this madness," Dade said. "A private investigator might be just the thing, but I don't want you to be alone Kat. If it is Brent, this guy is dangerous."

"I agree," Mary said. "Let's call someone. No need to go down there and interview people."

Kat shook her head. "I just got rid of one controlling boyfriend. I don't need another one," then looking at her aunt, she added, "or two. I'm not on house arrest. I'll drive down and back in one day. Besides, I need to check in on my apartment, and my mom's condo. The real estate agent wants to reduce the price. I have stuff to do." Kat was not afraid of Brent.

"What if I went with you?" Dade asked.

"I don't want you leaving Mary and Ken alone." Kat hoped she did not sound too controlling.

"What about me?" Mary asked. "I could go with you."

"No." She swallowed thickly. "It's not that I wouldn't like your company but you need to stay here with Ken in case anything happens." Death came too quickly sometimes though Ken had been feeling rather well lately. Surely he would be okay by the time she got back but not without someone's help.

"Of course you are right, dear," Mary said. "You'll just have to be careful."

"Don't worry you two. If there is anything I've learned it is that life is a risk and we can trust in God to make the right decision even if it isn't the one we'd choose."

"Kat, I haven't heard you talk like that since you came to visit us." Kat told her aunt how she had been rescued from the flames.

"When He held me in His arms and told me how much He loved me, a peacefulness like no other came over me and I was able to walk through the flames with Him. It could've just as easily been a walk into death. I would've gone anywhere with Him.

"There are all sorts of reasonable explanations for what happened. The wind changed and for a moment the flames and smoke parted; for a moment the garden hose quenched the flames; or the fuel on the ground burnt out and for a moment, the fire had nothing to catch. How easy it would be to accept any or all of the reasons, Aunt Mary. But I saw Jesus or the angel of the Lord, or whatever you call such a thing, calling to me with outstretched hands, and I felt His love surround me. God gave me a vision that I will not explain away. He really knows me. As long as I can feel God's love, I will be fine, more than fine. I will be joyful," Kat said. "So don't worry about me. In the midst of the fires, my broken engagement, and my uncle's frightening illness, I know He loves me. Nothing else matters." Only the guilt and shame she felt over leaving her mother alone the night of her death stood in her way and yet she believed God would help her carry that burden. She saw it as her cross to bear.

Mary hugged her niece and kissed her cheek. "The Lord has healed your soul."

When the tender moment had passed, Dade said, "Okay, let's find a private investigator and make an appointment." He pulled out his phone. Within the hour they had an appointment with Mike Burgee, an investigator whose office was in the same vicinity as Kat's real estate agent.

"Great. I'll be able to get it all done on Monday. But for now, we should get to church." Kat jumped off the porch. It was Sunday morning and she wanted to run to the altar and say her thanks. "Unless you would like me to stay with Ken, Aunt Mary."

"No dear," her aunt laughed. "I think it is your turn to go to church. You two be off. I'll just have myself a nap."

When Kat entered the church the warmth of God's love for her filled her so that she had to keep from tearing up when they sang hymns of praise. She felt more thankfulness than she had ever felt before and for the first time in her life, God was much more to her than someone to turn to in times of trouble. He was a loving presence in her life and she would never again leave Him.

Chapter 16

"I hope Uncle Ken is going to be all right, Aunt Mary," Kat hesitated before heading back to Atlanta. What if he died while she was away? He had slept continually through the day and the night but in the morning a low-degree fever developed. He still had not awakened.

"He gets like this. Don't you worry. It's his heart. He just needs to rest," Mary hugged her. "He slept calmly all through the night. He may not want to wake up and eat yet but he will." Mary urged her into the car and on her way. ''You have to leave now so you can get everything done and be back by tonight."

Kat obeyed. She drove to Atlanta and stopped in at her real estate agent's office just in time. Rosemary, her old real estate agent, quickly shoved the newspaper off her desk and sat on it when Kat entered. She pulled some papers out of a file on her desk and handed them to Kat to sign.

"I don't suppose you'd like to explain why you are sitting on your newspaper," Kat said as she initialed and signed the stack of legal forms.

Rosemary pulled the papers out from under her. "I was hoping you didn't see but I guess you will anyway since you are in town. She showed her the Living section where Brent and Courtney were pictured hand-in-hand at the rehab center. Kat's heart sank at the sight of them. It was a long article with a lot of quotes from Brent's mother about how her son had broken off their engagement and how Kat had resented him for it and lashed out at him, and threatened Courtney. There were even a few quotes by Courtney attesting to Kat's jealous outrage. "We broke up," she handed the newspaper back to her agent, "but all of the rest is rubbish."

Rosemary went over to the condo with her and helped her pack her car with the artwork she'd collected from her studio. "The place is all cleared out now." Kat nodded though several pieces were missing. Brent had taken more to sell.

At Mike Burgee's office the secretary tossed her paper in the trash when Kat entered, and politely said nothing. She showed her into Burgee's office. Mike Burgee, a dark-haired, nondescript looking man in his forties—just the type of detective a person would want, stood to greet her. On his desk lay the contract. "I'll be up to Rainbow Valley after the Columbus Day weekend. I need to wrap up a few things down here, and see what I can find on the Carroll Investment Bank. Fall's my slow time. Summer's always busy. Lots of romance going on in the summer." He winked at Kat. "This case will be a nice change of pace."

"Nothing like attempted murder to spice things up," Kat signed contract.

"I didn't mean it like that," he said. "Don't worry. We'll find out what's going on in no time. I need your full cooperation though," he handed her another paper to sign, "and a five hundred dollar check to start." Then he grilled her with questions about her relationship with Brent that would have made his secretary surprised at how much the gossip columns didn't know. An hour later Kat paid the fee with the check her aunt gave her, glad to leave the investigation in Mr. Burgee's capable hands.

The cool outside air hit her face. Fall was a good time to make a change. The Atlanta stores were already decorated with Thanksgiving and Christmas gift items. Kat ran into several stores, restaurants, and office buildings where her art had once hung and collected her paintings. There were not many left. "I gave the money to Brent. I'm sure he has just forgotten, or maybe he deposited it already," said one of the office managers with whom Brent had arranged the sale of her paintings.

He hadn't. And Kat was not likely to contact him. She hurried out of the downtown area with the artwork that was left. Brent would know soon enough that she'd been in Atlanta. She rushed back to her apartment to pack her car with all of her art supplies and suitcases. She squeezed into the small space left for her to sit and high-tailed it back to Tennessee.

*****

The two hour drive flashed by as she listen to a praise and worship station she'd found. At sunset she drove up to Dade's house. She would park and walk down, not trusting her driving abilities on her own potted driveway in the dimming light. The sight of the rubble left by the arson shocked her again. She spotted his jeep by his workshop. Perhaps he was here. She had to admit to herself that she longed to see him. In the ashes she saw bits and pieces of his own artwork, his unique furnishings, and the furnishings he'd collected. She glimpsed the shadow of a figure standing by the workshop. "Dade?" she called. She looked again and he was gone. Maybe he had slipped into his workshop but no one was there either.

The last of the pale dusk light filtered through the entrance to the path that led to her house and she thought she saw him again. "Dade." Was he headed to her house? Why wasn't he hearing her? She ran to catch up to him. The light turned to gray shadows inside the forest of tall trees. The sound of footsteps came running up behind her. A shiver ran down her spine. Something felt wrong. "Dade?" She no longer saw the figure ahead of her. She looked behind her but beneath the canopy of trees, she could not see very far. Whoever it was, he was certainly close enough to answer her call.

Kat bolted. Branches slapped her face as she veered off the path and ran through the woods, taking the most direct route to her aunt and uncle's farmhouse. Crashing footsteps followed her off the path. She heard the whistle of a rock fly by her head, and she panicked. "Dade! Help!" Tears blurred her vision and she ran blindly past the trees towards her house. She heard another rock ricochet off a tree. Another rock hit her arm. The sting of the wound spurred her on, giving her an extra shot of adrenaline. She rocketed forward when her foot landed badly, her ankle twisted and she fell. She slid several feet, slamming into a tree. A sharp pain seared through her head. The last thing she heard were the hurried steps of her pursuer gaining on her.

Chapter 17

Kat woke to the sound of the waterfall. Her clothes were wet from the damp air, an indication that she had been here for a while. She touched the bump on her head and her hand came away wet with clotted blood. A lone ray of light filtered through the pounding water of the waterfall and shone on her bound legs. She knew just where she was.

Kat pulled herself over to the edge of the falls using her hands to inch across the cave. Carefully, she leaned over to peer through the water as she had that day with Dade. The sun peeked through the eastern trees. No show of rainbows today. It must be early morning. Aunt Mary and Uncle Ken would think she stayed in Atlanta for another day.

The steep drop below would land her in a deep pool of bubbling water with her legs tied. She could not use her feet to kick back to the surface of the water if she jumped. Not that she would jump. The thought of it terrified her.

Miserable, Kat scooted back from the edge, inching around the ledge and out of the cave. On the path, Kat rested her back end and her arms that screamed with the pain from carrying her weight. She lay bound and helpless on the path. "Help!" she cried at the sound of shuffling leaves and breaking twigs. "I'm over here. Help, me please!"

A man ran up the path. Kat recognized Jason beside him, bent over and trying to catch his breath. "Jason, thank goodness. Please, help me," Kat said. The man cursed her and shoved Jason down in the dirt. "Please," Kat said. "Don't do this to me."

"Shut up." He turned to Jason. "You're going have to stay here with her."

"Who are you?" Kat asked.

"I told you to shut up."

"I don't want to stay here, Matt."

"Shut up. You stupid idiot. You act like you're at some party or something. Now she knows our names."

"No, I don't," Kat quickly corrected him. "I didn't hear him."

"I don't want to stay here," Jason pulled his brother's arm. "Let's just let her go. I'm hungry. Let's go into town. Let's just forget all this, Matt."

"Shut up. You think I can just change my mind? It doesn't work that way. I said I'd take her and now I have to."

Jason's voice became shrill. "We can't do this. We'll get in trouble for sure. Dumfries knows by now."

"We can send a ransom note to Mathers or Carroll, either one will pay." Matt said.

"No, not Mr. Carroll. That will ruin everything. I hate you." The boy stomped his foot.

"You're a baby if you think Carroll cares anything about you."

"He does, too."

"We need money, Jason. We need to eat and get the roof fixed and live like normal people. Brent Carroll has money. If we can't sell him our property then we can get it from him this way."

"Brent Carroll?" Kat asked. "You know Brent Carroll? Is he here? Is he in town?"

"Then you should get a job," Jason shouted. "And so should Dad and Mom, then we would have a normal family."

"You know Dad can't work."

"He can too! Lot's of people in wheelchairs do."

"Brent? Do you mean Brent Carroll?" Kat interrupted them.

"Shut up!" Matt turned on Kat, his hand ready to swing at her. She braced herself for the blow but Jason grabbed him. Matt wheeled around on his heel and shook the boy off his arm, sending him flying onto the ground. "You're staying here," he ordered.

"Why do you always hit people, Matt? Fine, I'll stay, just ask for a couple of hundred from Dade and we can let her go. We can go somewhere like Mexico." He rubbed his arm where his brother twisted it when he shook him off.

"I didn't hit you and Dade's a loser."

"He'll give us money if we ask. Mr. Carroll's not going to like that you kidnapped her. He doesn't even want her land anymore. Let her go. It's her word against ours." Jason said.

"I won't say a word," Kat assured them.

Jason put his head in his hands. "I can't believe you got me in this mess. I hate you."

"Shut up," Matt punched him in the stomach. Kat winced at the sight of Jason crumpling in a heap of pain and despair.

Matt ignored his brother's sobbing and grabbed Kat by the arm, thrusting her to her feet, making her hop back into the cave. "Get up," he yelled over his shoulder at Jason who remained behind on the ground crying, "and get into the cave with her."

Matt shoved Kat on the floor of the cave. "Mathers wants her and he will pay much more than a couple of hundred bucks." Matt took a pocketknife to Kat. She cringed when he grabbed her by the hair and cut off a lock of it. He took a folded piece of paper and a roll of duck tape out of a sack he had and taped her hair to the note. After a moment of writing something more on the paper, he folded it and put it in his pocket. He handed his brother a strip of tape and a piece of rope. "Tie her hands. Gag her, too."

"I never wanted to do this," Jason said to her when his brother left. "I didn't grab you. He did. He brought you back here last night. I don't want to hurt you. But you see how he is." He tied her hands behind her back. "I never wanted my brother to start those fires either. I begged him not to do it. Now he's got me kidnapping you. You know he'll beat me within an inch of my life if I don't cooperate with him. Sometimes I wish he never got out a prison."

"Don't do it then. Let me go. I'll help you," Kat said.

"Help me, what? I'll go to jail for sure." Jason began to cry.

"Maybe not, you're young. They'd probably just put you in a detention home. Only your brother would go to jail. And if you helped me that would be better for you."

Jason wiped his tears, looking hopefully at Kat.

"Quickly, he's gone now but he'll be back." She moved so he could cut her hands free.

"I'm more afraid of him than I am of jail." The light went out of his eyes.

"He's just a big bully," Kat said. "You can be free of him. He'll go to jail."

Jason gently pressed the tape over her mouth. "I'm sorry." Then he sat beside her and they waited for Matt to return.

*****

The first morning light met Dade's anxious gaze. He and Mary stared at the empty driveway. Dade squeezed Mary's hand and went to check on Ken. He returned with a pail of water and witch hazel that he poured over the porch railing and into the grass. "His fever broke."

Mary turned hopeful eyes on him. "Praise God."

"He's sleeping soundly. You should get some rest, too."

"How can I when I'm still so worried about Kat?"

Dade heard the raw fear in her voice. "Give her a few more hours. I just called her apartment and no answer again. Maybe she stayed at her Mom's condo. Do you know that number? Maybe we should call her there." Kat's cell phone went straight to voice mail.

"I will. That's a good idea," but no one answered at that number either.

"I need to get my jeep and load it with some more tools and stuff I saved."

"Why, Dade? Why is all this happening to us?" Mary's troubled face turned to him for answers.

"We need to have faith. I've been praying for Kat and Ken all night, as I know you have. Kat's a young woman who knows how to take care of herself."

"You're right, she's probably fine. But wouldn't she have at least called if she had changed her plans? And now, Ken. If I hadn't been up worrying about Kat I probably would've never known how high his fever had spiked in the night. I tremble to think what might have happened. I thought I had prepared my mind for Ken's death, but I haven't. I don't know what I'll do without him. "

"Don't let your thoughts go wild. God has good plans for us, remember?"

Mary nodded and sat on the rocker. Her Bible lay on the table beside her. "You are right, of course."

What had it been like for his mother who had no faith and had been so sick and her son so wild? Many times he had not come home as his mother expected. He never called, never even thought of her. For years, she battled cancer, alone and without hope. If only he could take back those years and care for her as he should have. Though she had passed away in unbelief he could not help praying for her. Was there any hope?

Kat's car sat in his driveway, packed tightly with suitcases and art equipment. His heart soared, but that was all he found. At least he knew she had come home. He called Mary on his cell phone to come up to his house.

At Dade's house the two puzzled over the car. He felt the hood. "It's cold. She's been here awhile. Something's not right. Why didn't she come home? Why did she park up here? She must've walked down the path, I bet. Something happened between here and your house."

"But I just came that way," Mary said. "I didn't see anything. Oh, Dade. I'm glad to see she didn't have an accident, but something awful has happened. I can feel it."

"I know. I don't like it either," Dade searched the ruins of his house and his workshop, fearful of what he might find. "Why don't you go around and shout her name." He sent Mary away in case he found Kat hurt somewhere. When nothing turned up, he searched the surrounding woods. Still nothing. He looked for footprints or signs of which way she might have gone but nothing caught his eye.

"I can't think of what could have happened." Dade scratched his head. "Did she fall? Did she go somewhere else? Did she meet someone on the way? What happened?"

"Let's call the police," Mary suggested.

"That's a good idea," Dade hoped he would not get Officer Dumfries. "Let's check the path one more time. We can call from your house if we don't find anything."

The path offered no clues. At Mary's house they found a bag on the porch and a note taped to the screen door. He ran ahead of Mary, certain the note was left by Kat. His heart sank as he read, "If you want to see her alive again, put $1,000 CASH in this sack and leave it at the front steps of the abandoned house on the hill at 10:00 PM tonight. NO COPS. NO CARS."

Mary touched the lock of Kat's black curly hair taped to the note. Traces of blood were visible on the lock of hair. "Oh, dear," Mary cried.

Chapter 18

"I found her car packed with all her stuff at my place, but she hasn't shown up," Dade explained to Sergeant Dumfries on the phone.

"At your place, huh? That's odd." the sergeant coughed, "We need to call the FBI for a kidnapping."

"I need some help looking. She's around here somewhere."

"I'll call the FBI."

"What about helping me out?"

"Well if I call the FBI then I shouldn't get involved. I don't know as they'd come though, she hasn't been missing long enough."

"Never mind." Dade slammed the receiver back into the cradle. "Just once I'd like to see what the man does that's worth anything." Mary looked back at him. Tension and worry marked her face. "How's Ken?"

"He's still sleeping. I don't know whether I should wake him and take him to the doctor or let him sleep." Mary looked at her watch. "I could call Doctor Morrow."

"Why don't you do that? He knows Ken's condition. Maybe he can suggest a few things to do. At least it will ease your mind."

"He told me to let him sleep." Mary hung up the phone. "I do feel better about Ken but I'm so worried about Kat I can hardly think."

Dade expected Mary to fall apart hours ago but she held on. She was one tough woman. He put his hand over hers, "Okay, let's get something to eat. We're both working on our last nerve and we haven't eaten since last night." He would keep her busy. "Meanwhile, I'll call that Mike Burgee fellow. He might have some information. At least he can tell us if Kat was there yesterday."

"Yep," Burgee answered after Dade told him about the ransom note. "She was in here yesterday. I don't have much to tell you, except what she was wearing, if that helps." Dade wrote down Burgee's description of her clothes: jeans and a pink T shirt. "She was driving a bright yellow SUV, Honda, I think, with a punched out dent in the hood like she'd run into a pole or a tree, and one on the side." That would be a bear. Dade heard Burgee shuffling some papers. "I got a print out on Carroll. He's well known around here, a sort of celebrity whose granddaddy helped put Atlanta on the map. I don't see much I didn't expect, except for his bank's financial records which are a mess. The man's got a little trouble ahead of him."

"You mean he's having money troubles?"

"'Headed straight for bankruptcy unless he finds some capital or revises his stock portfolio. Rich guys like him are used to being up and down. It's a game."

Dade changed the subject back to Kat. "She's been gone since last night. I got some information on two scruffy kids seen around town. I have a suspicion they might have something to do with Kat and the fires. They've been seen at the bank the same time Brent Carroll was in town." Dade gave him a description of the two teens his dad saw. Then he mentioned the ransom note again.

"That note is very unprofessional. Sounds kind of mom and popish. Likely, she's right around you somewhere in the woods." Burgee added, "One grand, that ain't much. Sounds like get-out-of-town money."

"What should I do? Just pay it?"

"I'd get the funds ready, tell the bank to mark them, and go ahead with it. Meanwhile, I'd look around. She's probably right there under your nose somewhere. I'll do some snooping down here. Might be that Carroll fellow is involved, but I rather doubt it, kidnapping is a federal offense. I'll check on it, though. Maybe you could talk to him. He's up there."

"What?"

"That's right. Found out from his secretary that he's out of town. Then I asked for an appointment with him and she just so sweetly told me he was up in the Tennessee Mountains and didn't know when he'd return. Very helpful."

"Brent Carroll is here now? He must have Kat."

Burgee scoffed, "I really don't think so. Not his style. Besides, from what I've garnered about town, he genuinely loves Kat. I talked to his friends at Eddie's Attic. Then I got some folks to go down and look in on his friend, Courtney Starr. Cute kid. She's a mess. She's in rehab. Say, do you want me up there?"

"Could you come?"

"For something like this I could. I don't want to scare you, but whoever's got Kat is not an experienced kidnapper. He's scared and he's desperate. That's not good."

"I'd really appreciate it. The more help, the better." Dade hung up and looked indifferently at the sandwich Mary made. "Burgee thinks that Brent's not that bad."

"Do you think we've made a mistake about Brent?" Mary was not eating either.

"I don't know. Who else could it be? Why would anyone want to hurt Kat, especially when you and Ken are thinking of selling? It's got to be him. I just know he has Kat. Either that or he knows something about her."

Dade shoved a bite of the sandwich in his mouth and swallowed thickly. "I'm going to the bank. Then I'm going to see if I can't get a hold of Brent Carroll."

Mary picked up her sandwich and nibbled the crust.

"Just eat, Mary, even if you don't feel like it." He forced another bite into his own mouth.

"What are we going to do Dade? I can't leave Ken here alone to go and help you. I'm so worried about him. He's sleeping soundly now but what if his fever comes back or the chills set in? And I'm so worried about Kat that I can't think of anything else."

"You need to stay here in case Kat calls, or better, escapes and comes home." He finished the last of the sandwich, swallowing hard on it. He picked up the phone and called Tom Mercer at the bank. "I need a thousand dollars in cash right away and marked. Kat's been kidnapped."

"Kidnapped!"

"Yea, I'm coming down there now to pick up the money. It's time you and I had a talk about what's going on."

At the bank, Dade wasted no time in getting right to the point with Tom. "I can't help but think you and that Brent Carroll fellow have something to do with all this."

"That's a pretty dangerous accusation," Tom answered.

"Come off it, Tom, I know how much you want my land developed."

"I don't deny that but pyrotechnics and kidnapping is not my way."

"Maybe it's someone else's," Dade pushed.

Tom cleared his throat. "I don't know. I make it my business not to know and maybe that's wrong. Certainly, things have gone too far."

"Tell me what you know about Brent Carroll."

"He's a business man. He was sure he had Kat Keller's property, as I understood him, they were going to marry and make something of her land. I had no idea she wasn't in on it."

"You didn't take the time to find that out either, did you?"

"I didn't have to. The proceedings were in the speculation phase. What happened to your place, I knew nothing about. It's got nothing to do with me," Tom slammed the file drawer shut.

"What about these two dudes my dad saw come into your bank?"

"I never saw them. I guess they would show up on the security videos. When did you say your dad saw them?"

"Two separate occasions, both on a Saturday. The first in August, and the second a couple of weeks ago in September."

Tom rubbed his face and then picked up the phone. "Security, I need you to look through the Saturday tapes for September and August. Look for two boys, one about thirteen, the other in his twenties." He hung up and Dade followed him down to the basement to the security office. He gave the officer his father's description of the two teenagers, "One's taller than the other, both with dark hair and the shorter one's got long hair and is younger."

"I know those two." The head of security turned around in his chair and punched some information into his computer. "They come here every week. A couple of times lately they've walked up to the bank, ducked out the back and met up with that other fellow that's been coming in here all summer, Mr. Carroll."

"What?" Tom Mercer's jaw dropped open.

"I thought you knew," the officer exclaimed.

Tom wiped his brow with a tissue in his pocket. His hands shook. "Show me the tapes."

The officer pulled a tape stored on the computer and ran it through the security monitor. Dade recognized the two kids immediately. "Those are the Younger brothers. They live in a corner of land adjacent to my property." The older one, Matt Younger, is wild. He's already served time for robbery. He just got out the beginning of summer. He belonged to that group of boys that you used hang around with. He's no good and I don't know much about his brother there except that I've seen you with him."

"Yea, I befriended Jason, and he's coming to our youth group now."

Tom said, "Matt's father was a Vietnam War veteran who quit high school early to join the army. He's wheelchair bound with lots of medical complications. The town holds a lot of empathy for Mr. Younger, but not much help."

"What are they cashing? Move in for a closer look," Dade pointed to a corner of the screen.

"You don't have to," Tom said. "I know what they're cashing, a church check for a hundred and fifty dollars. The church gives them a little extra food money." Tom looked pointedly at Dade. "I believe that's your church that does that."

Dade knew his church kept a budget for charity, most churches did, but he didn't know the recipients. That information was kept confidential.

"I wonder what Brent is doing with those two," Tom said when the video showed the boys leaving and getting into Brent's car.

Dade slammed his fist on the desk. He'd stuck up for Jason many times but it didn't look like he should have. "How do I get in touch with Brent Carroll?" The video was enough evidence to link Brent Carroll to the two boys his father saw. That's all Dade needed to see. "There's something going on here and I think he knows what."

"I'll call him," Tom said. "Where do you want to meet?"

"Right here, I'll wait." Dade stood up, looked at his watch, and wished he could call his dad but Buddy Mathers was not an average father with the customary electronics.

Dade followed Tom back up to his office. "Brent Carroll has a room across the street at the hotel. He's coming right over. He's very upset," Tom warned, hanging up the phone.

Fifteen minutes later, Brent walked into Tom's office. He scowled at Dade before he took a seat across from Tom. It took all of Dade's control not to start out fighting. "What do you know about this kidnapping?" Dade crossed his arms.

Brent shook his head, "I only know what Tom told me. What do you know?"

Dade told him everything that had happened since this morning. Then he asked, "What do you know about the fires around here? I can't help but think the two are connected. Are you connected with the bank that wanted to buy my property?"

Brent clenched his fists. "What does it matter? You're not selling so I don't need to tell you anything."

"What are you doing here?" Dade demanded.

"I'd like to develop the land around here. That's the only reason I'm here."

"What about Kat?" Dade asked.

"What about her?"

"You're here because of her, too, aren't you?" Dade took a step toward him.

"I don't have anything more to do with Kat. I thought—never mind what I thought. Whatever I thought was wrong."

"You threatened her and now she's been abducted," Dade pointed out.

"I never threatened her."

"You told her she'd be sorry. Mary overheard you too."

"I was angry."

Dade took another step. "Where is she?"

"I don't know," Brent stood firm.

"You kidnapped her. Where is she?" Dade shoved his face in front of Brent's.

"I wouldn't harm a hair on her head," Brent's eyes bore into Dade's.

Tom ran around his desk and pushed the two apart. "We don't have time for this," he said. He shoved them both into chairs.

"What do you know about the two Younger brothers?" Dade leaned forward in his chair.

"I know they might have started the fires, but that's all I know," Brent said. "And don't ask for proof. I don't have it."

"Oh, yea? Then how do you know that?"

"From talking to Sergeant Dumfries," Brent said.

Dade stood up. "My father saw the Younger brothers come to this bank on two separate Saturdays while your car was parked outside."

"So, what?" Brent stood up.

"My father also saw them the day of the second fire, when the horse shelter burned down, right near there."

The two stare each other down. Dade took a step towards Brent.

Tom quickly moved between them again. "Settle down."

"I don't like what you're getting at." Brent clenched his teeth.

"Why don't you tell me what I'm getting at?"

"It's obvious you think I got those two to start the fires," Brent moved forward.

"You're absolutely right," Dade clenched his fist, ready to throw it.

"You two are gonna end up getting stitches before the day is out, wasting time that could be spent trying to find Kat." Tom threw hands up in the air.

Brent sat down. "You're right. This is a waste of time. We should be out looking for Kat."

"I want to know what you're doing with those two boys," Dade was unmoved.

"I don't care what you want to know," Brent answered.

"He's considering buying their property," Tom explained. "He's just being nice, giving them rides home and talking to his folks. They want to sell, but their land is so small we don't need it unless you sell, too." Tom shook his head. "Honestly, Dade, you'd think we were starting our own Mafia up here the way you're acting."

Brent stood back up and approached Dade, "I guess I'm a criminal for wanting to develop Kat's land. I guess turning a two million dollar piece of property into fifty million is unforgivable to you. And because I want to buy the Younger property and help them make some money when they don't have enough to feed themselves is wrong, too." Brent's voice grew louder, "And I guess wanting to care for the woman I love and give her a nice home and a good life is downright hateful!" His face turned red. He threw himself at Dade but Tom intervened, holding him back, "And, I guess even offering you a fair price for your land is worthy of suspicion of attempted murder in these parts. You poisoned Kat's thinking and turned her against me!"

Dade blinked. There were two sides to every story and his had logic to it. For every clue he had, Brent seemed to have a logical explanation. Could he have been that wrong about Brent? "That doesn't change the fact that someone is starting fires on my property and nearly killed me in one of them. And now they have Kat."

"We don't know that's who has Kat. The police are working on that," Tom said, letting go of Brent.

Dade moved to the door. "This meeting has been a complete waste of time. Meanwhile, Kat is out there and in danger. I'm going to find out what's going on." He turned to add one more thing and saw Brent's hands clenched with anger with his back bent like he might throw his weight around and do some damage. Perspiration marked his shirt though the day felt cool. He might have misjudged Brent. The man stormed towards him and shoved him aside, then he swore at Dade and slammed the door as he left.

Dade looked at Tom's worried and harassed face. If Brent didn't have anything to do with the fires or Kat's kidnapping, then who did? It had to be Matt Younger working on his own. Dade grabbed his jacket. "It's Matt Younger, Tom. That's who has Kat." He ran to his car. Kat in the hands of that violent man chilled him. Matt had been ugly and mean spirited when he knew him, he could only have grown worse.

Chapter 19

The angelic face of Kat's youngest abductor asleep in the cave evoked her sympathy. How could someone that young stand up against that bully of a brother? She prayed for Jason at this crossroad and asked God to help the boy to see a way out of his trouble.

Kat shivered as she waited in the dark cave for someone to come. Her clothes were damp and dirty. She slipped in and out of sleep until movement caught her eye. In the shadows of the cave, a rock rolled slightly and the outline of a man's face peeked out at her. The rock rolled further away from the opening and the man crawled out of the hole in the cave wall. Kat's heart raced as she recognized the man the same size as the one who chased her in the underpass and pushed her down. He approached her and pressed his finger to her taped lips, then he pulled her to her feet, and silently they slipped back through the opening into a dark passageway that smelled rank and felt cold. He set her down gently against the wall. He carefully rolled the rock back into place and then sat down and turned on a dim flashlight. He looked old with ragged clothes and gray hair. He ripped off her gag.

"Ow!" she screamed, and lifted her leg to kick him.

"Oh, no you don't." Buddy jumped sprightly out of kicking range, "I know how dangerous you can be." He put a finger to his lips, "You need to be quiet or they're going to hear you. Listen to me a moment before you go biting the hand that feeds you."

"Who are you?"

"Buddy Mathers. Dade's daddy. Don't you remember me?"

Kat remembered him, all right, and not with any fondness. He looked completely different from ten years ago. "You! You chased me and pushed me down that day," she gave him another swift kick a hair shy of his shin.

"Sh-h-h." Buddy laughed. "You still have that alley Kat in you."

"Why did you do that?"

"I couldn't have you rushing right into those two polecats out there," meaning her two captors, "so I chased you ahead of them, and gave you a warning. I thought it might help."

"Well it didn't."

"I can see that."

Buddy pulled out a pocket knife. "If you promise not to dash away or try and beat me up, I'll cut your ropes."

Kat held out her hands. "I promise."

Buddy grimaced at her skin rubbed raw by the ropes around her wrists when she held them up to the light. He slashed the ropes and cut the cords around her feet. "We've got to get out of here. I know who started all those fires. We need to tell Dade." If only she hadn't become involved with Brent, there would be no fires, and her uncle wouldn't have exhausted himself trying to put one out, and she wouldn't be in this mess.

Buddy pulled out a first aid kit. "Used to be another way out but not no more."

"What do you mean? Hey," she pushed away the alcohol swab in Buddy's hand, "what are you going to do with that?"

"You got a nasty gash on your head." He dabbed the wound when she put her hand down.

"Ow! Give me that," she grabbed it from him. "I'll do it." Her hand shook so much she almost dropped it.

"Do it good because it looks dirty to me. And stop yelling or we'll be in trouble again with those Younger brothers."

The alcohol stung her head wound. "You know them?"

"You have to do better than that. Rub it."

Kat winced trying to rub off the caked blood and dirt that covered the gash on her head. "How do you know them?"

"They live on a little corner of property beside Dade with their momma and daddy. The older one's trouble's shadow. I should'a known it was him."

Buddy pulled out another alcohol swab. "You better let me do that. You're making a mess."

Kat sniffed. "It smells funny in here. Where's the other way out?" She swatted his hand when he reached for her forehead.

Buddy scowled at her, sitting back on his heels. "I'm not telling you a thing unless you hand that swab over and let me tend to that wound."

"Okay," he probably would do a better job.

"You got mud and all sorts of dirt in this wound."

"Okay, okay. Where's the other way out?"

"Just ahead, about a quarter of a mile through that passage way, but you have to crawl in some places. I dug this passage when I was a might leaner."

"Anything to get out of here. It smells so bad I can hardly stand it."

"Well I admire a woman who can crawl on her belly, but you still can't get out that way." He rubbed so hard the wound began to bleed again. "You'll be just fine, now," he said gently. "I almost have it cleaned."

"Why can't we get out?"

"Because someone's taking up residence in the other cave at the end of this passage."

"I don't care. And I'm sure they won't care, either, when they see us and find out what's happened." Kat had to get away and warn Dade about Matt Younger.

"I doubt she'll care one way or the other about our situation. She won't let us pass, I'm sure of that."

"A woman?"

"No, a bear. There's a she bear and her cub living on the other side."

"The bear," Kat said, "that stupid bear." She leaned her aching head against the wall of the cave and groaned.

"That's right, Kat. I think I'd rather not bother her."

"How do you know for sure?"

"That there's bear smell. That's what bears smell like," Buddy said.

"How did you get here then?"

"I was napping when I heard you and those two coming in. I sneaked into the passageway just in time, and I been in this room ever since," Buddy said.

If that didn't beat all. Dade's father was so used to living in caves he thought of them as houses with rooms. "What are we going to do?" She asked.

"We'll just have to wait it out."

"I want to go home," Kat said.

"Why'd you come back then?"

"I don't mean Atlanta and how do you know I just came back?"

"'You calling the old Keller farmhouse your home now?"

"I guess I am."

Buddy shook his head and smiled. "That'll make your Aunt Mary happy."

"How much do you know about my family? What do you do, go around and spy on everyone?"

Buddy shrugged. "I spent some time with Dade up in the old Boy Scout cabin yonder up the mountain and we talked. I know as much as I know."

"How long had you known those two were starting the fires?"

"Didn't know for sure until that boy told you, but I suspected as much," Buddy said. "I know how boys like Matt Younger can cause trouble."

"I feel badly for that boy out there," Kat said.

Buddy looked sideways at her. "Women," he scoffed.

"Well he's just been bullied into all this by his brother."

"That's what he'd like you to think," Buddy muttered.

"Maybe we should try to help him."

"You must be crazy. That boy just tied and gagged you."

"Yea, but he didn't want to." Kat took the cloth from him and held it on her head to staunch the blood.

"If he didn't want to, he wouldn't have done it. The kid's dangerous," Buddy said.

Kat heard voices. "Roll the stone back again just a crack," she urged him.

Buddy nodded. "Okay, but no more talking or we'll be caught." He turned out the flashlight and carefully he rolled the stone back an inch.

Kat watched Matt lift his younger brother by the collar of his shirt and shake him. "Where did she go?"

"I don't know, Matt. I woke up and she was gone. I thought you took her."

"You let her go."

"I didn't," Jason trembled.

"There's no way she could escape if you tied her up like I told you."

"I did. I swear I did. Let me go, Matt, please."

Matt threw Jason backward and he fell, teetering at the edge of the falls. "Don't," he cried and scrambled away from the edge. "Please!"

Matt spit on the ground. "I thought I could count on you. You're nothing. Nothing," he kicked dirt at him. "I don't want have anything more to do with you. You're not coming to Mexico with me."

Jason cried. "Just leave me alone, please. I don't want anymore to do with this. People are getting hurt."

"I'll leave you alone." Matt grabbed him by the arm and jerked him back to the edge. "You better keep your mouth shut about all this."

"Ow! My side. Let me go." Jason held his side where he had fallen.

"I'll let you go, right after I make sure you don't end up following me." Matt hit his brother in the nose. "That aughta keep you busy while I go look for her. She can't be far all tied up, unless you untied her?"

Jason wailed and held his nose. "No, I swear I didn't" Blood covered his face and the front of his shirt.

Matt shook his head, "Cry baby," and left to look for Kat.

Kat pushed the stone away after Matt left, but Buddy grabbed her. "Stay here," Buddy jumped out brandishing a knife. "Get out of here! Now!" Buddy jabbed his knife at Jason, startling him.

"Don't you dare hurt that poor boy," Kat ran to Jason and put her arms around him.

"We'll I'll be a monkey's uncle."

Kat led the boy back into the secret opening with Buddy following. "Hurry up," she said to Buddy to roll the stone back in place.

"I'm sorry," Jason sobbed inside the passageway. "Don't hurt me. I didn't do anything to you."

"You didn't, huh? What about kidnapping me? What about putting tape over my mouth?"

"I didn't mean any of it," Jason said.

"You should've left the cave and gotten some help," Kat said.

"Yea," Buddy agreed.

"I know."

"So, why didn't you?" She asked.

"Where are we?" Jason looked around.

"We're in a passage way between two larger caves. One end is the falls, the other is home to a she bear." Buddy packed mud around the stone and turned on the flashlight. He pulled some beef jerky out of his pack and shredded a piece for each of them. "Make yourself at home. I don't suggest we get out of here until we're sure that brother of yours is long gone."

"I still don't see why we don't just fight him," Kat said.

Buddy shrugged his shoulders, "I usually run."

Jason held his side. "I think he broke my ribs and my nose."

"Looks like the fighting would be up to you," Buddy said to Kat.

"Why would you run?" she asked.

"Because that's what I do. If I stayed and tried to fight, I'd lose. I'm not one to start something unless I can finish it. "Right now we need to stay put." Buddy stuffed his hands in his sack and pulled out some more alcohol swabs for Jason. "You better clean up that nose."

"I think it's broken," Jason said. "I need to see a doctor."

Kat knew she could not defend herself against Matt and if he caught her again he'd likely hurt her. "So I guess we'll just wait," she tore off a piece of beef jerky with her teeth. Waiting was not her strong suit.

Chapter 20

"I fed him yesterday," Barney had a bowl of potato peelings in his lap and a stack of spuds on the table beside him. "Doc Morrow's been giving him anti-anxiety pills. I think they're helpful. Buddy seemed downright chatty."

"Did he say where he was staying?" Dade prodded.

"Not like Buddy to stay anywhere, 'cept maybe in his old cave." Barney picked up another potato to peel.

"I should've thought of that."

"Maybe not though," Barney stopped peeling. "Unless his taste in women's changed. That old bear's there with her cub. She finally found a place to settle down. Course, he could stay on the falls side."

"Did he say anything?"

"Said he was here to look after things," Barney said. "What's a matter, Dade?"

"It's Kat. She turned up missing last night and this morning we got a ransom note taped to Mary's door."

"Kidnapped?" Barney looked sharply at Dade.

"Dad's been hanging around this part of the woods trying to help me out. I thought he might know something and could help me find Kat. That's why I came over. I don't know where to begin to look for her. I have to find Dad."

"This calls for an all out search." Barney set the potatoes aside, pulled off his apron, and grabbed his phone out of his pocket. "We need trackers."

"Call Doctor Morrow, too," Dade said, remembering the blood on the lock of hair taped to the note. Why hadn't he thought of calling on his friends for help sooner? He sat down with his head in his hands. A lump rose in his throat. He swallowed it. "God, help me to think more clearly," he prayed.

People arrived right away. There was Lenny and his wife, Mark and Clarissa Kepper, all of Barney's hunting buddies who were also Dade's hunting buddies, and Doctor Morrow. Dade led them all to Kat's car where they examined the ground for footprints on the path that led from Dade's house down to the Keller farmhouse. "No doubt she went in this direction." Several other trackers nodded in agreement and pointed to some light marks in the dirt, "Someone's walked back and forth on this path since then."

"That would be me and Mary," Dade said.

"I can see Kat's footprint here," Mark Kepper pointed to a half dried puddle.

"How do you know it's Kat's?" Dade asked.

"Because Mary's tall and thin but Kat Keller is short and light and so the way the print is and where the pressure points are reveal that it has to be a shorter female."

Dade looked closely but made no sense of it. "I'm glad you're helping," he told Mark. "You're the best tracker I know. If anyone can find her it's you."

"Just follow it down. Look at that broken branch. She must've broken into a dead run here, see the prints? Look over there. More broken branches." Mark rushed from sign to sign, explaining what he saw as if everyone else were blind which in a way was true.

"How do you know it wasn't a deer coming through here?" Lenny asked.

"Because, deer don't run through here," Mark said. Further down, he knelt to get a closer look. "Something happened here. Look at all these broken branches, leaves on the ground. Yea, they got her here." Mark pointed to a rock. "Hey, Doc. Is this blood?"

Doctor Morrow nodded. He reached to pick it up.

"Hold it right there." A fellow in a flannel shirt and jeans with short hair and glasses made his way through the group. "Don't touch it." He gloved his hand, picked up the rock, and slipped it in a plastic bag. "Sorry, might have prints on it. I'm Mike Burgee." He whipped off the glove. "Which one of you is Dade Mathers?"

Dade stepped up and shook his hand. "Glad you could make it. How'd you know we were here?"

"Didn't. Mary Keller showed me where the path was and I decided to do some investigating. Who's the expert tracker?"

Everyone pointed at Mark. He held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you. I'm not sure I would've found this."

"Well, let's see if we can find some more." Mark examined the ground. "From what I can tell they just headed back to the path, dragging her along with them. This leads to the falls cave."

"Then let's go," Dade ran ahead. It was five twenty in the afternoon. Kat had been missing for almost twenty-four hours.

Chapter 21

Kat crept over to the rock and rolled it back a crack so she could see what was going on in the cave. "There's no one there. And there hasn't been for hours. Why don't we just leave?"

"If you walk out there and he's there somewhere, you're going to be sorry," Buddy shook his head at her. "Don't forget, he's looking for you."

"She's going be sorry," said Jason, "but Matt will kill me."

"Let's just wait for the good guys to come," Buddy said. "It will occur to Dade to come and look in this cave. And when he does, we'll go."

"I can't wait. I'm starving," Kat's stomach growled with the thought of food. She had not eaten since lunch in Atlanta.

Buddy offered her another piece of beef jerky.

"That's like eating shoe leather with salt," Kat held up her hand.

Buddy shrugged and chewed on a second piece. Jason accepted his. "Stop all that chewing, I can't hear. I think someone's coming." Kat peered through the crack at shadows passing by the entrance to the cave. "I see two men." Kat ducked back. "It's Brent," she trembled. "And he's with Sergeant Dumfries."

Buddy belly crawled next to her and looked out.

"Do you think he's in on it?" Kat asked.

"The kidnapping? I don't know. Would he do something like that?" Buddy looked at her.

Kat shook her head. "I can't believe he would kidnap me."

"He's not in on it," Jason said and ran past them. He pushed the rock away before Kat could stop him. He shouted, "Mr. Carroll!"

"Jason, what are you doing here? Where's Kat?" Brent asked.

Kat followed Jason through the opening. "Here I am."

"Kat," Brent ran to her. "You poor thing. Are you okay?" He tilted her chin up to him. "Your head, it's bleeding."

The way he looked at her there was no way he could be involved in the kidnapping or the fires. She'd never seen him look so stressed and worried. How could she have thought otherwise about him? "I'm okay. How did you find me?"

"Sergeant Dumfries thought the Younger brothers were involved in the fires. We just figured they'd be involved in this, too. We checked all the possible hideouts. This is the last one we searched. Of course, it would be," he smiled at her.

"Buddy, Dade's father, found me first. He helped me get away from Matt. Jason here is just as much of a victim as I am. Matt's been bullying him all along," Kat ruffled his hair and Jason smiled gratefully at her.

"I don't doubt it," Dumfries agreed. "But you're still in the wrong, young man."

"I know," Jason looked down at his feet.

"Let me get you home," Brent put his arm protectively around Kat and the group began to shuffle out of the cave.

Sergeant Dumfries grabbed Jason by the arm when he tried to head off in the other direction. "Oh no you don't. You're coming with me."

"Ow!" Jason yelped, holding his side.

"You can ease up on him," Kat said. "He didn't do anything. I won't press charges against him."

"What?" Sergeant Dumfries spun around and looked at her as if she were crazy.

"That's right. He can come home with me," Kat waved Jason to her side. "You can question him there if you want to." Then to Jason, "We need to get you to the doctor."

"Well if that don't beat all," Dumfries shook his head.

Kat ignored Sergeant Dumfries' scoffing and held Jason's trembling hand as she walked out of the cave straight into Dade.

"Kat! You're okay." Dade frowned at the sight of Brent. "What are you doing here?" he asked him.

"I guess I beat you to her."

"Matt kidnapped me." Kat told Dade.

"I figured it was those two after I talked with Brent and Tom Mercer." Dade gave Jason a look that meant trouble. "I just wasn't sure where they were holding you," he said to her.

Kat urged Jason on past Dade down the path to where they found a large group of friends happy to see her safe and mostly unharmed. Doctor Morrow rushed to see to the wound on her head. "This wound is nicely cleaned for someone stuck in a cave."

"Will I be okay?" She asked him.

The Doctor nodded, "I would've stitched it but it's too late now. No matter, it's above the hairline. Just keep it bandaged. Use a butterfly bandage."

Kat promised she would. She saw the private detective, "Mike, you're here too?"

He nodded. So much had happened since she'd hired him. It looked as if they weren't going to need him after all. She remembered how they had blamed Brent for everything. Now, it seemed Brent had nothing to do with any of the fires. It was all Matt Younger's doing.

"So, Dad was here all the time," Dade laughed when Kat explained.

"But where is he?" Kat turned to look for him in the small crowd of people.

"He's probably halfway up the mountain by now," Dade said. "It's just the way he is."

"That's too bad. I was going to invite him back to my house. He needs to get cleaned up."

"He doesn't care."

"Where's Matt?" Sergeant Dumfries looked at Jason. "That's what I'd like to know."

"No one knows," Kat said.

Jason stood off to the side with his hands in the air as Doctor Morrow checked his ribs. Jason cowered visibly under Sergeant Dumfries glaring eyes. "He's going to Mexico."

"Mexico?" Kat asked.

"This is all beginning to make sense now," Brent said to Jason. "You two started those fires because you wanted Dade to sell. You knew if Dade didn't sell then I wouldn't buy your property, didn't you?"

"It wasn't me, Mr. Carroll. Matt started those fires. He made me help."

"That's right Brent," Kat said. "I heard how intimidating he's been to his little brother. Jason's not to blame."

"The law will decide that," Sergeant Dumfries said.

Dade turned to Jason, his face softening, "You were the one who woke me up when my house went up in flames, weren't you?"

Jason nodded. "We didn't think you were home. When Matt started pouring the gas, I ran for it. We saw you head out the day before with a bedroll. We figured you hadn't come back yet. When I passed your window I thought I better check. There you were, sleeping. I knew you'd die in there if I didn't do something. So, I crawled through your window. I shook you until I knew you were awake and then I hopped out the window and ran like the wind because Matt had already lit the fire without checking on me first. He could've killed me and you both."

"Lucky for him no one did die in that fire," Sergeant Dumfries said.

"You and Matt didn't think I was home?"

"No, that's what really scared me. That and when I realized my brother didn't even care about me. I knew we were in big trouble then. I don't think I ever had so many long days of worrying," Jason's eyes filled with tears, "then we were coming home one night and Matt saw Miss Keller. That's when he got the idea to kidnap her, get some money, and get a bus to Mexico."

"You two have been watching too many movies," Brent said.

"I need to get you to the hospital," Doctor Morrow continued examining him. "I think you might've broken a rib."

"Can we go home first? Mom and Dad have been awfully worried about us lately. I'd like to get this all off my chest." Jason said.

"I bet they have," Sergeant Dumfries said. "But don't think you've seen the last of me young man. If you hear or see anything about your brother, I want you to call me immediately." He looked at Doctor Morrow. "He's in you hands. Don't lose him."

"I won't run," Jason said to Doctor Morrow and then they headed for the Fish and Game Club to get the doctor's car.

Kat quickly said her goodbyes to the group and thanked them. She shook Mike Burgee's hand, "I think we have it all figured out now. Thank you for your help." She walked the path back home with Brent and Dade at either side. She told them her story of what happened. "I spent a night in that smelly, wet cave," she turned to Dade, "and I don't think I ever want to see that cave again."

"Considering there's a bear living at the other end, that's not such a bad idea," Dade said.

"I guess there's been a lot of excitement up here for you," Brent said to Kat, slipping his arm around her.

"It has been pretty terrifying." Kat told Brent how she met the bear the first time. "Then I kept seeing her wandering around. Dade said she was looking for a home. I guess she found one."

Within sight of the Keller farmhouse, Mary ran outside to greet them, throwing her arms around her niece. "You're a sight for sore eyes," Mary sobbed with relief.

"Oh, Aunt Mary, it was awful, really, but I'm okay now. How's Uncle Ken?"

"He finally woke up. He had us all scared to death." Mary led them into the house. Ken waved from his favorite chair by the fire. The sight warmed Kat's heart.

"How's my girl?" he asked, holding his arms open for Kat.

"Thankful to see you looking so well, I was so worried about you."

"I was pretty tired but I'm all rested up now. Seems like I missed all the excitement."

Kat retold the events of her abduction for Ken and Mary. "So it was the two boys who were starting the fires."

"Why would they want to do that?" Ken asked.

"I was discussing the possibility of buying their parent's property but only if Dade sold his. I was speculating, but the older boy, Matt, took it seriously. Evidentially, he thought he could persuade Dade to sell by starting fires on his property." Brent looked oddly out of place in his bankers' suit, sitting beside Ken who was still in his pajamas.

"Sounds like that boy needs someone to set him straight," Ken said.

"It may be too late for that," Sergeant Dumfries stood at the door.

"But not for Jason," Kat opened the door to let him in.

Dumfries nodded, "I guess he's still young enough to turn his life around."

"We are going to have to find a place for Jason to get help. I suspect he needs a good dose of counseling." Dade winked at Kat.

"There's lots of help out there but it costs money, something the Younger family doesn't have," Dumfries explained. "I'd be willing to suggest an alternative to jail to the judge, but Jason's family would have to get the money to pay for it."

Brent crossed his legs and looked at his polished nails. "I'd be willing to help out with the cost."

"I would, too." Dade said.

Kat noticed that Dade and Brent stood as far apart in the room as possible. Even though they were of the same mind when it came to helping the Younger family, Kat could feel the tension in the air. "I think I'd like to get cleaned up."

Sergeant Dumfries said, "We still need to find Matt Younger."

Kat had not forgotten. "How will we do that?"

"Just pay the money," Brent advised. "He'll come for that."

"But he knows he doesn't have me to bargain with anymore," Kat said.

"Yeah, but he doesn't know that we know that. He thinks you are lost in the woods." Brent got up and peeked out the window. "Why don't you stay inside for the rest of the day and tonight we'll see if he shows up."

"It's our only chance," Dumfries said. He took out his phone and began dialing. "You'd be surprised at what people do. People believe what they want to believe and right now, Matt wants to believe you were never found."

"If you think we have a chance at catching him, "Kat said, "I'm in. I don't want to leave my house anyway. I want to stay right here beside my uncle."

"Me too," Mary said.

"Good. Then all we have to do now is to wait until tonight," Sergeant Dumfries said. He took out his phone, "I'm on my way up." He slipped the phone back in his pocket. "Mr. And Mrs. Younger are at the police station. They say Matt went home and got something to eat then he left. Doc is gonna keep Jason overnight in the hospital. He's got a broken nose and two broken ribs." He shook his head, "That Matt is mean one. Hurts his brother like that then goes home and has lunch."

Chapter 22

Dade slipped fifty twenty dollar bills in the olive colored army sack that Matt Younger left on Mary's porch that morning. The note directed Mary to place the sack at 10:00 p. m. on the front steps of the abandoned house on the hill, Dade's grandfather's house.

"I'm just not sure that Mary should be the one to deliver the sack," Dade zipped it shut. It was 9:45.

"She can do it," Ken said. "She's a tough one."

Mary nodded. "One errant teenager is not going to get the best of me."

"Matt Younger is not a teen any longer." Dade said.

"And I'm no shrinking violet," Mary said.

"It's settled then." Kat took the sack from Dade and gave it to Mary.

Dade drove them in Ken's car as close to his home on the hill as he considered safe with Sergeant Dumfries following behind in the unmarked police car. The ransom note read no cars and no cops and they were breaking both those rules.

Dumfries parked his car, hopped out, and poked his head through the window of Ken's car. "Ready?"

Dade said, "I don't know how this is going to work when Matt knows he doesn't have Kat."

"Look it, Dade. I know we're not in perfect alignment with what it says on that note. And, I know that we already have Kat so why even pay the ransom. But you have to look at it like this. Matt Younger might show up just to see what happens. When he sees Mary with the sack, he may think he can get the money anyway. What do we have to lose?"

"He's not a nice dude. I know him." Dade never trusted Matt. He was dangerous and unpredictable, a bully, and a raging hot-head. "I just don't want anything happening. Don't use your gun."

"Don't tell me how to do my job," Dumfries said.

Dade recognized the officer's show of temper for what it was, nervousness, and swallowed the instantaneous retaliatory remarks that came to mind. Sergeant Dumfries had been doing a good job all along and it was time Dade gave him some credit—even when he had criticized Dumfries for questioning Jason, it had been the right thing to do. He turned to Kat seated in the back with Brent and Ken, "You better keep out of sight." To Mary, "You're on. Leave the sack out front and wait. We'll watch from here."

"I'll be out in the bushes, ready to nab him," Sergeant Dumfries said and helped Mary out of the car. He gave her the sack and Mary started walking towards the house while Dumfries ducked out of sight and into the woods that edged the drive.

Dade turned to Ken, "I'm going with her."

"You can't go, Dade," Kat said.

"Too late. I'm going. I'm not leaving Mary alone with Matt."

Ken nodded. "You do what you think is right."

Dade jumped out of the car and ran up to Mary. He saw Sergeant Dumfries wave angrily at him. Dade ignored the officer and kept walking right up to the front stoop where they sat down and waited. The moon lighted the walkway. He put his arm around Mary and felt her shiver.

"I don't see anyone," she whispered.

"Just keep hold of the bag. Don't put it down yet. We can wait a little while longer."

A few moments later Dade heard footsteps behind them and he whirled around to see a figure appear at the window inside his house. The nerve of him going inside.

"Where's the money?" Matt asked.

"Where's Kat?" Dade asked.

"She's tied up behind the house." Matt twitched nervously as he said it.

Dade knew well enough that they would never find Kat behind the house because she was safely in the car with Brent. Well, maybe not safely. "You don't get a cent until I see Kat." Dade stepped closer to Matt.

"Give me the money," Matt's voice rose.

"Come out and get it."

Matt crawled out of the window and onto the porch. "Now throw it here," Matt told Mary, "or you'll seem more trouble than you want."

Dade crept up to an arm's length away from him. "Why don't you just settle down and we can talk about this?"

"I don't have anything to talk about," Matt spit and said some choice swear words. "Hand it over now."

Dade made a grab for him and Matt ducked back. He took something from his pocket.

"He's got a knife," cried Mary.

Dade jumped out of the way as Matt sliced through the air between them with the knife. "Drop it, Matt. You don't know what you're doing."

"No, you don't know what you're doing. Give me the money."

Mary whirled the sack in the air towards Matt who instinctively put his hands in the air to catch it. Dade grabbed him around the waist with one hand, and with his other hand, he locked onto Matt's wrist that held the knife. "Got you," Dade said.

Dumfries shot out of the bushes and locked his arm around Matt and pulled his hands around his back to cuff him. Matt yelped with pain and dropped the knife. "Settle down, fellow. We have a few things to talk about," Dumfries said.

"We don't have anything to talk about," Matt said.

"Yea, well who started all those fires on my property?" Dade shoved his face into Matt's.

"How am I supposed to know?" Matt answered.

"Because you did it," Dade said, holding his tongue. He had a few choice swear words he could say too.

"You'll never prove it."

"I don't have to," Dade said. "I have a witness."

"Why that two faced rat," Matt cursed his brother. "Your influence no doubt. You stay away from my brother."

"I made friends with your brother because you were gone to prison and I didn't want the same for him. I want something more for him than you can give him and I've made an investment in my time and in friendship to him, something you never did but for leading him astray, down the same path you are on. I did this because we were once friends and I saw how drugs and wrong-doing had changed you."

Matt hung his head in silence.

"Starting fires to threaten people and endangering people's lives is not the way to solve problems. Wrong-doing only creates more problems," Mary said.

Sergeant Dumfries said, "You're in big trouble, fellow."

"We needed the money." Matt shoved his face into Dade's. "If you'd sell, we'd have it."

"There's other ways of getting money," Dumfries yanked him back.

"Yeah, like getting a job. You almost killed me," Dade said.

Matt turned away, the fight suddenly gone out of him. "I didn't think you were in there." He cursed and spat on the ground. "I've got nothing more to say. I want a lawyer."

"You burned my house down. All my stuff is gone."

"I don't even have stuff," Matt said.

"So no one else should have any either?" Mary asked.

"It's not fair," Matt said.

"What you think is fair and what the law thinks is fair are two different matters," Sergeant Dumfries led him down the drive towards the police car. "You can't do what you did. You endangered people's lives. What did you think you were doing by abducting Kat Keller?"

"I just wanted to get out of here," Matt said. "I wasn't going to hurt her."

"You want, that's all you're thinking about."

Dade and the rest of the group followed the sergeant and Matt down the driveway. A strict Christian family who brooked no laziness or time spent on worthless endeavors alleviated Dade's situation. Matt never had that. He went from bad to worse during the same period of time that Dade had turned his life around. He thanked God for the mercy shown him or he would be just like Matt.

"What are you going to do with me?" Matt asked the sergeant.

"I guess that's up to Dade and Kat. Meanwhile, I'm taking you to jail."

Matt cursed a string of choice swear words but Dade saw he was near tears and the sight of his friend who had gotten caught up in drugs and addiction pulled at him. Dumfries handed Dade the sack with the money and then turned to Matt, who was still cursing. "That's enough, now. I'm taking you down and locking you up." To Dade and Mary he said, "We'll figure out what to do with him in the morning." He shoved Matt into the back seat where Dade saw the doors locked automatically and there were no handles. A bullet proof glass divided the front from the back. Dumfries got in the front. A peacefulness settled over the night as the police car drove away, its blue lights flashing. It was a relief to be out of Matt's company and yet Dade could not help but think there might still be hope for his wayward friend.

Chapter 23

"I would never feel right about sending a young man to jail." Kat walked with Brent and Sergeant Dumfries along the path that skirted the creek by her house. The sergeant wanted to know what Kat wanted to do with Matt. She looked into the rushing water for an answer to bob to the surface. Several of the rehabilitation camps she investigated seemed too harsh while others had too little structure for what Kat thought might work for Matt.

"I can't keep holding him. You're going to have to decide." Sergeant Dumfries pressed her.

"I think we've decided on Danburry Academy. Right, Kat?" Brent asked.

Danburry was a wilderness camp for troubled young men in West Virginia. They offered to take Matt into their program. "He can finish his high school year and even start his first year of college courses, but he has to agree to it."

"Oh, he'll agree," Dumfries said. "That's his best hope and he knows it. I think it would be a fine thing to do and with you and Dade paying the tuition, Mr. and Mrs. Younger are ready to support Matt in every other way."

"Okay," Kat said. "I think Danburry is the right place for him then. He will have to go into drug rehabilitation first, but afterwards he can enroll. Jason is going to a Christian boarding school not far from there. They have family counseling once a week and Brent is going to pay for their parents' housing so that they can attend the counseling."

"That's generous of you," Dumfries said to Brent. "We should have dealt with this before, but I guess it takes something bad like this to make things happen. Mr. and Mrs. Younger have been ill for a long time, what with him in a wheelchair and all sorts of complications from his war injuries, and Mrs. Younger with such bad arthritis, it's a wonder they've survived this long."

"Matt took matters in his own hands and led his brother astray by doing wrong to affect right. I knew they were in bad shape the first time I visited. I don't even need their land, but I offered to buy it because I could see they needed to do something. I never meant for it to turn out like this." Brent said.

Kat put her arm around Brent's waste, "I'm so proud of you."

Sergeant Dumfries tipped his cap to Brent and Kat as they approached his cruiser. "She's right, Brent. This town owes you an apology."

"Oh, forget it," Brent shrugged. "Everyone else has."

"I don't think so," Officer Dumfries got into his car and started the engine. "Folks around here mean to make things right. It's the way they're brought up."

When the police car drove out of sight, Kat said, "Let me be the first. I thought you were trying to take my land out from under me. I thought that was the only reason you wanted to marry me."

"You know that's not true," Brent took her hand and drew her closer to him.

"I know. I just couldn't understand why you were in love with me."

"Because you're wonderful, Kat."

Kat laughed. "I just feel bad about the things I thought."

Brent pulled a check out of his wallet and handed it to her. "For your paintings."

"Seventeen thousand dollars? Oh my goodness. You certainly have a knack for making money." Her paintings were selling very well. She also had some new ideas for some greeting cards which would be easy to sell in Rainbow Valley's tourist towns.

Then Brent pulled a small box out of his pocket, opened it, and held it up to her. The ring sparkled in the sunlight.

"I can't Brent. I need some time."

He frowned and slipped it back in his pocket. "Let me know by Christmas, okay?"

Christmas was a month and a half away, surely she'd know by then. They walked over to the porch and sat down but Brent kept getting up. He walked back and forth, stopping and staring down the driveway every so often. Kat shook her head. It was clear to her that he was anxious to leave. She said, "I love it up here."

"It's been very relaxing this past week with you," Brent said. Kat appreciated Brent helping her figure out what to do about Matt. All week he made an effort to fix their broken relationship, but it still didn't feel right to Kat.

Brent said, "It's been a long time since I've had a vacation, but I need to get back."

"Already?" Brent would not ignore his responsibilities back in Atlanta. Many people depended on the bank for their livelihood, including his own family. He could hardly walk away from all of that as she had. There was one last issued she needed to know. "Back to Courtney?"

"I think it's time I told you the whole story about her," Brent sat down beside her.

"I think so too," she agreed.

"Courtney and I started dating five years ago. I was a junior in college. Everyone figured we'd marry, but Courtney is stubborn. She had it in her head to be a country music star. She has a great voice and has already made a few albums that have sold pretty well. She has a following. It's fun for her. I guess you know all that, but what you don't know is that I can't live my life around her. I did love her at one time. I admit that. It just wouldn't work. I need a woman who can make her life around mine, Kat. I'm hoping I will have that in you."

"And that night at my mom's condo, what were you really doing there?"

"She fainted on stage. There was a doctor in the house and he examined her. It was a nightmare. Her blood pressure was way down and she'd been taking so many pills that she hadn't slept for days. I didn't realize she'd gotten so bad. But you know the music business is like that. It will run you down if you don't watch out. Courtney was worried about the press if they took her to the hospital. She thought she'd lose gigs and begged me to take her back to my house. You know my mom though, she would've had a fit if I walked in with Courtney. She doesn't approve of Courtney. She loves you, Kat. She's very loyal to you even if she has been a little controlling."

"A little?"

"Okay, a lot. Anyway, I knew I couldn't take her home, so I took her to your mom's condo. It was close. I stayed with her, but nothing happened between us. She cried a lot and made a lot of promises to me, but, Kat, she's done that before. She's always promising me she'll quit the business and stay away from the drugs. She's helpless. The same day she promises, that night she breaks it. How can I live like that? I'm tired of it and tired of always trying to help her."

"She's never been in rehab before?"

Brent shook his head.

"What if she makes it this time and keeps her promises? What if she quits the music business and the drugs and wants to get back together with you? What if she comes back to you, Brent? Where will I be then?"

Brent took her hands and kissed them. "I love you, Kat. You are everything to me. I want to give you a beautiful home, a life free from financial worries, a beautiful family, and a life of love and devotion. Marry me, let me develop your land and we will make more money than we can spend. Mary can move in with us. She'll never want for anything. Nothing else matters to me but you. The day you commit to me, I will turn my back on Courtney and her family. I'll have nothing more to do with them. I promise you that with all my heart."

Kat looked down at her hands in his. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and take the ring back, but there was one thing Brent would never give her: his time. He would always be primarily devoted to making money. And then there was Dade. She still had feelings for him though she had not quite sorted them out. Did Dade still love her? Or was he just playing around with her like her aunt said he did with all the women? And what about her new found faith? Could Brent understand this precious new gift of faith God had given her? "By Christmas, then I will let you know," Kat said.

Chapter 24

Dade avoided the altar where a person could kneel and pray, confess mistakes, and ask for forgiveness, and went into Reverend Barry's office. "Any boxes arrive for me?"

Reverend Barry pointed to a single box in the corner of his office. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna take this box and open it." The box contained the shirts and jeans he'd ordered online a few days ago. He shipped his orders to the church because The Fish and Game Club had only a post office box in town.

"You know what I mean."

"Why are you always bugging me?" Dade used Reverend Barry's office computer to straighten out his insurance claims and order essentials and Revered Barry took every opportunity to shamelessly dog him. "Okay, I know I've wronged Brent Carroll and possibly Kat, so what?"

"You wronged Brent Carroll. You blamed him for having orchestrated those fires and kidnapping Kat. You might have even played a part in their break up."

"Well, it looks like they're patching things up," Dade said, "so I don't have anything more to do with it."

"You should apologize."

"I can't," Dade spun around in his chair to face Reverend Barry. "I don't want to do that."

"You don't want to humble yourself?"

"Not to him. He's not even a Christian. How would he be able to appreciate what it's like to ask forgiveness?"

"How do you know he's not a Christian? And besides, non-Christians ask for forgiveness."

Dade sighed, "Of course you're right. I didn't mean to sound so judgmental. I don't think he goes to church though."

"That doesn't mean he doesn't believe."

"No but...Oh, Barry, I just can't apologize to him. He'd gloat."

"He might gloat, but you'd feel better in front of God, especially when you know that's what He wants you to do."

Reverend Barry was not going to let him off the hook. Dade was cornered. He tried not to visibly squirm. Finally, Revered Barry left to run an errand. Dade ordered a pair of boots on the Internet. He Googled birch wood and ordered what he needed to finish the bed. "I'm tired of looking for that stupid tree," he said to himself and turned off the computer.

"God loves a tender heart, one that doesn't make excuses."

Dade jumped. He'd thought Reverend Barry had left. "You really are a pain in the neck, you know that?" Dade headed back through the church to leave but the altar caught his eye. Maybe he did need to face his jealousy, guilt, and bitterness. He knelt down. "God, forgive me, I can't stand that money-eyed, manipulating, oily Brent Carroll." Dade hung his head and tried again. "How can I humble myself in front of that guy? I don't like him, God. I won't hate him, I don't wish him ill. I just don't like him. He's between me and Kat."

He felt jealous and it shamed him. All this time he resented Brent Carroll because he stood between him and Kat. He felt like a common, ordinary, every day jealous person—just what I always accused Kat of being, which she often was. Dade sat back on his knees. His prayers sounded judgmental and angry. And desperate. He was going to lose Kat to Brent.

"Tell me your thoughts," Reverend Barry surprised him by kneeling down beside Dade. "Sorry, it didn't look like you were praying."

"I wasn't," Dade admitted, "at least not very well." How could he tell Reverend Barry any of his feelings when they only accused him? And how could he change his own feelings even if they were jealous and angry, they were his feelings. "Just pray for me," he said and headed for the door.

Dade stuffed the box of new clothes in Sally's saddlebag and rode down the road toward Kat's. He would cut up the back part of the hill before he got to the Keller farmhouse to avoid seeing anymore of Kat holding hands with Brent, or worse. Guilty of not helping Ken and Mary for the past week, he reasoned that Brent could at least do those chores though he doubted that Brent would even think about helping out. He shook his head: more harsh thoughts.

Brent's red Mercedes suddenly appeared around the corner, dipping and swaying as he carefully picked his way around the potholes and came to a stop beside Dade. Brent stuck his head out the window.

"I want to buy you dinner," Dade said before Brent opened his mouth to say whatever he stopped to say. Meeting his nemesis right after praying for the first time in a week was downright creepy. "At the Fish and Game Club."

"I'm not sure I want eat with you."

"I've got something to say to you and I can't just say it here." Dade shook his head at Brent's abrupt change in expression. "It's not about the land."

Brent shrugged, "Okay. Is now a good time? I'm on my way out of here."

Well, that was good news, Brent finally leaving and apparently alone. "Yeah, now's as good as any. I'll meet you down at the club."

Barney served his Sunday night special, pond trout and spuds which was also his Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night special, "I just cook it different," Barney explained when Brent asked about the menu.

"Okay, I'll have the special then."

"Nothing like it."

"Nothing much else, either," Dade laughed, referring to the remaining hamburger, hot dog or spaghetti choices.

When Barney came back with the food, Dade hedged around his subject and then finally blurted, "I was wrong about you. I want to apologize."

Brent's fork halted in midair and he stared at Dade.

"I guess I did poison Kat's thoughts about you. I was jealous. I judged you against myself and I'm not any kind of standard of right. There's lots of ways of living and just because I choose this one, doesn't make your choice wrong," Dade said.

Brent shrugged and continued eating. "I appreciate that."

"I had wrong thoughts about your fiancé and I tried to wrangle my way into her affections while she was already promised to you. I wronged you and I sincerely apologize for that. I hope that you will forgive me."

Brent bit his lip and clenched his fist, but then his face softened. "I appreciate that, too," he said.

"I jumped to conclusions and automatically believed the worst about you. I—"

"That's about all I can handle," Brent interrupted him. He put his hands up, "I accept all your apologies."

Dade nodded. "Okay."

After several moments of silence, Dade could see that Brent had something to say.

Brent laid his knife and fork on either side of his plate, put his elbows on the table, and clasped his hands. He looked Dade square in the face. He was a formidable adversary. Dade listened carefully. "I love Kat and I mean to make her my wife."

Dade nodded. The words were heavy handed but Dade let it go. Kat could make her own decisions. "Are you engaged again?"

"She said she'd let me know if she accepts my proposal of marriage before Christmas and I would really appreciate it if you just left her alone so she can make that decision." Brent folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, waiting for Dade's answer.

How could he say no after admitting that he had poisoned Kat's mind against him? Brent knew how to make the best of an uncomfortable position. "I won't seek her companionship, but if she seeks mine, I won't turn her away."

Brent nodded, "Fair enough."

Dade played with his food. How would he be able to stay away from her for six weeks? Eight days had been hard enough.

Brent ended the silence between them. He dabbed his mouth with the napkin and stood up. "I don't see what more we have to say to each other. Thank you for your apologies and for your promise." He shook Dade's hand. "I'll be back."

Dade watched him leave, heard his car start up, and drive away. He sighed with relief just to be out of the man's company. He closed his eyes for a moment. Brent cleverly got him to promise to stay away from Kat. He even got him to shake on it.

"I really don't like that guy," Barney approached Dade's table and sat down.

"He's just different, not like us," Brent said.

"No, he's more than different. He's a fighter, and his kind of fighting, ain't my kind of fighting."

Dade nodded. "I know what you mean. He's used to being in opposition. He's used to finding the best in a given situation and levering it to his advantage. We don't have to like him, but we do have to love him as one of God's own, treat him fairly, and offer him the salvation that was offered to me. And I've done none of that."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You're flesh and bone just like me."

Dade laughed. "I'm much worse than you."

"I wouldn't be much without you. You gave me this job, a place to lay my head, and a reason to get up in the morning. You aren't as bad as you think. Things will work out for you. God loves you with a mighty hand, I can tell you that."

Just what he needed to hear. The meeting with Brent had salved his guilty conscious, but at a high price. "At least I apologized."

*****

All week Dade avoided Kat, coming over to the Keller farmhouse only to keep up with chores which he did extra early to make sure he was done before Kat woke up. Later in the week at the Friday night Bible study, Dade opened the group with a short prayer and Lenny followed with a discussion about the upcoming schedule. "We need to figure out if we want to meet over the holidays between Christmas and Thanksgiving."

And then Kat walked in.

Dade stood up and grinned.

Jan smiled and made room for Kat which Kat accepted. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"No," Jan said, "we were just discussing how we thought we should keep meeting through the holidays."

"That's right, Kat, you're just in time." Lenny winked at Dade. "We'll be meeting every Friday right through Christmas, right Dade?"

"Amen to that," Dade laughed. God provides.

Chapter 25

Who comes to a Bible study and forgets her Bible, Kat silently chided herself, sitting awkwardly beside the same women she had often felt jealousy towards.

Jan smiled and held hers so Kat could read it. They opened to the first chapter of the book of Hebrews, a letter written to a group of first century Christians struggling to keep the faith. The discussion turned to admissions of lack of faith from several people in the group. Kat would've never guessed that these church going people had such doubts. They were just like her.

Jan blurted out, "I can't deal with my job," she confessed. "My boss hovers over me, waiting for me to make a mistake so he can jump all over me. I am nervous all the time and my stomach hurts." Kat felt Jan tense up just talking about it. "I don't know why God has put me in this position. He knows I need a job. Why did He give me this one?"

"Maybe you could find another job," Kat suggested.

Jan's big, brown eyes lined with thick curly black lashes looked at Kat. "Like what? I don't have a college degree and I'm average in the brains department. This is the best paying job I can find."

"We'll pray for your situation, Jan, and hope that God will change it. I know that He wants you to have good things, including a job you feel successful at," Dade said.

The group shared many other doubts and problems in their faith. "Is there anything you want to share, Kat?" Jan asked her.

"I'm not very, um, well, at peace right now but something happened recently that I would like to share. In fact, it is the main reason why I came tonight." Kat wasn't going to say but everyone had been so honest. "It has to do with the night I got trapped in the fiery shed." Kat could feel their interest peaking. "I was disoriented. Flames and smoke every where. I didn't know where the door was anymore. The smoke was so thick I couldn't see. My eyes burned and I felt the smoke closing my lungs. I was petrified. My situation seemed hopeless. I prayed for the first time in a very long time. I really needed help. I was going to die in there." Kat cleared her throat as the memory choked her with tears. "Then a man appeared and the smoke broke apart. He reached out to me. I was so afraid I couldn't move. He told me it would be okay and I could come out, and I did. I walked right into his arms and he led me out." Kat wiped her eyes and laughed. "I thought it was Dade."

Dade shook his head, "No, Kat. It wasn't me."

"That's a powerful testimony," Lenny's wife Natalie exclaimed. "What did you pray?"

"The most common prayer ever said."

"You prayed the Our Father?" Natalie asked.

"No," Kat laughed. "Help! I prayed, God help me!"

Dade laughed, "It probably is the most common prayer."

After the study, Dade walked her back to the farmhouse. "I'm proud of you. I know how hard it was to tell that story. How hard it is to validate it like that in front of a lot of people."

Kat shook her head. "It was difficult to make myself come. It was almost as if something was holding me back. I was so afraid that Jan would make me feel uncomfortable but when I got there, she's the one who most welcomed me."

"Jan has a big heart and a kind manner but she forgets responsibilities and appointments. She's very distracted. She'll start something, and then leave it to start something else before she's finished. Then she'll start something else and forget all about the other two things she started. She's very absentminded."

"I can see why her job is so difficult for her."

"Tom said she was a great teller but jumping to loan officer was a mistake. He wants to put her back behind the counter."

"Tom told you all that?"

"No, Jan did. She's upset about it because she won't be making as much money, and she enjoys the prestige of being a loan officer. The trouble is that she hates her job now, when she loved being a teller."

"What made her such a great teller?"

"She has fantastic rapport with the customers. Everyone likes her. She's a great listener, if you know what I mean."

"I do. I've noticed that about her. She's encouraging."

Dade nodded. "And, she didn't have to deny people loans as a teller."

"I might have something for her to try. Of course, she couldn't give up her job but she could reclaim her teller position and maybe make a little extra money on the side."

"That might solve all her problems," said Dade. "What can you offer her?"

"When I set up my computer that I brought back with me from Atlanta. I printed out some designs on cards that I took to sell in town," Kat described the business venture she had been considering. "Some of the designs I created in college and some are new. I added a few words on the inside that seemed appropriate for several occasions and some I left blank, with only a picture on the outside. The funny thing is the blank cards I made with just a picture on the front are selling better than the ones with writing on the inside. I'm not much of a writer. Do you think Jan might like to do some writing?"

"I think she'd be great at it. It's funny you should think of her because even though she expressed some doubts this evening, Jan is a gifted encourager of the faith. She has a way of making a person feel special. She can say some amazingly insightful things. We all have our gifts. I think she would be a perfect choice. Why don't you ask her?"

"I will."

The next day, she drove into town with some of her cards and approached Jan at the bank. Jan smiled and closed her station to lunch together. "The thing is," Kat showed Jan the cards, "I have all these new Christmas designs but I don't know what to write in the cards. I need someone like you who always knows just what to say. And, I need to get them out right away, because people start buying their Christmas cards the week after Thanksgiving. Can you help me?"

Jan asked, "Are you sure you want me to write the cards?"

"Of course, I can't think of a better person. I need someone who can write words that reflect the true meaning of Christmas. I know I can't do that, but I think you can." Kat's lingering jealousy evaporated with Jan's smile.

"Let me see your designs again," Jan asked.

"I have ten different ones," Kat laid them out on the table. "These are not your usual Christmas cards, but I think people will like them."

"They're gorgeous," Jan looked carefully at each one. "I love this dove in the shape of a cross. You have a very modern talent."

"That's what I mean. They aren't your old fashioned Currier and Ives pictures."

"No, but I'm sure I can do this. I'm already thinking of what I can write."

Kat said. "I've even prayed about this. Just a quick prayer before I came, but I think that this is something God will bless."

"God will certainly bless this," Jan said. "I'll be careful to write something I know God loves to hear and wants people to read." Jan touched her arm. "I can't believe how wonderful this is. I hope we sell a gazillion."

Kat smiled at her new friend. "Me too."

Chapter 26

"It would be wrong of me to leave them here by themselves for Thanksgiving," Kat told Brent over the phone. She glanced at her uncle sleeping on the chair. "I don't know if this is going to work," Kat warned in defense of his complaints, exhausted by the wall of anger and frustration coming from the other end of the phone.

"Don't say that," Brent backed down. "Of course it will work. You need to come home and everything will be fine."

"My lease runs out in December."

"You can stay in the guest house here."

"And do what?" Kat appealed to his reasoning.

"I don't care. Do your card thing."

The disregard he showed for her efforts at starting a new career made her heart sink. "Maybe I can come down after Thanksgiving." Their phone calls were becoming increasingly difficult to get through. All she wanted to do now is hang up. Finally, they said good-bye.

"Don't you think we should put Uncle Ken in bed?" she asked her Aunt Mary when she hung up the phone. Her uncle looked uncomfortable with his head resting on his chin. Beside him on the table was his Bible. Ken had been dozing on and off since yesterday.

"Not yet. The doctor said to keep him upright as much as possible to avoid pneumonia. He's due to get up soon, anyway." Mary shook her head in desperation. "He can't catch up anymore." Ken used to be able to sleep off his exhaustion and regain energy. "He's always tired now. It's not a good sign. I think I will have to call hospice to help us."

"Hospice? Hospice helps a person when they're dying." The truth she feared all week finally spoken.

Mary took Kat's hand. "You have to face this now Kat, or it will be more difficult for you in the end. Your uncle is dying. That's what is happening here. His heart is growing weaker and weaker."

Kat grabbed her jacket and ran out to the large oak tree, it's brown leaves clinging stubbornly to the branches. The sky was crystalline blue and the forest a carpet of gold and red. For the first Sunday in a long time, her uncle had slept through their special time together. Too weak to attend services himself, he now spent most Sunday mornings explaining to Kat how much God loved her. Kat had grown to cherish Sunday mornings. She put her head in her hands and cried. "He's not even gone yet, and here I am grieving him already."

Her tears turned to joy when she returned to see Ken awake in the kitchen chair offering her to take the one beside him. The ashen pallor of his skin had brightened with wakefulness. She brought his Bible over to him but he laid it aside. Ken said, "I rarely worry in this life, Kat. I know that God will look after me, but that doesn't mean there haven't been times when I've felt alone. Many times I wondered if God knew what was happening, because if He did, I thought he wouldn't allow it. I felt that way when I became so sick a few months ago. You changed everything for me, Kat."

"I did?" Kat knew her aunt and uncle wanted her to come for a visit, but how could she have changed things?

Ken nodded. "In you is the culmination of all my prayers. I'm so proud of you, dear."

"What could you have prayed that I would be the answer to anything?" Kat asked. Her uncle wasn't making sense. How could he be proud of her? She was a miserable Christian, and guilty of abandoning her own mother the night of her death. "There is nothing to be proud of in me."

"Not true. I prayed for someone to give meaning to my life again. A reason to live on. Now I see that God has truly given me that in you. I needed you. In these last days, God has given me all that I need."

Kat gulped at the thickness growing in her throat. "Uncle Ken, you had great meaning in your life. You carried God's message to people who hungered for it. You always shared your faith so courageously. You went to church faithfully and served God with all your talents."

"Sometimes in our need to do something for God, we forget what he first asked us to do, that is, love others as ourselves. Family should come first. I always wondered if perhaps I should have moved down to Atlanta with you and Nora after my brother died but I let Nora shut the door on me. I reminded her too much of what she had lost but I could have insisted, I could have broken her wall down. I should have received what God had given me a little better. When I saw you, scraped and bleeding, walking along the road to my house with Dade, and I heard the sadness of grief in your voice, I knew God had given me one last chance to be part of your life." He put his hand on hers. "I cared about you and your mother. I should have visited you more in Atlanta. I thought I had lost you but you came back to me and I am grateful. I love you, Kat."

Kat put her arms around her uncle and held him tightly. She had longed to hear such words. "Christ is in you," he whispered to her.

Kat nodded. Her uncle told her, "I don't think you realize how much God has used you to bless others. You are held by Him. Our lives intertwine. God's will works for the good of all of those who love him, not just one or two. Sometimes it involves hardship and things happen that we don't understand. But when we look back on our lives and see those times, we understand that God has helped us through them even when we never would have guessed that at the time."

"Oh, Uncle Ken." Kat wanted to tell him how much she would miss him, but she held her tongue, not wanting to speak of death, even though her uncle was saying his own good-bye. Instead, she said, "I love you."

*****

Thanksgiving morning, Ken passed away. "I was just going to get him some water," Mary cried. "He sent me for water, and when I came back with it, he'd passed over."

Adel, the woman from hospice, said, "People will often send loved ones out of the room. It gives them permission to pass on."

Kat put her arm around her aunt and turned to Adel, "What do you mean, need permission?"

Adel nodded, "That's right. People know when it is their time to die. They try to hang on sometimes but only for those around them. They're afraid to die because they know it hurts those who are left. It's almost as if the dying person needs to receive your permission to die. Asking Mary to get water was a way of doing that. He couldn't die right in front of her. It's not uncommon."

"So if someone who needs to die tells you to go, and you do, then that's okay?" Kat asked, thinking of the night her mom passed away.

"Exactly, they know what they have to do but they don't want to hurt you so they tell you to go get something, or do something that gets you out of the room. Your leaving them is like giving them permission to die."

Maybe it wasn't her fault that her mother died. Her mother had sent her away. She told her to go out and have fun. She was sending me away so that she could pass on. A burden of guilt suddenly lifted from her shoulders and Kat took Adel's hands in gratitude. "I've only told Dade this," Kat said and she described to Adel what happened the night her mother died. "Do you think she was asking permission?"

Adel nodded. "She sent you out of the house so she could pass over into death. It really is true."

"To hear you say it is like receiving complete forgiveness from something that has hurt me and bothered me since her death," Kat said.

"The words I spoke came from the Lord," Adel said. "Even as I said them, I heard Him affirming them in my heart."

Kat's relief reminded her of the first time she had accepted Jesus as her savior and all of her sins were forgiven. A lighthearted feeling flooded over her. She squeezed her aunt's hand. Kat had forgotten the true Gospel in her heart: forgiveness. Grief and bitterness had stolen it away. Suddenly Kat saw her future laid out for her. What had been so cloudy and murky in the fog of her grief and doubt became clear.

People began to visit. "I know I said I was ready for him to go but still, it took me by surprise how soon it happened," Mary told Kat. The funeral was packed. Everyone came, even Brent. Mary and Kat cried on and off through the weeks that followed. Sometimes Kat's tears weren't just for her uncle, but for her mom and dad as well. "Grief never goes away," Mary said, "it just forgets itself sometimes."

A few days after the funeral, Kat sat by her family's grave site under the big oak tree that had inspired the painting The Twelve Trees on the Banks of The River of Life that Brent had bought, and read her Mother's Bible. Nora had underlined Ephesians 3:16-19 and written Kat's name beside it: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. "Oh, Mom," she said with her hand on the soft leather. "Reading your Bible is like having you back again." The loose mound of dirt at Ken's grave site reminded her of his last words, and Kat knew what she must do.

Chapter 27

A few days before Christmas, Kat drove down to Atlanta. She sat in the realtor's office and signed ownership of her mother's condo over to a young couple recently married. They were both younger than Kat and it made her feel old. "I hope you have much happiness." She shook their hands and headed over to her mother's condo to pack it up. She brought several boxes marked, "CHARITY" over to her mother's old church. When she knocked on the senior pastor's door, she said, "I want to move my mom."

"It will be expensive to do that. Are you sure?" He asked.

"I am positive. My mother belongs in our family's cemetery alongside my dad and my uncle." She had let Brent take care of finding a place and though Nora had loved her church, Kat was certain she loved her family more. Just as her uncle had said, family was most important. "I see now why my mom had to leave Atlanta and why we never returned for a visit. It was too painful for her but I know now she would want to lie beside my father."

The pastor nodded. "I suspect you are right. It was tragic to see her when you first moved down. Her grief and shock devastated her. I know she loved your father very much. I'll draw up the papers for you to sign. You can send your payment, and then at the first thaw we'll bring her up."

*****

Later that day, Kat and Brent planned to meet in Buckhead for dinner. She wrapped her coat tightly around her against a sudden winter wind. The streets were crowded with shoppers. Kat looked in the store windows as she headed up the street to the restaurant. She eyed a cream-colored package of linen stationary displayed in the window of one of the stores, giving her an idea for a Christmas present for her aunt. "This is all hand cut paper lace," explained the shopkeeper.

"It's beautiful."

"The Amish make it. I used to live up in Pennsylvania. They live so simply, devoting the beauty of their lives to God."

"Perhaps that's why it caught my eye," Kat smiled and she looked around at the store. There were several Christian books displayed, some Christian jewelry, and some paintings. She imagined a turnstile with her cards.

"Kat Keller," the owner recognized her immediately. "Where have you been? You disappeared from the face of the earth."

"Judy Baker?" Kat remembered the quiet young woman from one of her many committee meetings with Brent's mother. "I never thought I'd see you again."

"You mean you never thought you'd see me working," Judy laughed. "I started this store over the summer. It's done very well."

"It's darling. I love it all. Do you do the buying, too?"

"Most of it. Robin tells me you have a line of Christian cards. I guess neither of us had a chance to really talk and get to know one another at those charity meetings."

"Maybe we still have time," smiled Kat.

The chance encounter supported Kat's new perspective and her hopes soared as she tucked the linen stationary into her bag and headed out the door for the restaurant. She and Brent could live a Christian life together. Marrying Brent didn't have to mean losing touch with her own spirituality even if that was what happened the months they were together. It had not been his fault, but her own. And he could change, right?

Brent stood at the table by the window when she arrived. The air felt warm and the atmosphere cozy. Brent took her hand. "You look fabulous," he said and kissed her cheek.

Kat sat down and told him about the sale of the condo. "I feel exhausted from all the packing but at least I got all the important stuff. Tomorrow I have movers coming in to pack the rest of it."

"And where will they take it?" he asked.

Kat bit her lip. "You have the answer in your own heart."

He smiled. "That must mean yes then."

"Wait, let me tell you something first."

"What?" He looked concerned. "You can tell me anything, Kat. What is it?"

"I want to tell you the Gospel," Kat felt her heart pound.

Brent closed his eyes and shook his head. He began to laugh. "You must be joking."

"No, really. You said anything."

"Okay, I did. Tell me then."

Kat felt so awkward she wanted to crawl under the table, but she made herself speak. "Jesus Christ lived and died for us, Brent. It's not just a legend or a story. He truly lived and did the miracles the Bible tells of. He lived on this earth and people who thought they were good people, hated him, they murdered him on a cross." She swallowed thickly.

"I can see you really believe this. I understand now. You want me to know you are a Christian. I've known that, Kat. It's okay with me. I told you it's even good. We can go to church. I can do a lot of good, and I want to."

"It's not just that. I know you can do a lot of good but the truth is the good you should do you won't."

"And what is that?" He asked her.

"Believing and spreading the Gospel. That is the good we should do. You see, while we were the enemies of Christ, murdering him and nailing him to a cross, he responded only in love. Allowing us to crucify him so that we could live with him forever. That's how much he loves us. Do you believe, Brent. Can you truly believe?"

Brent's face fell. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because if I'm going to share my life with someone, I need to share this most important part, in fact, the whole."

"I can do good and I can be a good husband to you. We don't have to be completely in agreement on every single issue do we?" Brent looked pleadingly at her. "Isn't my love enough for you?"

Kat's hopes fell. "No," she whispered.

Brent begged her. "Isn't it important that a man strive to do good, to serve his fellow man, to help make this world a better place? Is that not a valuable thing? I don't understand you, Kat. I believe in this world. I believe we can make a difference. Those charities my mom belongs to are not solely for garnering business, you know. I do care about the world."

"Brent, no man or woman is good. We are always striving for our own selfish purposes. We need to accept what Christ has said about the human condition, that we are fallen, sinful, and estranged from Him in our sin. Only through acceptance of Christ as the Son of God who was hung by sinners like ourselves can we truly begin to live for the good of those who love him. In fact, we will live forever."

"Oh for heaven's sake," he put his napkin on the table and rose. "I can't listen to you any longer." Kat could see tears glistening in his eyes. "I am very disappointed in you, Kat." He motioned to the waiter and signed the check. "I find it highly objectionable that you expect me to believe this fantasy. I don't ask you to believe in my philosophies." He put his coat on. "And I wouldn't ever do that to you." He started to leave and then turned around, "I'm not some sorry dude that needs a savior."

Tears fell down her face as she watched him go. She turned and watched him from the window, hoping he would come back. He hailed a cab, and never looking back at her, he raced out of her life. She felt weak and heartbroken but at least she had the courage to face the truth. He had loved her but not what was in her: the light of Christ. Hadn't she always known it?

*****

Early Christmas morning, Kat drove back to Rainbow Valley. Her car descended down the rim of mountains just as the sun rose over the other side, the moon fading with the first light of dawn. Kat's eyes were drawn to the steeples of all the churches in the valley below. She counted twelve of them, all white, all with crosses reaching into the heavens. She rolled down her window even though it was cold. She heard the peal of a church bell calling the faithful to Sunday service, urging them to remember that one day he would come back, and encouraging them to hold on until then, not to waiver or give up the good fight. "And I won't ever again give up," she answered.

Chapter 28

As soon as she turned off the main road onto the winding rutted road, she caught sight of a thin trail of smoke floating out of her chimney. The holes in the driveway had been filled but the road was still very bumpy with patches of dirt and ice. Coming up to the house, she saw Dade's horse nibble the grass that poked out from the snow on her front lawn.

He came to the door wearing a Santa Claus hat. "Right on time." He smiled.

Kat could smell bacon cooking in the kitchen. "How'd you know I'd be here?"

"I talked with Mary last night. She told me you wanted to spend Christmas day here. She said you were going to drive back early in the morning."

"I thought the Fish and Game Club didn't have a phone. I thought they scorned all modern appliances."

"We do but I got myself a cell. I got it after you turned up missing. Figured I should have one in case you decide to get kidnapped again."

Kat carried her bag up to the porch. He had decorated her tree and put some presents under it. She looked up at him in surprise. "You did all that for me and my aunt?"

"I'm did it out of memory of your father. Remember? We always used to go hunting for the Christmas dinner and your mom always made us breakfast beforehand." Dade sat her down at the table and brought her a plate of eggs, grits, and bacon. He took off Mary's apron that he had been wearing. "Merry Christmas, Kat. I'm going out to hunt for our dinner."

Kat watched him walk off the porch and head for his horse. She didn't believe a word of that nonsense that he was doing all this breakfast cooking out of memory for her father. That was just like him, to bring up all that sentimental stuff. Kat wiped a tear from her eye. He took his time leaving, too. "Don't think you're just walking out of here without doing those dishes," Kat called after him.

He stopped and turned. "You are the meanest girl I know. I'm taking back my offer."

"What offer?"

"To hunt for your Christmas dinner, of course." Dade laughed and walked back onto the porch and into the kitchen. He pulled a strand of hair away from her eyes. "I guess I can delay my hunting trip." He served himself a second plate of breakfast and sat down, laughing and joking with Kat until Mary woke up. After Kat and Dade finished up the dishes, they sat by the tree picking up the gifts and trying to guess what was in each one. Mary laughed at all their antics. Kat spied a small package under the tree for her from Dade but he snatched it back before she could pick it up, saying, "I think I'll save this for later when you are better behaved."

"I made an important decision," she said to Dade.

He slipped his hand into hers, "Something to do with me?"

"Only in a very secondary sense."

"Well, what did you decide?" he asked, showing some disappointment on his face.

"I decided that I wouldn't sell." Ken had left her all the land in his will, just as he said he would, with the condition that Mary would be well taken care of if she were to sell. The house and all his saved income went to Mary.

"You mean you are letting things stay as they are?" Mary asked.

"Not exactly."

Kat handed Mary the envelope with the letter inside. While Dade looked at her questioningly, Kat said to Mary, "Go ahead and open it, Aunt Mary. It's my Christmas present to you."

Mary opened the envelope and pulled out a sheet of the lovely lace cut linen paper. Her aunt's voice trembled as she read, "But Ruth replied, 'Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.'" Mary turned to Kat. "I can hardly speak, I'm so touched by your gift. I love you so much, Kat."

"I love you too, Aunt Mary."

Dade took Kat's hands. "You are a truly wonderful person," he said to her later when they were alone.

Kat smiled. "Thank you."

"I want to see you often. A lot, really. I mean I want to see you everyday if I can. Now that you're living here."

"You mean me and all your other girlfriends?"

Dade smiled, "You know you are as bad as me. It's true I've had a lot of girl friends but I've watched you go through two men already."

"Two?" she asked.

"Yes. Me and Brent Carroll," Dade reminded her.

Kat shook her head. "Maybe you have seen me go through Brent Carroll, but I'm not through with you yet."

Dade laughed. "Not until I've done the dinner dishes, anyway, right?" He pulled her close and kissed her. In it were years of desire denied and one kiss turned to many. When he looked at her again, Kat closed her eyes for more. She would never tire of kissing him.

"I do have a little something for you. Keep your eyes closed, okay?"

Kat smiled, "Okay."

Carefully, Dade led her down to the barn. "Now open them."

In the middle of the barn sat the birch wood bed he had made for the couple with the tree house, complete with the center heart in place with her name and his written on it. "How can this be? You can't break their contract, can you?"

"They canceled the order when they found out about the fire. They couldn't believe me when I said it was untouched."

Kat ran over and sat on the bed laughing. "It is pretty miraculous."

Dade sat beside her. "This bed was always made for us Kat. God proved that to me when He spared you and the bed from the fire."

"So you noticed that too?"

Dade laughed, "Oh, yes. The very thought of it gives me goose bumps." He wrapped his arms tightly around her.

"Thank you, Dade. Maybe one day..." Kat hesitated.

Dade looked knowingly at her and brought out the little wrapped box in his pocket. "My thoughts exactly," he said.

Kat took the gift and opened it. Inside she found a diamond ring, not nearly as big as the one Brent had given her, but genuine in every way. She looked up at Dade, his eyes shining down at her. She said a silent prayer that he would always look at her this way, and then she put the ring on her left hand and whispered, "Yes."

*****
