by Jamie Begley
“You’re exaggerating.”
“Ask her.”
“I will. She’s coming over tonight. Cash is having a boys’ night with Chance and Noah. Sutton’s coming over, too. We’re giving each other manicures.”
“Logan’s already mad at me for not letting him go. Having to spend the night with a group of women painting their nails will have him hating me.”
“Blame me. Tell him I begged you not to let him go.”
“I couldn’t do that to you.” He grinned at his sister-in-law evilly. “Let’s blame Greer.”
“Whatcha doing, Uncle Dustin?”
Dustin looked away from the television to his niece. He had left the women sitting at the table after dinner, volunteering to do the dishes. He was now sprawled on the couch comfortably when Ema came over to him, leaving Logan, who’d been playing with her.
“Watching TV. You don’t want to play with Logan?”
“He won’t share his crayons.”
“She always breaks them. I told her she could play with the ones in the box.” Logan pushed the plastic box toward the end of the coffee table where he was sitting and drawing on a sketchpad that Holly bought him.
“Don’t want those. Those aren’t pretty.”
“Logan, give her a couple of yours from your box. I’ll buy you some more.” Dustin rubbed his forehead, feeling the beginning of a headache.
“I don’t want to color.” Ema climbed onto the couch to sit on his waist. “I love you, Uncle Dustin.” Seriously, she reached out to pat his cheek.
“I love you, too.”
Nodding, she stuck her thumb into her mouth, then placed her head on his shoulder. Dustin stroked her back as she nuzzled against him.
“You’re getting too big to suck your thumb.”
Thick lashes lifted to reveal somber eyes, but she didn’t remove her thumb from her mouth.
“Thank God your dad belongs to The Last Riders. It’s going to take all of them and me, Tate, and Greer to keep the boys away from you.”
Dustin heard Rachel’s laughter from the table. “They better be worried about me. I’m the best shot in Treepoint.”
Dustin saw Logan look toward him.
“Don’t let her fool you. I am.” Dustin made a face at him as if Rachel were crazy.
“You wish.” Greer snorted from the armchair. “None of you can hold a candle to me.”
“Don’t believe them, Ema. Uncle Tate is the best,” Tate said, coming in from the kitchen and eating a quart of ice cream from the carton. Tate took a seat on the other recliner. “I thought you were asleep, Greer.”
“I was until I heard Rach flapping her lips,” he grumbled, pushing his feet down until the recliner straightened. “She couldn’t outshoot me if I were drunk on Pa’s best moonshine. You still eating, Tate? You’re going to get bigger than Knox if you keep eating ice cream by the carton.”
“I can’t help it.” Tate shrugged, burrowing his spoon back into the ice cream.
“You sure you’re not the one who’s pregnant? Sutton hasn’t put on five pounds, and you look like you’ve gained ten.”
“She’s gained eight. I’ve gained seven.”
“You need a new scale. You’ve gained ten, or I’ll kiss your …” Greer shot a look toward the table where Holly was sitting. “Butt,” he said, getting up. “I need to go check on the fields.” Dustin watched Greer get slowly to his feet.
“I’ll do it before going to bed. You’re looking tired, old man.”
“I could still whip you and Tate with my hands tied behind my back.” Stretching, Greer walked to the couch. “Want to go with me to give Rosie her bath?” he asked, reaching for his niece.
Ema shrugged away from Greer’s touch. “No, I want Uncle Dustin. I love him.”
Greer cocked his head downward at him. “Since when did you become her favorite uncle?”
Dustin smiled up at him in amusement. “I have no idea.”
“It must be all the stories I’ve been telling her about when we were growing up.”
Dustin heard Rachel move closer to the couch. Then she leaned over the back, meeting his eyes as he continued to rub Ema’s back.
“I think she knows.” Rachel brushed a gentle hand over her daughter’s tangled, curly hair.
“Knows what?”
When his sister looked at him, he knew without her saying a word.
“You’re pregnant?”
Rachel nodded happily. “We found out this morning.”
“Congratulations!” Sutton and Holly squealed, jumping up from the table.
“Congratulations, sis.” Dustin didn’t get up, not wanting to disturb Ema and letting Greer and Tate take their turns. “You’re going to be a big sister, Ema.”
“Nope, I’m the baby.”
“You don’t want a little brother or sister?”
“Is it going to cry like Rosie?”
“Yes.”
“No. Mama, take it back.”
“I can’t do that, baby girl. Don’t you want to have a brother or sister to play with like I did with Dustin?”
“No. I don’t want it.” Ema nuzzled into his side harder.
“It’s eight months away. By the time she or he gets here, you’ll be as excited as your Dad and I are.”
“No, I won’t.”
“You’re due two months after me?” Sutton cut into the battle of wills between mother and daughter.
“Yes. I didn’t even know. I went to the doctor because he called to remind me that it was time for my yearly exam. When he told me I was pregnant, I made him rerun the test because I couldn’t believe it.”
“How are you feeling? Any morning sickness?” Greer asked, moving his hand toward Rachel’s belly.
She took a step away from him. “I feel like a million dollars. I’ve always been quicker to recuperate than you—” Rachel cut off what she was about to say at Greer’s quelling look.
Accusingly, Holly stared at him. “You did something when you were gone with The Last Riders three months ago, didn’t you?”
“Woman—”
“Don’t woman me!” Holly stabbed a pointed finger into his chest. “Who did you heal?”
Greer stared at Rachel accusingly for upsetting Holly.
“Don’t blame Rachel. Why didn’t you tell me?”
Dustin winced when Holly poked Greer again.
“Because I don’t need you nagging me.” Greer grabbed the back of the couch to steady himself.
For a second, Dustin thought Holly was going to deck his brother. Instead, she threw her arms around him.
“I love you, you crazy man. You know that, right?”
“If I didn’t know it before, I do now. You going to hug me to death, or are you going to let me give Rosie her bath?”
Dustin could hear Holly’s frustrated sigh as she released him.
Greer took his chance at freedom, scooping Rosie out of her playpen to hold her against his chest.
“Aren’t you at least going to tell us what you and Rachel did?”
“Shush, woman …,” Greer hissed. “I don’t know.”
“What does that mean?” Rising, Dustin supported Ema so that she wouldn’t fall to the side as he asked his brother the question.
“It means I don’t want to know.” Greer’s voice dropped to a volume that had everyone in the room straining to hear. “There’s always a price to pay, and so far, I haven’t paid jackshit, so it must not have worked. I told Zoey I didn’t think it would.”
“Who’s Zoey?” Dustin’s headache was beginning to get worse from Greer’s nonexplanation. It would be easier to go to bed and get a few hours’ sleep before his nightmare struck, making it impossible to sleep for the rest of the night. He could wait until Holly was at the grocery store to get clear answers from Greer.
“A friend of Penni’s. I tried to talk you into going with me. You lost out, baby brother.”
“Won’t be the first time I lost out, and I’m sure it won’t be the
last,” Dustin said wryly.
Standing, he laid Ema gently down on the couch, spreading a throw blanket over her. He tenderly gazed down on the sleeping child as she lifted her eyes and reached out to clutch his jeans.
“I love you, Uncle Dustin.”
“I love you, baby girl.”
His throat became clogged at how much he cared for his family. Dustin knew why the spirits claimed their prices. The town might consider them trash, but like diamonds in the rough, they had to be searched for, cleaned, and shined to show the true brilliance they were capable of. Diamonds didn’t come cheap. The greater the clarity, the more expensive, until only those willing to pay the price could hold one in the palm of their hand.
Greer paid that price each time he healed someone. Rachel, too. It was because of them that Logan and Holly were alive.
Dustin bent down to tousle Logan’s hair. “Ten more minutes, then it’s bedtime.”
“Yes, Dad.”
From the first time Logan had called him Dad, there had never been a moment when he hadn’t felt it in his heart. Greer and Rachel could perform miracles with their healing; he created his.
“You’ll be gone before I get back,” he said, seeing Rachel gathering her and Ema’s things. “Congratulations again, sister.”
Stopping next to Greer, who was about to go into the bathroom with Rosie, Dustin reached out and touched the strand of white hair that stood out from the rest of the copper locks. “You’ve never used your gift unless it benefited someone in need. There isn’t a man or woman alive who could sucker you into doing what you don’t want to do. Whatever you did must have been for a good reason, so quit beating yourself up about it.”
Greer’s eyes flickered. “What little education you got has gone to your head.”
“I didn’t have to go to night school to figure that out. I did that by myself.”
“Yeah, well … what did you figure out?” He snorted sarcastically, jiggling Rosie on his hip when she grew impatient.
Dustin dropped his hand back to his side and moved past Greer to the door. His brother would rather die by a horde of angry elephants before admitting he was softhearted.
“That I might be the better shot, but you’re the better man.”
He left his family staring at him in shock. Their idea of showing affection was beating the hell out of each other, or one-upping each other with sarcastic gibes. He just couldn’t do it after seeing Greer’s trepidation at the consequences of what he had done while he was gone.
Walking toward the woods behind the barn, he blended into the waiting darkness. Ignoring the brambles that snagged onto his jeans, he made his way to the heavily booby-trapped part of their land that they grew their weed.
Coming to a large cluster of bushes, Dustin wiggled under the part that Greer had hacked out so they could get through it without getting their skin torn to shreds. He then disengaged Greer’s boobytrap before picking up the mini-LED flashlight that hung on a rope from the bush. He adjusted the setting to low so that others snooping around the area wouldn’t see where he was until they were almost on him.
Going past rows of plants, he made sure none had been disturbed and were still growing. At the last row, he hunkered down, touching the leaves and rubbing it between his fingers.
“They almost ready?”
Dustin rose to his feet, shining the flashlight toward Tate. “If the weather stays good, I’d say another week, two at the most. I thought you and Sutton would have left by now.” Dustin lowered the flashlight, walking around the plants to make sure none of the traps had been sprung or tampered with.
“Figured you wanted to talk when you left your shotgun behind.”
“I’ve had a few bad dreams lately.”
“I haven’t heard the death bells. How bad are the dreams?”
“Bad enough that whoever is going to die, it’s gonna be soon.”
“Fuck. Why you just telling me now?”
“I was waiting for you to tell me that you heard the death bells, but the dreams are coming more often and stronger. It’s going to be tonight or tomorrow. The last one was so fucking real I nearly checked my underwear when I woke up. I was afraid I shit myself.”
“Damn,” Tate swore. “Have you told Greer?”
“No. He wouldn’t be able to help, and I don’t want him blaming himself for being so weak right now. Whoever’s going to die isn’t going to be able to be helped by anyone.”
“What has you so protective of Greer lately? And hell, you didn’t even tell me about your dreams. You’ve been acting weird as fuck. What’s up?”
Dustin turned the light off, moving to stand next to him at the opening of the bushes. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just growing up. It’s about time, isn’t it?”
“You don’t want to tell me who you’re fucking or how work is going, you don’t have to share. But if something is bothering you like those crazy-ass dreams, I want to know.”
Dustin stared out into the darkness, a spark of unease rippling down his spine that death was just waiting out of sight.
“I didn’t want to burden you with my dreams if you hadn’t heard the death bells. You only hear them when you’ve been around who’s going to die, so we should be good, right?”
“I hope you’re right, brother. I was around every member of our family yesterday and today. I even worked with Rachel at The Last Riders’ factory, helping her set up a growing station for some new plants found. They had a cookout for lunch, so I talked to most of them. Even Knox and Diamond came by with Brink. I can’t think of anyone else we should worry about, can you? It’s not like we can do anything about it anyway. You’ve never had a dream that hasn’t come true, have you?”
Dustin could think of a couple of dreams that hadn’t come true, but none that he would discuss with Tate.
“No, my nightmares always come true.” He agreed on that point with his brother. “I guess we’ll find out who it is when it happens. You ready?”
“Yeah.”
Dustin let Tate scoot out under the bush before taking his turn. They were back at the house when he heard Tate swear next to him.
“What’s wrong?”
“Damn, I just thought of someone I haven’t been around lately.”
“Who?”
“Mag. I’ll call Cash and tell him to keep watch over her.”
“Save the phone call. It’s not Mag.” Dustin didn’t know who it was, but the one person in the world it wouldn’t be was Mag.
“You can’t be sure.”
“I’m sure. The person in my nightmare had the hell beaten out of them.”
“Oh, never mind. We’re good then.”
Dustin couldn’t hold back the dark humor at a thought that had come to his mind. Tate must have had the same thought because Dustin could hear him snickering. Anyone who was stupid enough to lay a hand on that mean old bitch would get her revolver shoved up their ass. She had been taken hostage before Rosie was born. Ever since, she kept a revolver hidden in her housecoat.
“Maybe you should call Cash. He invited Noah and Chance over to stay the night at his cabin. Those two boys are always in trouble. If they give that woman any trouble, and if Cash tries to protect them, she’ll break every bone in his body.”
Dustin had to wipe tears of laughter away when Tate made no move for his phone.
“You’re not going to call?” he managed to get out when he could stop laughing long enough.
“No. She can have him.”
Logan was already in bed, and Rachel and Ema had left before they got back to the house. Dustin stood on the front porch, watching Tate’s truck taillights disappear. Sitting down on the porch steps, he then took out his cell phone and swiped Cash’s number. It took several rings for him to answer.
“Hello?”
“Cash, how’s Mag doing?”
“That’s what Tate was just asking me when he called. She’s fine. He already warned me about your nightmare. She won’t be left alone.�
� Cash’s grave reassurance showed how seriously he took the warning that Tate must have given him.
“Rachel told us you’re going to be a father again. Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
“If it’s another girl, you know you’re fucked, right? You’re going to be busy enough keeping the boys away from Ema.”
“Don’t I know it? She wraps everyone around her little finger. She takes after her mother.”
“Yes, she does,” Dustin agreed. Ema had gotten most of her looks from Cash, but her personality was pure Rachel, with a little bit of Greer’s stubbornness. “Take care, Cash.”
“You, too, Dustin. Good night.”
Dustin disconnected the call, hovering the pad of his finger over a name on his contact list that he hadn’t called since Logan had gone to school. The only reason he hadn’t deleted it was because now Rosie went to the daycare.
Not pressing the Call button, he watched the light on his phone dim as he debated making the call. His head started to swim in tiredness, letting fatigue be the culprit for why he didn’t call Jessie to warn her.
Dustin stood, gripping the post of the porch to steady himself. The last three nights, he had gotten little sleep. It took him to the point of exhaustion to even fall asleep, just to have the nightmare wake him and keep him awake for the rest of the night.
He was really dreading going to bed tonight. The intensity of the dream the night before had been unbearable. The savage beating he had taken had been imaginary, yet the aching soreness in his body was real.
Dustin closed his eyes tightly, then opened them before righting himself to go inside. Locking the door, he knew avoiding sleep was no use. The grim shadow that plagued his nightmares would find his way inside. He always did.
4
Jessie yawned as she opened the dryer door to thrust her wet clothes inside. Humming, she closed the door before going to the washing machine and transferring another load to another dryer.
She was putting the coins in the machine when the laundry room door opened and a woman came inside. Jessie had seen her around the small apartment building, usually coming and going the same time of the day as her.
