from, and I wasn't about to explain to this innocent girl how a father could intentionally take the lives of his own family.
I swallowed and blew out a breath. "Her and her mother died in a house fire."
She gasped looking up at me.
"I'm so sorry," She whispered through a fresh wave of silent tears. "What happened to her father?"
Even though she was the one dealing with an impending loss, her strength and compassion was overwhelming. I look at her not knowing how to answer. How could I tell her anything close to the truth? Every muscle in my body tightened trying to bank down on the rage that was trying to break through the surface.
"He wasn't there to save them." I answered flatly.
She shifted her head over to a dry spot on my white t-shirt. "Oh," she breathed. "That's awful. What happened to him?"
I shrugged. "We lost contact with him. But I'm looking forward to the day we meet again."
She wrapped her arm around my chest and buried her face in it. "I'm sorry, Logan. I shouldn't've made ya talk about it." she apologized, sensing my tension.
"Shhh," I comforted. "It's not your fault."
We both sat in silence as I gently caressed her back.
I wasn't sure how much time had passed when her breathing went from ragged, to a gentle rise and fall of her chest.
"Kaitlin?" I whispered. When she didn't stir, I knew she'd finally cried herself to sleep.
If I had any intentions of helping Scout, now was the time. I gently laid her on the bale of hay. I knew I only had an hour to get to the container. Still confused by my own actions, I ran through the woods to our emergency supplies. I prayed Robert and Uncle Henry wouldn't notice anything missing.
"It's for emergencies only, boys!" Uncle Henry's statement played over-and-over as I rummaged through the stash. "Understand?"
The medicine was right where we'd put it. I grabbed what I needed and raced back through the thick tree line. No one would notice what was missing, right? I mean, two little bottles were nothing when compared with a whole cabinet full…
I tried to push away the thought of what repercussions may follow if they did, but instead they remained lingering in the back of my mind.
Kaitlin was still sleeping peacefully on the hay where I'd left her. I walked over to Scout, bent down and placed my hand on his fragile body.
"One dose. That's all I can give you, boy," I rubbed my hand on his neck. "The rest is up to you…"
I stood staring down at Kaitlin knowing I should walk right back out the door and sprint back to Uncle Henry's farm; instead, I found myself lying back down next to her and pulling her up so her head rested on my chest I closed my eyes and marveled in the feeling of having her in my arms.
The roosters began their piercing morning squawk, pulling me out of sleep. I opened my eyes to the sun just beginning to stream through the slats in the wood, and hay poking my entire body. Groaning, I sat up and rubbed my hands over my face. I can't believe I spent the night in a barn! I've lost my mind… and miss my bed.
Every joint in my body was stiff. I stood up and pulled the stray pieces of hay out of my hair.
"Good mornin!" Kaitlin smiled, running toward me. She wrapped her arms around my neck. "He's better, Logan! He ate – Scout's better! I've got to go tell Daddy!" She pressed her warm lips against my cheek then stepped back studying me. "Thank you for staying with me last night. You're not such a bad guy after all"
Before I could react to her words and the kiss she planted on my cheek, she spun and bolted out the door.
"I'll see you in a little bit." She said over her shoulder.
I stood there as she darted across the green pasture, with her wrinkled dress bouncing around her and hay sticking out of her braid. I knew my desire to have her had grown from an ember, to an all-consuming fire from just one innocent night. I plopped back down on the hay and buried my face in my hands.
What the heck is wrong with me? I groaned. I have to stay away from her…
Kindling
Kaitlin
After I finished hanging the last of the laundry on the clothes line, I couldn't bring myself to walk back through the screen door that sat just off the kitchen. I could hear Momma and my sisters gabbing about the boys my sisters hoped to court when they turned sixteen, all while they worked on new recipes for the holidays. I just needed a few more minutes away from them to get my emotions reined in and a smile back on my face, so I decided to take a walk.
The sun was shining bright with a few clouds drifting in, casting shadows across the open field, yet the heat was still enough to make the sweat bead heavily at the nap of my neck. I pulled my hair up and twisted it into a ponytail.
I decided to walk down by the creek and soothe my feet in the cool water. Making my way across the pasture toward the embankment, I jumped up onto a smooth boulder that was hidden under a canopy of trees that lined the back of our property.
I could still see Logan, Robert and my father working from my spot. I watched them as they finished painting the first white wall of the newly constructed barn.
Logan stood up from his crouched position and glanced down the dirt path I'd just taken.
My heart soared at the thought of him looking for me and, one thing I was quite certain of, was that Logan wanted to kiss me the night he'd stayed with me in the barn… I could see it in the way his eyes kept drifting to my lips. As nervous as I was to be kissed for the first time, I wanted it to be him. But he'd resisted.
I couldn't help but wonder if the rumors about me and my family had been the reason he hadn't kissed me and now seemed to be keeping his distance.
I squeezed my eyes shut trying to stop the tears that were threating to spring free. My life was a lie in more ways than one, but I was forbidden to tell the truth – a truth that I believed would set my family and me free. But knowing the sacrifice my parents had made for me, to keep me safe, the least I could do was put my growing feelings for Logan aside and accept that if he couldn't give me a chance, without knowing the truth, then he wasn't worth my time.
I sighed and drew my knees up, resting my forehead against them. There was something so different about Logan and Robert. The two men helping my dad paint the barn weren't farm boys… that I was almost certain of.
They looked the part, in their trousers and white shirts they seemed to wear every day, but there was something very different from the other boys. Mr. Henry told my father that Robert and Logan worked on their parent's farm down south, but the palms of their hands were as smooth as my sisters, who wouldn't know a hammer from a nail and their finger nails weren't caked with dirt. Their accents weren't southern, nor did they sound like the northerners that often passed through our one horse town. I pushed the thoughts away, refusing to give them anymore of my time.
Restlessness finally got the best of me. I raised my hands in the air, twisted off the stiffness from sitting in the same position for several hours and slid down the boulder. Clouds began to roll in from the west, dark and angry, sending gusts of wind whistling through the forest of pines and turning the freshly planted crop fields into dust bowls.
I started down the narrow path that followed the creek bed hoping the rain clouds would just blow over. Leaves rustled under the increasing wind and the smell of approaching rain filled the air. I just couldn't go back up to the house yet. I would be trapped there while Momma tried desperately to steer the chatter toward Billy's marriage proposal, what a fine husband and father he would make, and how she would've had a house full of children, if she'd had her way.
The sound of a limb snapping brought me out of my thoughts. I looked up and jumped out of the way just before it slammed to the ground splintering around me. Stunned at how fast the weather had changed, I raced toward the cavern for shelter.
Just as I got into the mouth of the cavern, the sky opened and pea sized hail poured out and bounced as it pelted the ground.
Lightening flashed casting shadows around the cavern.
I'd onl
y been inside once before with Billy. He wanted to explore, so he'd brought a lantern from home. It didn't do much more than light up the spot in front of us, but Billy wanted to go deeper, so we did. The cavern twisted and narrowed and broke off in several different directions; he wanted to explore every inch of them.
The tunnel led to a wide-open space where pointed rocks hung from the ceiling like ice sickles and tunnels lined the walls. The ground shifted and Billy lost his footing and slid face first splashing into water black as night. He screamed, flung himself out of the water and took off through the cavern at full speed, with me screaming right behind him. At the mouth of the cavern he bent over to catch his breath
A puddle gathered at his feet and his face was sheet white.
"What happened in there, Billy?"
"I swear somethin' pulled me into the water and - and I felt like I was bein' sucked under," he grabbed my hand and yanked me out of the cave. "Kaitlin promise me you won't come back here, ever."
I stared into his wide brown eyes. "I promise."
I'd kept my promise to Billy, until now. I had no intentions of going any further into the depths of the cave.
I leaned up against the cavern wall, closed my eyes and listened to the rain pound against the earth. My daddy had different reasons for not wanting me near the caverns – "moon shiners" – but Billy believed there was something in the water; the crazy thing was he still believed that to this day...
"What are you doing out in this storm, Kaitlin?"
My eyes snapped open at the sound of his voice. Logan was standing in the opening, just under the safety of the rocky entrance. His hair and clothes were soaked, causing his white shirt to cling to every inch of his muscular frame. All I could think about was the night we'd spent in the barn with Scout. He'd held me and comforted me; he was so different from the man I'd first met. We'd shared something together that night, or at least I thought we had… but he had made no move to show any other interest in me.
"I could ask you the same thing!" I shot back with the same annoyance his tone held.
He held his hands up palm out. "Whoa. Sorry, I didn't mean to make you mad.
I just shook my head at his words.
He ran his hand through his wet hair. "I'd really like it if we could start over and get to know each other," he shrugged. "Maybe even be friends. I'm not that bad of a guy you know. I think I even remember you saying that the night we spent together."
I'd woken up that morning with his arms around me and my head cradled on his chest.
"Maybe. But first impressions tend ta' be right."
Seeming to ignore my words, he walked over and sat down next to me. "Won't your family be worried about you out in this storm?"
"They know I'm smart enough to find shelter in a storm Logan." He snapped his head up and met my furious eyes. He drew his brows down and narrowed his emerald eyes at me.
"That's not what I meant, Kaitlin."
"I know exactly what you meant! You see me as a country bumpkin, or worse… But I'm not! Do ya hear me? I'm not… and the rumors about me and my family aren't true!"
He shook his head, then turned his attention toward the far wall of the cavern. "Believe me, that's not what I think when I look at you," he glanced back at me. "And I don't care about the rumors."
I studied him for a second, trying to understand the meaning behind his words. "Okay then, what do you see when ya look at me?"
"Trouble –" he mumbled.
"What did you say?" I asked with confusion written all over my face.
He slowly turned back to face me and exhaled. "I see a girl who has strength, endurance and an unyielding spirit.
A girl who knows her own mind and isn't afraid to speak it. Someone who loves her family with a whole heart and isn't afraid to get her hands dirty… and a beauty that takes my breath away."
I raised my