“Faith’s in bed and waiting for you to come up.”
Valerie’s voice jerked her from her thoughts, and Hannah looked up to see her standing in the door. “Thanks for getting her ready. Now you go on home, and don’t worry about coming to get Faith ready for school tomorrow. I’ll tell Dusty to take care of the morning chores, and I’ll drop her off myself. But I’d like for you to pick her up from school as usual.”
Valerie looked as if she was about to object but then changed her mind. “If you’re sure you don’t need me to take her to school, it would help me out. I have some errands I could take care of in the morning.”
Hannah pushed up from the table. “I don’t plan on getting out or doing much tomorrow, so I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”
Valerie smiled and turned toward the front door. Hannah followed her and watched until she had pulled away from the house. Then she locked the front door and climbed the stairs to Faith’s room.
She was already in bed, propped up on two pillows, and held the book they’d been reading. “Mommy, read me some more.”
Hannah smiled and snuggled up in the bed with her daughter. They’d read only a few pages when Faith yawned, and Hannah set the book down. “You’re getting sleepy,” she said. “Why don’t you say your prayers, and I’ll tuck you in.”
Faith nodded, laced her fingers together and held them under her chin. Then she closed her eyes and bowed her head. “God bless Mommy, and Valerie, and Dusty, and Ben, and Miss Morris. And God bless Janie Culver and help her to be my friend again. Amen.”
Hannah reached for the covers to tuck Faith in, but she suddenly closed her eyes again and prayed the ending that she’d been adding for the past few weeks. “And please make Mommy let me get a new puppy.”
With a grin on her face, she opened her eyes and burrowed down into the covers. Hannah laughed as she leaned over and kissed her daughter good-night. “Sweet dreams, baby girl. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Mommy.”
Hannah walked to the door and turned out the light. The Winnie the Pooh night-light that they always left on cast a glow across the bed. Hannah smiled once more before she slipped from the room and headed back downstairs.
Once in the kitchen, she poured herself a cup of coffee and sat at the table drinking it as she thought of how thankful she was for her child. When the cup was drained, she set it in the sink and walked to the back door.
She locked it and then flipped off the overhead lights. Only the hall light filtered into the kitchen as she stared out the door toward the barn. She was about to turn away when movement in the shadows caught her eye.
She stood still as if she were frozen and watched as a figure emerged from beside the barn and eased toward the house. In the dark she couldn’t make out any features, but from what she could see of the height and build, it had to be a man.
He crept closer until he was about halfway between the barn and the house. He stopped and stood still as he faced toward her. She knew he couldn’t see her standing in the darkened kitchen, but she couldn’t stop the chills that ran down her spine.
After a few minutes, he turned back toward the barn and melted into the shadows. She stayed there watching for the next ten minutes, but he never reappeared. Could that have been the man who kidnapped her earlier? If so, what did he gain by spying on her house?
She bit down on her lip and tried to calm her shaking body. Maybe it really was time to get a dog, one that could alert them when someone came around—and a security system, too. She’d check on that first thing tomorrow.
For now, though, she had to get through this night, and something told her sleeping was going to be difficult. She slipped from the room and into the den where her grandfather had built a wall safe. Her shaking fingers misdialed the combination twice before the door finally opened.
She reached inside and pulled out her grandfather’s handgun and the clips of ammunition he’d always kept there. Then she closed the safe, and clutching the gun to her chest, she sank down on the couch.
Reason told her that the man who’d been spying on her house would have broken in then if he’d meant to, but she couldn’t take a chance that he might return to try to harm her or her daughter. She had a gun. It was loaded, and she was ready if trouble came.
It was going to be a long night.
* * *
At six o’clock the next morning, Ben pulled into the driveway at Little Pigeon Ranch, the dude ranch owned and operated by his best friend, Dean Harwell. He headed for the barn, knowing Dean had probably been up for an hour and was getting ready for another busy day. When Ben pulled to a stop, he saw his friend leading a horse out of the barn.
Dean threw up his hand in welcome when he caught sight of Ben’s truck coming down the driveway. Grinning, he stopped and waited while Ben climbed out of the vehicle. “You’re out kind of early, aren’t you? I thought you told me yesterday you were going to take a few hours off today and do some trout fishing. Did you change your mind?”
“I had everything arranged for Luke to fill in for me today, but we had some excitement yesterday afternoon.”
Dean pulled on the lead attached to the horse’s halter and started toward the corral. “Let me put this horse up, and you can tell me all about it.”
“That’s why I came by,” Ben called out as Dean walked away.
As Ben waited for Dean to return, a slight smile pulled at his lips. He knew this ranch almost as well as he knew his own. He’d become friends with Dean soon after Dean had come to live with his grandparents when they were both still kids. They’d been inseparable through school as they explored the trails in the mountains they both loved. By the time they graduated from high school, they’d become valuable members of the search and rescue teams that helped find missing persons in the vast wilderness of the Smokies. Then they’d drifted apart when they had gone to separate colleges.
He had moved back home while still in his midtwenties, and Dean had arrived back at his grandparents’ home a few years later. They’d both returned to the mountains they loved, and each had brought his own baggage with him. Maybe that’s why it was so easy for them to resume their friendship after not seeing each other for years. They needed the support of each other as they battled the addictions and overcame the grief that had driven their lives for too many years.
They’d hung in there, though, and had been there for each other during the darkest time of their lives. Their struggles had paid off. Now Little Pigeon Ranch was not just a prosperous business, but a happy home for Dean, his wife, Gwen, and their daughter, Maggie.
Ben still couldn’t believe at times that he was the sheriff in the community where he’d grown up. But most of all he often thought of how he and Dean had struggled to get where they were today. He knew their achievements wouldn’t have been possible if they hadn’t shared a deep faith in God that guided them to the lives they had today.
“Now tell me what happened yesterday.”
Ben jerked around and frowned as Dean stepped up beside him. “Sorry about that,” he said. “I was lost in thought and didn’t hear you.”
Dean chuckled. “You must have really had a bad day yesterday. What happened?”
Ben pulled the hat from his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “The day had been fairly routine until I got the message that Hannah had been abducted from Bart’s Stop and Shop.”
Dean’s eyes rounded like saucers. “Hannah Riley? Your Hannah Riley?”
Ben frowned and pushed his hat back down on his head. “Yes, Hannah Riley, but she’s not my Hannah Riley,” he growled.
Dean tried to smother the grin that pulled at his lips, but he wasn’t successful. Ben straightened his shoulders and glared at him. Why did