Standing His Ground: Greer (Porter Brothers Trilogy 2)

Straightening her spine, she was replaying Sutton’s talk earlier that day about the Porters’ gifts.

“We can cancel the wedding,” Holly said absentmindedly, still replaying the earlier conversation.

“We’re not canceling the wedding. How do we know if changing the wedding is how the opportunity to kill someone is accomplished?”

“Why would Dustin be given dreams, Tate the ability to hear Death’s bells, and you and Rachel healing if who is giving you your gifts doesn’t want you to be able do anything about it?” she asked more to herself.

“Because there is always a price to be paid.” Tate’s bleak eyes met Greer’s.

“What kind of price?”

“Like when Greer saved Pa’s life from the still explosion. If he had died that night, our mother might still be alive. Then there’s Dustin’s dream of dying from a heart attack. We knew it was our grandmother and warned her. We begged her to go to the doctor, but she wouldn’t. She said she didn’t want us to pay the price for warning her.”

“Your grandmother had gifts, too?” Holly asked, sitting on the edge of her seat.

“Yes, it’s handed down from generation to generation.”

Her hand tightened on the table. “What was your mother’s gift?”

“She could hear the death bells like Tate.”

“Your grandmother’s?”

“She had the same gift as me,” Rachel spoke, and Cash moved his chair protectively closer to hers.

“Did your grandmother ever mention the gifts of her parents?”

“She was a full-blooded Cherokee. Granny said that our father wouldn’t let her talk about her family. He said it was hogwash.”

“Surely, someone in your family would know.”

Everyone at the table shook their heads.

“Does Drake have a gift? He’s a Porter.”

“Drake’s ma is our pa’s sister. Our gifts come from our ma’s side of the family.

“So, none of you have searched your ancestry?” She stared earnestly around the table. “If you don’t know what all your ancestors’ gifts were, other gifts could have been missed. How old were you all when you started seeing signs of your gifts?”

“I was four,” Greer answered immediately.

“I was six,” Tate answered next.

“I was around six.” Rachel looked at Dustin, waiting for his answer.

“Ma said I was three when I started having nightmares. What does it matter how old we were …?”

The whole table looked toward the living room, their mouths hanging open, looking to where Logan was watching the movie on the television.

“I don’t think that you were given gifts without the ability to stop them. I just don’t think you were looking in the right direction for your answer.”

28

“We would have known,” Dustin said hoarsely.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Yes.” Sutton took the picture from him.

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

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