“Who did he heal?”
“I don’t know. He hasn’t said. He went on a trip with The Last Riders, and when he came back, he looked like death warmed over.”
“Why hasn’t he told you who it was?”
“Greer can be superstitious. He believes that every time he or Rachel use their gift, a price has to be paid.”
“A price? How?”
“Like Greer not having enough strength if he needs to use it again before he’s recovered, and Rachel losing her baby. They can’t use their gifts continuously. Imagine hundreds of people begging to be healed. How would you pick and choose when friends and acquaintances you have known all your life are pleading for you to heal them? Cash keeps Rachel from giving too much of herself. Greer … well, his personality does that for him.”
“Greer doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do,” Jessie agreed.
“No, he doesn’t. Greer must have really liked whoever it was, or he wouldn’t have done it. He has to have his full strength to use his gift. If one of the kids became really hurt or sick, he wouldn’t be able to help.”
“I understand. I would hoard it, too, if I had children. It would be awful if he needed it and couldn’t.”
“That’s why we keep it a secret.”
“I won’t tell anyone, not even my brothers. I swear.”
“If worse came to worst, Greer is old and mean enough to deal with the repercussions if it became public. Even Rachel would be fine with Cash and The Last Riders protecting her. But Logan is the one we worry about the most. His gift could get him or anyone he cares about hurt. If people found out he could predict future events, his life would become not his own.
“The sad fact is, our gifts are limited to what we can and can’t do. Like me dreaming about someone dying but not knowing who it is, and Tate hearing the death bells yet not knowing for whom they are ringing, and Logan seeing pictures, not knowing what they mean.”
“The price that Greer was talking about?”
“Yes, we each have to pay it. No exceptions.”
“That’s why you were so certain Asher stole your pot.”
Jessie felt Dustin nod. “Yes. Logan had drawn a picture of him with the dog.”
“I swear I didn’t know until he told me the day you came visiting. I told him I’d never forgive him for luring Logan away from the house. Asher said he’d never forgive himself either.”
“He wanted to buy Diane a ring so she’d marry him.”
“That doesn’t make me want to forgive him.”
“Me either, but I’m going to.”
She tilted her head back so she could look at his face. “Why would you ever want to forgive him?”
“I’ve done some pretty stupid things for a woman myself. Unless I can cast that first stone at myself, I damn sure can’t throw one at Asher. Diane didn’t only pull the wool over Asher’s eyes, she did Greer’s, too. That’s how Asher knew where to find the pot and how she found the key to a chest he kept in his room that held quilts made by hand. She destroyed them. The only ones that have theirs are Tate and Rachel. Mine and Greer’s were destroyed.”
“I’m sorry. I know how much they must have meant to you. All of you loved your mother.”
“Do you see yours?”
Jessie laid her head back down on his shoulder. “She died a year ago.”
“Damn, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“We didn’t tell anyone. We went to the funeral that day and came back. We were never close to her after she left. I think it brought back too many memories of how miserable she was with Pa, and I can’t blame her. He was a miserable old man.
“She married him as soon as she turned eighteen, and he wouldn’t let her leave the mountain unless he was with her. He wouldn’t even let her get her driver’s license. I think the only reason she lasted as long as she did was because of Holt, Asher, and me. When he quit letting your mother come over to visit, I think it was too lonely for her to bear anymore.”
“Our fathers were jackasses.”
“Yes, they were.”
Snuggling closer to him, she let her lids close as she listened to the soft music that lulled her back to sleep.
He smoothed his hand up her back to settle on the back of her neck, massaging the taut muscles with his thumb. “Jess, I regret that I ended our friendship the way I did. You have a right to hate me. I screwed up so bad with you that I wouldn’t spit on myself if you wanted to shove me in the firepit, but I won’t ever regret Sam. She gave me Logan. She was never able to stand up to her father to tell him that we were seeing each other and wanted to get married. The only time she was able to stand up to him was when she found out she was pregnant with Logan. That was her first and only attempt at trying to get out from under his thumb until he went to prison. By then, she knew we were over because of the life she had been leading. She had changed so much. I didn’t even recognize her when she opened that hotel room door.