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No, that was silly Why would anyone steal the key without going inside the house?

Her eyes cut to the curtainedShe hoped no one had gone inside

After one final, frustrated rattle of the knob, she eyed the side of the house and her bedrooh, she turned in that direction

Gabe leaned against a fluted column at the corner of his newly acquired back porch with hiscoffee and spoke into his cell phone “Not everyone’s happy about reopening the mine”

On the other end of the line, his lawyer and best friend, Manny Ortega, replied “People don’t like change”

Gabe understood that His own life had changed often and e hurt so badly it cut you in half He’d been there Tara’s death had taken a lot out of hiet hiave him more time to pray and refuel

“I hired a local, Vincent Clayton, to round up potential labor and smooth ruffled feathers”

“One of the Claytons?”

“Oh, yeah He let ht away Apparently, there’s ood old-fashioned family feud between the factions”

“Hatfields and McCoys? Shootin’ and feudin’?”

“Let’s hope not According to Vincent, the Lucky Lady should have been his father’s, but his uncle, that would be late the George, swindled him out of it”

He cast a watchful eye toward the sandbox installed yesterday afternoon where AJ happily shoveled pale, golden sand onto a bright red fire truck Gabe’s chest filled with overpowering love for his child Caring for AJ had kept him anchored when the world had spun out of control