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Shane would have liked to have met his father, just once He would have liked to stand toe to toe with Bill Sheenan and look him in the eye It would have been easy to do They were the saht Six-foot-one

Shane had seen pictures of hi man, and Shane definitely had the Sheenan cheekbones, jaw, and mouth—one of the reasons he wore a beard—but he had hisAll his brothers but Cor He wished there were photos of her as a young girl He would have liked to see what she looked like as a child He’d been surprised when hethat there were no photos of her in the house He’d wondered if they were all in the master bedroom, locked away The master bedroom was the only room that had a lock Shane was free to roam the house, but the master bedroom was strictly off limits

Shane hadn’t cared initially Now, knowing he had just a month left here, he wondered what secrets there were behind the locked door

Shane stroked the page with his e before flipping it over to a page with a list of events and dates Important events that needed to be recorded—her confire to William Sheenan on September 1974, and then the birth of each baby

1975 Brock

1979 Troy & Trey

1981 Cormac

1982

1985 Dillon

He froze There it was It hat he’d been looking for all these years—not for the Douglas story, but his 1982, his birth year And no, his name hadn’t been recorded, but the year he’d been born had been recorded with all the others

He stared at the blank space next to the date, finding it significant, wondering if anyone else in the family had ever bothered to look at her Bible, and noticed the e to his brothers Perhaps they thought it referenced a e or still birth

But it nized the birth, and she’d included it in her Bible, in the record of her life, in the history of her family

In a very small way he mattered In a very small way he’d existed…even if only for her

Chapter Seven

Jet usually attended the nine am church service with Harley and the kids at St Ja there was a text froht with a sto anyone so they were staying home Which meant Jet was free

Jet could have skipped church, but she didn’t She went to the hour-long service and then afterwards walked to Main Street where she joined the line at Java Café for a croissant stuffed with scra slowness Finally she placed her order for the eggs and croissant and a latte with an extra shot, and then searched for a place to sit

A couple at a table for four said she could join them and then returned to their conversation Jet didn’t want to listen in so she pulled out her phone and pretended to be checking enore the conversation when she realized they were discussing the Douglas family and the murders on the ranch

“Only three of the six Douglas kids survived, all the older ones,” the wo someone to a party, so that’s why those two survived, but the rest were shot”

“They all died?” the man asked

“Everyone but Quinn You know Quinn Douglas He’s that outfielder that was just signed by Seattle”

“His family was killed?”

“And he was shot like four or five times He was supposed to die The fact that he didn’t was a miracle”

“But everyone else died?”

“Yes”

“Why was he left alive?”

“I don’t know…ht he was dead?”

Jet couldn’twhile the rest of her was icy cold She didn’t want to sit here and listen to the a fierce protectiveness towards McKenna, understanding for the first tiers discuss a family she knew as if they were the Kardashians

This hy the Sheenans were angry about the book This hy they didn’t want the book to happen, and yet, listening to the details, she found herself drawn into the conversation, and she kneasn’t because of McKenna but Shane “Excusethe couple’s discussion “I’ve just recently moved to the area Do you live here?”

“I used to,” the girl answered, tearing a chunk frorad school in Missoula but Michael and I thought it’d be fun to head this way for a weekend ski trip and a visit to Marietta”

“Did you live here at the tiedy?” Jet asked