“Hello?” Polly said.
“Polly, it’s me, Leigh.”
Polly laughed. “Honey, I know your sweet voice.”
“I have something to tell you, and I don’t know how,” Leigh said, and then started to cry, soft, near-silent sobs.
Polly’s heart skipped a beat, and then she started to panic. Leigh was not the crying kind.
“Honey, just spit it out. What’s wrong?”
“Stanton’s dead.”
Polly gasped and then moaned.
“No, no, no. He was just here. What happened? Was it his heart?”
Leigh took a breath and then choked on her sobs.
“No, he was murdered. Shot in the back on his way home.” As she told Polly the rest, Polly went into hysterics.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Leigh said. “If I could, I would die for him. I don’t know why it happened.”
Polly was sobbing. Leigh had started to hang up when Polly’s husband, Carl, took the phone.
“Leigh! What the hell happened? Polly’s done lost her mind.”
Leigh told it all over again, and Carl groaned.
“Sweet Lord, I am so sorry, honey. I’m so sorry. What can we do for you?”
“Nothing. I just had to tell you myself. Now I’ve got to call Thomas.”
“Do you want me to do it for you?”
Leigh wiped her eyes and then her nose on the back of her sleeve.
“Yes, I want you to, but I have to be the one to do it. I think Stanton’s family deserves to hear this from me.”
“All right, then, but we’ll be coming over to your house soon.”
He disconnected, which left Leigh with one more call to make. She punched in the numbers, dreading this call the most, because Thomas sounded so much like Stanton when he spoke.
Thomas Youngblood answered on the third ring.
“Hello, Samuel. How’s it going?” he said.
Leigh sighed. She’d forgotten she was using Samuel’s phone.
“Thomas, it’s me, Leigh. I’m just using Samuel’s phone.”
Thomas laughed.
“Well, you’re a lot prettier than my nephew, so that’s fine with me. What’s going on?”
“Is Beth there with you?”
“Yes, do you need to talk to her?”
“No, I called for you. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t alone.”
She heard him take a quick breath, and when he spoke again, his voice was deeper, even a bit nervous.
“What’s wrong, girl?”
She started all over again, saying the awful words: Stanton is dead. She ended by explaining what had happened, and that she bore the blame because it was someone from her family who’d done it.
Thomas was crying, but the whole time he kept trying to reassure her. Finally he handed the phone off to Beth.
“Leigh, it’s me. I am so sorry. I can’t believe this happened, but we’ll get justice for Stanton. We’ll be over to the house in a while.”
“Okay,” Leigh said, and started to hang up, but Beth stopped her.
“Leigh?”
“What?” Leigh said.
“I just want you to know how much we love you. You won’t go through this alone. You have a mountain full of people who love you and Stanton. We’ll stand beside you all the way.”
“Thank you,” Leigh said. “I love you, too.”
She disconnected and then waved at Samuel. He and his brothers came back on the run.
He could tell how hard it had been for her to make those calls. Even though he was broken up about the loss of his father, he was struggling with how to help her first. He picked a piece of vine from the tangles of her hair and then cupped the side of her cheek.
“Hey, Mama, how about I run up to the house and bring back Bella’s car so you won’t have to walk?”
Leigh glanced back into the clearing, to the huge dark blot on the ground where Stanton had bled out, and then shook her head.
“I need to be gone from this place. I’ll walk. Will you all walk with me?” she asked.
They gathered around her then, like the little boys they’d once been, fussing for a place in her arms. Only this time, they were the ones who were holding on to her.
“Yes, we’ll walk with you. I love you, Mama, and I am so sorry,” Samuel said.
“Love you, Mama,” Michael said, and slid his arm across her back. “Yes, we’ll walk with you. Just lean on me.”
Aidan cupped her face and then kissed her forehead. “We love you. Let us be strong for you this one time, okay?” he said.
Tears rolled down her face as her gaze moved from face to face, and then back to Samuel.
“Did you call Bowie?”
“Yes, ma’am, but he was unavailable. I left a message for him to call me.”
She nodded, leaned against Michael’s chest and reached for Aidan’s hand, and then said in a soft, shaky voice, “I want to go home.”
They started up the mountain with Michael and Aidan on either side of her, as Samuel led the way with the dogs. Despite Leigh’s determination to walk, she kept stumbling, until finally Samuel turned around, handed the dogs off to Michael and picked her up in his arms. She never said a word. She just leaned her head against his chest and let him carry her home.
The sisters-in-law had cleaned up the kitchen and were doing their best to keep Jesse entertained, but he was bothered, and they knew it. He kept walking out onto the porch and then back into the house. Finally they all decided to sit outside with him, and once he settled in his rocker, he seemed to calm.
Jesse was the first to see his brothers walking up the road. He abruptly stood.
“Mama’s not walking,” he said.
Before they could stop him, he was down the steps and running toward his brothers with a long, loping stride.
“Oh, boy,” Samuel said. “Mama, you need to wake up. Jesse’s coming.”
“I wasn’t asleep,” Leigh said, and quickly wiped her eyes as Samuel set her on her feet.
“Are you okay?” Michael asked.
Leigh fixed him with a look. “Are you?”
“No.”
She reached out and squeezed his hand. “Sorry. I’ve been emotionally gutted. I lose my manners when I feel threatened.”
“We know, Mama. Don’t apologize to us. Just brace yourself for Jesse.”
Leigh turned around just as Jesse came to a skidding stop and took her in his arms.
“Mama? Are you hurt?”
She took a slow breath, and then took his hand and laid it against her chest.
“No, I was just tired, and Samuel carried me so I wouldn’t have to walk.”
Jesse wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on the crown of her head.
“You are my mama. Did I make you sad?”
She knew he’d seen the tears in her eyes, and she hugged him fiercely.
“No, my sweet boy, you did not make your mama sad. Come walk with me. I need to talk to you.” She then took him by the hand and led him toward the house, talking all the way.
The brothers watched, but their hearts were breaking. They knew the minute their mother cupped Jesse’s face that she was saying the words. And they knew from the way Jesse flinched and doubled over as if he’d just been gut-shot that one of the legs to his world had just been cut out from under him.
“God Almighty, why is this happening?” Aidan asked, his voice thick with tears.
Samuel shook his head and then swiped a hand across his face, and when Jesse fell to his knees, he started crying again.
Michael wiped his tears and grabbed the dogs’ leashes.
“I’m gonna tie them to the porch. You guys go help Mama with Jesse.”
Samuel took two steps forward, and then his phone began to ring. He looked at it and groaned.
“It’s Bowie. You all go on. I need to do this alone.”
They patted him on the shoulder and then walked away.
Samuel cleared his throat and then answered. “Hello.”
“Hey, brother! It’s me.”
“Bowie, I’m not going to beat around the bush. We have bad news.”
There was a moment of silence, and then Bowie spoke, but this time the delight was gone from his voice.