Page 4 of Beneath the Mountain Sky

Without a hint of civilization that you’ll find as you descend closer to our homestead and eventually the town.

And it’s pristine.

Exactly as Mother Nature intended it.

This is why the McBrides settled here almost two hundred and fifty years ago.

This is why I stay even when the bad memories threaten to overtake the good.

This…and the two men with me right now.

The promise I made to Mom before she died to look after them, to take care of them, to ensure they were okay, is one I intend to honor. I never broke a promise to that woman while she was alive, and I have no intention of doing it now that she’s passed on to somewhere better than this Earth.

That means staying, even when it doesn’t feel like home without Willow here, even when the place I’ve lived my entire life somehow seems foreign and all the things I once loved only seem to irritate me.

Like being out here now helping Liam.

Liam smirks, likely already anticipating the bitching and moaning that would ensue if he were to tell us it was on the other shore now, rather than back near the homestead, where we could have used the bridge to cross the river and make our way up the mountain on the proper side from the beginning. “This bank.”

Good.

Because the river up here isn’t anything I want to tangle with.

We push through another few dozen yards of trees before we reach the west bank. Rushing waters cascade over and around giant boulders, creating bubbling and churning rapids. Farther down, closer to town, McBride Falls tumbles down into the swimming hole so popular this time of year to cool off in the afternoons. But this early, no one would be there, and there’s certainly no one up this far on the mountain.

This is the type of spot I would bring her, though…

Willow’s face flashes before my eyes.

What she would look like lying spread out on the thick, green grass along the shore, laughing and smiling.

Panting and gasping.

Coming undone in my arms.

My fingers twitch, imagining how wet she would be and how soft her skin would feel under my rough hands.

I clench them around the handle of the axe so hard my knuckles ache, fighting the descent of the dark cloud I’ve perpetually lived under that always surrounds me whenever I think about her.

Liam smacks me on the shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Because I would never admit to him or anyone else how bad it’s gotten in the past week since the anniversary of her flight from McBride Mountain. “Let’s go.”

We wander along the rocky bank, pushing farther north and west until Liam points to the left. “I think it’s just over there, but it could be up a little more.”

Connor scans the vast expanse of trees, taking in the landscape and the endless possibilities, then glances in Liam’s direction. “Let’s split up. Cover more ground. Signal if you find what we’re looking for.”

We all nod our agreement.

It will be the fastest way to locate this grove—and the hickory Liam has his heart set on using to build his custom chair. If he weren’t so damn good at it and the end results weren’t so beautiful, I would have told him to cut down any of the millions of trees within easy walking distance for the project. But knowing him and the extent he’s going to in order to get this, it must really be something.

Worth the effort to see him happy.

Connor sets off directly to the west, and Liam heads into the woods a dozen yards to the north, both disappearing between the trunks while I take a moment to scan the river as far as I can see up the mountain.

The sound of the rushing water floats through the air, and I stand absolutely still, waiting for that raging torrent of emotions that threatens to drown me when I’m alone to come like it always does.

It starts with that tightness in my chest.