There was only one way to find out if she was right and Hannah put the ring in her purse. It was a good thing she’d made a batch of Easy Pralines this morning before she’d left for The Cookie Jar. She’d planned them as a surprise for Michelle, a thank you for baking the Blue Apple Muffins, but she’d stop at Winnie’s ranch on her way to Loretta’s farm and give a box of them to Winnie. It would be a good excuse for dropping by, and Connor would probably be there, painting the inside of the ranch house. She’d say she’d found the ring, and watch him carefully to see if he gave any sign he recognized it.

Hannah realized that her hands were shaking on the wheel as she turned onto the gravel road that ran past the wooded area where she’d hit and killed Keith Branson. She shivered slightly as dark clouds gathered in the sky. There just couldn’t be another summer storm. Not now. Not when she was about to pass the very spot where it had happened.

The sky darkened momentarily as the cloud passed across the sun, but within the space of several heartbeats, it was sunny again. Hannah breathed a sigh of relief and rolled down her window for a breath of summer air. It was hot, but there was a slight breeze as she drove by the swimming hole the local kids used and she could smell damp earth, fresh water, and the sweet scent of red clover on the currents of air.

Hannah saw three beautiful mares standing by the white fence that separated Winnie’s ranch from the neighboring farms. Seeing the mares made Hannah smile. It looked as if they were watching for cars to pass by and speculating on where the drivers and passengers were going. The one in the center neighed as she drove past, almost as if she were saying hello.

An open field was next, bare of trees and planted with low ground cover. Hannah began to shiver slightly as she passed it. This was the field where the lightning had struck so violently and so frequently on that fateful morning. There was room for her to have pulled over here. The shoulder was certainly wide enough to have parked there to wait for the storm to cease. But if she had, she would have been exposing both Lisa and herself to the raging elements and what had seemed to Hannah to be probable electrocution.

Hannah slowed as she came around the bend and into the tree-lined area. The huge branch was gone, but there were round chunks of wood piled by the side of the road. A county road crew must have come out with chain saws to remove the branch from the roadway.