“Let me see how bad it is.” She lifted the fringe of hair across his forehead with gentle fingers. A knot had already formed. Sammy was well on the way to a good-sized goose egg. “I wish I had some ice for that.”

“I’m okay.” Sammy straightened in his seat.

Without thinking, Elise kissed the bump.

The corner of Sammy’s mouth curved. “Gran kisses the pain away too.”

“Do you miss your granny?” Perhaps her question would distract him from the injury.

“Yes, and Grandad too. He’s in hospital, but he’s going to get better.”

“Did your father tell you that?”

She and Harry had spoken a few times about his father’s progress. This must be a recent development.

“No.” A sideways look came from the corner of Sammy’s gray eyes. “I prayed and asked the Lord to help him.”

Emotion knotted inside Elise’s throat. “Who taught you to pray, Sammy?” she asked, her voice like gravel.

“My dad. He used to take me to church before he went away. We went to a new one last week. Would you like to come with us?”

The unexpected invitation made Elise pause, and the peace she had experienced inside the kirk returned. “I might.” She cleared her throat. “Does God always answer your prayers?”

“No. But lots of times He does. I got lost in the woods once, and He helped me not to be scared until I was found.”

The lad’s simple faith touched a raw nerve. Her eyes stung, and she blinked rapidly. It had been many years since she had attended services, but she had never stopped believing. Right now, they needed all the prayers they could get.

“You just keep on praying.”

Putting the 4x4 in gear, Elise gunned the engine and shot across the creek. Three red-necked pheasants startled and flew into the air, one hitting the front fender.

Elise slammed on her brakes. The 4x4 jerked to a halt, then sputtered and died. She climbed out and approached the front of the vehicle.

Feathers covered the front grille. She brushed them aside to assess the damage. Though dented, the grille appeared intact. When she knelt to move the pheasant out of the way, one of its eyes blinked. The poor thing was dying.

To put the bird out of its misery, she reached inside her boot, withdrew her sgian dubh, and dispatched the pheasant to birdie heaven. As she cleaned the blade off, a verse of scripture from Philippians popped into her mind: “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches.”

She stared down at the dead bird. Had the Lord just provided for their needs? Not one to quibble over a blessing, Elise grabbed the fowl by its feet and placed it on the tarp behind her seat before she climbed back inside the cab.