Matthew gave her an apologetic glace as Silas pulled out of the driveway.

“Mind turning the radio on, Silas?”

Quiet music filled the cab of the truck as Silas pulled onto the main road in the opposite direction of Treepoint.

As Silas drove, everyone was silent, including Greer. Alanna was able to relax back in her seat and look out at the scenery. The trees were beautiful as they started getting their springtime buds. Staring at them, she began to realize she wasn’t seeing the tree trunks; she was gazing at the top of the trees. Leaning her head closer to the window, she glanced down to see the huge drop-off. They were climbing the mountain and going higher.

“Are you afraid of heights?”

Alanna turned away from the window to smile at Matthew. “No. One of the few things I’m not afraid of.”

“See if you can say that in about ten minutes. We’re going to be coming down, and then going up that big mother.” Greer pointed toward the front windshield.

Alanna tilted her head sideways to look around Greer’s seat. She stared ahead.

“I thought you said you weren’t afraid of heights,” he teased.

“I’m not. I’m just stunned at how pretty it is.”

The hour-long drive wasn’t as bad as she had expected it to be. What had been unexpected was her queasy stomach from the curvy mountain road. At one point, she thought she was going to vomit.

“Silas, you might need to pull over,” she gasped out, putting a hand over her mouth.

Greer turned around to give her a handful of strange-looking candy. “Suck on one of these.”

She glanced down at her bandaged hand, holding the candy suspiciously. “What are they?”

“Homemade ginger candy.” Greer frowned. “What do you think they are?”

“I don’t know.”

“Oh …” Greer turned back around.

Matthew gave her a laughing look. He knew what she had been suspicious of it being.

Opening one of the hard candies, she put it in her mouth. After a few minutes, her stomach quit rolling with each curve of the road.

“None of your brothers or Ginny wanted to join us?” she asked to take her mind off the twists and turns.

“No.” Matthew gave her a sympathetic glance. “Ginny’s stomach couldn’t handle the turns any better than you, and all the boys went out hunting this morning.”

“They better not be hunting on Porter land. They’ll get their asses shot off,” Greer snarled from over his shoulder.

“They won’t have to,” Matthew assured him. “All the deer are on Coleman property.”

Alanna was relieved when Silas took a turn-off marked with “Sunlight Farm and Orchard.” There were several cars parked when they arrived.

Getting out of the truck, Alanna could hear the squeals of children’s voices.

“Save me,” Greer groused. “I couldn’t get away from kids for a day to save my life.”