Xander’s head snapped toward the little meeting Gideon was holding, and I started off after a faint set of tracks I knew would disappear as soon as we hit the mountain grass. They were more than enough to tell where he was headed. I muttered a curse at the altitude. It would take me only a few days to adjust, but I didn’t exactly have a few days.

“Where are you going?” Gideon called out.

“To find our dad!” Xander responded, radiating confidence.

I rolled my eyes at his public facade but kept going.

He caught up quickly, falling into step next to me as we stuck to the areas where the snow had already melted. Our strides were equal. They always had been. We were equal in height, but I had a good forty pounds of muscle on him.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” he said as the tracks disappeared.

“Yep.” My gaze raked the terrain, looking for any sign that Dad had come this way.

“Seriously, you think you know where he is?”

“How long has he had that bottle of fabric softener?” I asked as the granite crunched beneath my feet. At least it wasn’t snowing.

“Years.” Xander shrugged.

“Right. At least a decade. Paula Bradley brought it over when he was sick that year, remember? Tried to help out with laundry.”

“How the hell do you remember that?”

“I’m cursed with an excellent memory.” I turned toward the part of the property where Sullivan was buried. “Trust me, there’s shit I would love to forget. Do you remember why he wouldn’t use it?” We crested one slope and started back down toward the tree line, keeping the peak on our right as we trekked through a snow-covered section.

“I barely remember Mrs. Bradley bringing it over.”

“He wouldn’t let her use it, but he refused to throw it away,” I tried to remind him.

Xander threw me a clueless look.

“It’s lavender scented,” I said, answering my own question.

Xander sucked in a breath. “Mom.”

“Mom,” I confirmed as we reached the tree line and started to hike through the pines. In the shade, the temperature dropped to an uncomfortable level.

“But she’s buried at the other end of the property with—”

“That’s not where he goes when he misses her. Not that he’d ever admit that he misses her.” Admitting that would be tantamount to broadcasting a weakness, and Arthur Daniels was anything but weak.

“The ravine.”

“Yep.”

We pushed through the finger of forest that covered this strip of the property and came out into a clearing I knew all too well.

I cursed under my breath as it came into view.

“Oh no,” Xander whispered.

Oh no didn’t quite cover this. My heart paused mid-beat, then slammed, pumping adrenaline through my system.