“ . . . we both know y’all didn’t come up here fer potions, McDaran,” her aunt was saying.

McDaran laughed. It sounded mocking, and it grated on her nerves. “A’course not, ole woman,” he replied rudely. “I heerd y’all got a visitor. Damn shame y’all didn’ let me know so’s I could pay a visit. Reckoned as how I’d make her welcome anyway.”

“Iffen y’all mean m’half-sister’s gel, she ain’t here,” her aunt said shortly.

“Oh, be careful, Virginia,” Old Raven muttered. “A word of falsehood and he will have power over you.”

“Where is she, then?” McDaran countered.

“Dunno.” Aunt Jinny’s face was giving nothing away. “Had her here t’mend her up. She was sickly. Now she’s well, an’ she ain’t here.”

“Wall, thet may be true,” said McDaran. “But I heerd y’all was a-settin’ her up like y’all was her own Ma.”

“Her own Ma ain’t got a pot t’piss in,” Jinny said rudely. “Am I s’pposed t’let her look like a scarecrow? What would folks thank iffen I didn’t do right by my kin? So while she was here, I set her up with some stuff fer new close, on account’a she ain’t niver been provided for proper. Gel did her own sewin’, so it weren’t like it was work fer me.”

Old Raven let out a sigh of relief. “The exact truth, and just enough of it,” he breathed.

“Reckon y’all heerd about it from Abby at th’ mercantile,” her aunt continued. “Wall, let me tell y’all, Billie McDaran, this is the damn truth. Her Pa was dead set against her comin’ here in the fust place. He figgers a gel b’longs with her own fambly, helpin’ her Ma as God intended. Must’a taken her Ma movin’ Heaven’n earth t’ allow her t’ come in the fust place. An’ he wanted her back soon’s she was well.”

That was all true too. Anna found herself nodding her head. The fact that she hadn’t returned home had no bearing on what Pa wanted.

“So, ’fraid y’all come all this way fer nothin’, McDaran,” her aunt said, sounding very final. “She ain’t here. Y’all might as well go back t’ yore dinner.”

“Somehow I don’t b’lieve y’all is tellin’ me the whole truth, Jinny,” the big man replied, eyes narrowing. His fist tightened on the poor horse’s reins, and it froze in pain. He looked at Jinny as if he would have liked to beat her, if he could just get the chance.

“Ain’t one word I tol’ y’all thet’s a lie,” Jinny said flatly. “An’ y’all know thet’s a fact.” She glared back at him, challenging him. “I knows y’all been a-testin’ thet, an’ y’all knows I ain’t lied. Not one word.”

“And what if I decide t’stay here an’ see if the gel turns up?” he challenged in his turn.

“Y’all c’n stay on thet side’a the stile till hell freezes over iffen thet’s what y’all wanter do,” her aunt countered with a shrug. “Y’all ain’t a friend, so I ain’t ’bout t’ go outa my way fer y’all. Mebbe I’d call y’all a customer. I don’ let jest any old person crost my threshold. An’ I didn’ make ’nuff supper fer a guest.”