“You get part of the credit for my boys being good men.” Drew placed a bookmark in his Bible to save his spot.

“I just kept them focused. You were the guiding light.” Mack waved at the door.

Drew had met a wonderful woman at seminary, married her when they graduated, and come straight back to Comfort to the church. They’d had three cute little boys in about four years. The oldest had been in Mack’s agriculture classes and in his Future Farmers of America program. The two youngest still were. Their oldest son had joined the air force right out of high school. The middle one was a senior this year, and he already had an academic scholarship to Baylor University. The baby was a sophomore, and it looked like he would be following in his father’s footsteps.

Mack found Clay Donovan, Drew’s youngest, already in the classroom. Unless a miracle fell out of heaven, Clay would never be a tall man. He was about five foot seven, had straight light-brown hair like his mother and brown eyes like Drew’s dad, and had a slim build. But he’d been blessed with a deep voice, and when he spoke, most folks paid attention.

“I came in with Dad this morning, so I went ahead and got things ready,” Clay said.

“Thank you.” Mack sat down in one of the chairs. “Are you ready to go back to school next week?”

“Might as well be.” Clay chose a chair on the other side of the circle. “I kind of hate to see the year come to an end, though. I’ll miss Barry when he goes to college. It wasn’t the same around the house last year when Randall left, but it’ll be even worse when I’m the only one at home.”

“Spend all the time you can with your folks. I sure wish I had,” Mack told him.

The door opened and five teenage boys came in. They plopped into chairs and slid down until they were practically sitting on their backbones. Mack checked the time on the clock at the back of the room. Five more minutes and he’d begin the lesson.

Another minute ticked away, and Braden peeked into the room. “Is this the right place?”

“Come right on in.” Mack motioned with his hand.

All six boys sat up straighter when they saw Holly enter behind Braden.

“Take a seat anywhere,” Mack said. “We’ve still got a couple of minutes before we begin, and . . .” He turned to look toward the door when he heard laughter in the hallway. “There are the twins right now.”