"Get your hands off of her!" He yelled.

I could hear Ty yelling from the kitchen. "Get your s.h.i.t and get out of this house. Did you know that Conner's mother is dating the sheriff? How about we call him and have him come over right now. I'm sure he wouldn't see too kindly about the drugs all over the living room."

Conner looked down at the table and turned his gaze away from me. A loud crash sounded in the kitchen and Ty came walking in. "She's gone." A car motor started outside, followed by someone skidding away from the house.

Ty came into the room as I shoved Conner onto the couch. I stood up preventing him from moving while Ty dusted the paraphernalia off the table. I watched him walk toward the bathroom and then heard the toilet flushing. He washed his hands and came back out to stand next to me, shaking his head at Conner the entire time. "Do you have any idea how much of my money you wasted?" Conner said rudely.

"You have got to be kidding me right now. We just caught you doing drugs and you are worried about how much money we wasted? Dude, you need help." Ty was so frustrated.

Conner wouldn't look at either of us. He just sat there laughing for no reason. I leaned over and smacked him straight in the jaw, his face turning as my hand made impact. "How long has this been goin' on?" I asked.

"There ain't nothin' goin' on. Me and that girl were just havin' a good time. Not everyone is as uptight as you two p.u.s.s.y's."

He crossed his arms over his chest and looked from Ty to myself. "You were using illegal drugs. How long has this been goin' on?"

"What? Me havin' a good time? Livin' my life to the fullest? Givin' the ladies a good time?"

Ty looked at Conner and shook his head. "You need f.u.c.king help!"

"f.u.c.k off, Tyler. I'm so sick of hearin' your mouth. Why don't you take your perfect little family and go the h.e.l.l home. This ain't any of your business." Conner's eyes were halfway open when he was speaking to us. The drugs were obviously kicking in.

"It is my business when your sister is crying herself to sleep over you. Do you have any idea how much she wants you to come stay with us? It's killing her seeing you like this." He shook his head again. "s.h.i.t, man, you didn't even come to say h.e.l.lo yesterday. Izzy talked about seeing her Uncle Conner and you didn't give her the time of day. You're pathetic, man. How could you pick some strung out chick over your flesh and blood? How could you hurt Miranda?"

Conner put his hand over his face and leaned his elbows on his knees. "Whatever man. Please just leave. I don't feel like hearing any of this right now." He never moved his hands.

I sat down on one side of my cousin, while Tyler sat in the chair across from us. "We ain't leavin'. It's ten thirty in the morning and you are drinkin' a beer and snortin' c.o.ke."

He started to laugh. "That s.h.i.t ain't even mine. My girl likes doin' that. It makes her all freaky and s.h.i.t. Not that either of you two f.u.c.kers would know what a good party with a girl looked like. You walk around with your fingers up your a.s.ses all the time. You wouldn't know a good time if it hit you in the face."

I was losing my cool, clenching my fists to try and hold in the anger. Conner was s.h.i.t faced. It wasn't even noon. How could I not have seen how bad off he was? This was a disaster. A f.u.c.king nightmare.

"You can either get your act together, or get the h.e.l.l off the ranch. Those are your options Conner."

"Screw you Colt. You ain't gonna do s.h.i.t to me. Just get out of here."

In one leap, Ty was on top of Conner with his hands around his throat. Conner was punching the h.e.l.l out of Ty, but he kept holding him by the throat. Somehow, Ty had managed to flip him around in a head lock, while Conner pounded on Ty's face. I pried the two of them apart and sat between them. Ty said nothing as he got up and walked out of the house. I don't really think it was about him, it was the fact that he was hurting Miranda.

I stood up, ignoring the look on Conner's face. "You have twenty four hours to get your a.s.s clean, or you need to find somewhere else to live and work. I will not have drugs on my property and be an enabler to you and your habits."

Conner said nothing as I walked out into the kitchen, but I did hear the loud sound of a beer bottle smashing against a wall.

Ty was outside sitting on the golf cart. I hopped on and he immediately started driving away from the house. "It's much worse than I thought. I'm real glad you brought it to my attention."

"He ain't coming to my farm like that Colt. This could ruin everything you know." Ty had wanted to branch out the cattle business for over a year, so this problem with Conner was a major issue for him and his family.

"It won't ruin everything, but it will definitely set us back. I can't believe his mother knew nothing about this."

"She is so serious about John now and besides, Conner is a grown man. He should be able to be responsible for his own actions. I think she has a right to finally enjoy her life. It had to be hard to not date for all of those years. She had to do it for the kids."

We pulled up at the cabin and saw the girls sitting on the porch swing. Noah and Bella came whipping around the corner on two Hot Wheels vehicles. One was a Tractor and one was a Mustang. They were giggling, trying to race each other. "Sorry ya'll had to deal with this on your visit."

Ty put his hand on my shoulder as the kids flew by us. "Hi Daddy!" Bella waved.

"Hey Sweetie!" He turned to look at me. "This isn't your fault Colt. Conner just needs an eye opener. He needs something that will change the person he wants to be. You and I both know what that is like."

I nodded. He was right. Ty and I both knew what it was like to find something that made us want more out of life. I don't know how much I had changed for Savanna, but Ty was a different person. I'd hate to tell him that he turned soft, but it was true. All he cared about was being with his girls.

"How'd it go?" Miranda asked from the porch.

Ty skipped all the steps but the last and hurried over to where she sat. He leaned against the railing as I came up to meet him. "Not exactly how we pictured it."

"What's that supposed to mean? Oh my G.o.d, Ty, your face." Miranda stood up and approached Ty, holding her hand up to her husband's face. "Did he do this to you Babe?"

Ty grabbed her hand and pulled it away from her face. "I'm fine. I pounced on him first. He was just trying to get me to let him go," he explained.

"I think he was still drunk from last night." Miranda thought she knew the worst of it.

"He was drinking when we got there, Baby."

Ty pulled Miranda into his chest and kissed her on the head. "He can't come stay at the farm like this. I can't be pregnant and responsible for him too."

"I know, Baby. Don't worry about it right now. He obviously didn't hear us mention it, so we can focus on you having a good first trimester and then figure out what to do about Conner. As of right now he isn't our problem to fix. Colt gave him an ultimatum and hopefully he does something about it." Ty stroked Miranda's hair as he spoke to her.

"If he knows what's good for him he will cut his s.h.i.t out. I wasn't lyin' when I said those things Ty."

He looked over at me. "I know, Cuz, I know."

Miranda was really bent out of shape about her brother. After Ty and I finally dropped the conversation, she went inside and called her mother. We could hear her raising her voice in the office. I don't think that my aunt was saying she wasn't concerned, but I think she just didn't know how to handle her grown son. Aside from drinking and driving, we really weren't sure what else he was doing. Sure, he was caught with drugs, but Ty and I couldn't prove they were really his.

Savanna stayed outside with the kids, while Ty and I started watching a ball game and drinking some beers. The kids came in yelling that it was time to ride the horses, but we still had about a half hour left in the game we were watching. They went back outside huffing and puffing that we were meanies. A few minutes later we heard them outside laughing and playing again.

Miranda finally came out of the room and winked at Ty before she went outside with Savanna.

"It's pretty cool we are both going to be Daddy's' again." Ty announced.

"Yeah, it is. I just can't wait to be there for the birth. I missed out on so much with Noah."

"The birth is crazy. It is scary and disgusting and beautiful all at the same time. Do you have any idea what their s.h.i.t looks like?" I had to remember that I was talking to Ty. Of course he was going to bring this up.

"Yeah, I hadn't put too much thought into that part of it."

He started laughing. "As much as I wanted to be with Miranda that first night we were finally together, there was this flash right before of what it looked like down there the last time I had seen it. Dude, I was scared s.h.i.tless."

"Not that I want to even talk about Miranda like this, but I have to believe that you of all people would have still gone through with it."

He shook his head and busted out in a loud uncontrolled laugh. "Yeah, there is no way I could have said no to her. She had me from the first kiss. Everything else was just a bonus. Besides, it ended up looking nothing like I remembered. Trust me when I say I have it memorized in my head. Every little inch of it."

The grin on his face showed me he was just playing into my disgust of hearing about it. I tossed a pillow at him. "You're sick."

"Yeah, I know."

I decided that talking to Ty about Savanna's birth was a mistake. He was lucky to have been there for Bella to come into the world. If it weren't for that day, he and Miranda probably would have never gotten together. Looking at Noah now, made me regret not seeing him as a baby. All of those first experiences that I had missed out on. I knew we would have a lifetime of new ones, but it still hurt to know I could never have those back. I would never try to replace that with our new baby, but I was very excited to experience them. I wanted to see those first steps, or hear the first words.

Krista's dad had made sure I had pictures and Noah's baby book, so I could at least read about them. The first thing he said was 'ba ba', a word he used for his bottle. He got his first tooth at five months and took his first steps at nine. The pictures of my little boy were cute, but they didn't fill that absence of not being there. Noah would never judge me for that. I think the kid loved me before he had even met me. I still didn't understand why Krista did what she did, but she never kept it a secret that I was his father. I had to believe that she always did want to tell me.

I started thinking about Conner and how upset his father would have been if he saw how his son was behaving. The company he was keeping was what was bringing him down. The girls kept getting more rough looking and obviously had introduced him into a new kind of party life.

None of us kids were raised to take up with people that lived like that. We knew better. I had to a.s.sume that this was Conner's way of dealing with his loneliness. He was drowning himself in booze and women to get through not having happiness for himself. It wasn't like the rest of us were gloating in happiness, but it was hard to not see it when you lived on the same property and were related.

My cousin was engulfed in some sort of infomercial about rags you hook on your feet and polish your floor with. I shook my head before calling for his attention. "Hey Ty, what if movin' away will help Conner out? I know you are worried, but if he is at your place he doesn't have access to the things he has here. Everyone knows Conner here and they put him on some kind of pedestal. If he moved out of the state, he wouldn't know anyone. You would be his only means of communication. I just don't see him changin' if he still lives here."

Ty shook his head and leaned his elbows on his knees. He clapped his hands together and kept shaking his head as he talked. "I don't know man. I'm willing to do whatever we need to do to help him, but this s.h.i.t is not something I know anything about. If he is using drugs, I can't allow that s.h.i.t in my house, or my parent's house. And frankly, I don't want that kind of s.h.i.t happening around my daughter."

"I get that, but I don't think it will happen. We need to get him as far away from here as we can for a while. Other than to force him into the military, this is the best scenario."

Ty didn't say anything for a good two minutes. I noticed him glaring out the window at the ladies swinging on the porch. "Let me talk to Miranda. I don't want to say yes or no without really talking to her about it first."

A weather alert came on the bottom of the screen, catching our attention from the conversation we were having. It was a severe weather alert for our county. They were calling for strong thunderstorms with high winds that could potentially create funnel systems, turning to tornados. "d.a.m.n, we picked the wrong weekend to visit." Ty joked.

"It says we are under the warnin' until nine tonight. I guess we better get the girls and the kids inside and call to the main house in case they don't know what's goin' on."

Ty got up and walked outside, while I dialed my mother and let them know about the storm. Sam came running into the house and went right upstairs. She only did that when she was afraid. I had no sooner got off the phone, when I heard the women calling the kids names. I went out to the porch with the rest of the adults and waited to see the kids coming around from the side of the house.

After a good five minutes of calling, Ty and I looked at each other and started walking down the porch steps.

"Where could they have gone? The golf carts are here. His battery operated cars are here. Do you think they are hiding?" Ty suggested.

Thunder rumbled in the distance and I had noticed that the wind was picking up. "Noah doesn't like thunder storms. If they are hiding then we will see him any second running for the house."

I felt confident that any second my son, and my niece would come walking up to us. The girls were standing on the edge of the porch looking all around. "Colt, please go check the barn. They are probably with the horses." Savanna started to walk down the steps. The sound of the wind chimes on our back porch echoed against the woods. I could tell the wind had really picked up by the loud clatter of them.

Ty and I headed toward the barn where we kept the horses. "I'm surprised that we can't hear Thunder. He starts getting loud when storms come in."

We both looked at each other and started hauling a.s.s toward that barn. My greatest fears were confirmed when we opened the door and only saw Daisy in her stall. Ty threw his arms up above his head. "f.u.c.k! G.o.dd.a.m.n it!"

"Go get the Gator. We can cover more terrain with it. I have to go tell the girls what's goin' on."

Ty went flying out of the barn, while I jogged over to the girls, who were standing on the porch. "I was sure they would be in there." Savanna looked so disappointed.

"I got somethin' I need to tell you both."

The girls looked at each other and I watched their faces change from frustration to fear.

Chapter 22.

Savanna "What do you mean? Do you know where they are? What is going on?" I was frantic to find out where our kids were. The weather was picking up and they needed to get inside before it started raining.

Colt creased his brow and couldn't look me directly in the eye. When he finally did, I could tell there was something wrong. Instinctively, I put my hand on my belly and took a few steps toward him. "Tell us Colt. What is going on? Where are they?"

"Darlin', we can't find them and the horses are missin'."

No! No! No! This can't be happening....

My stomach turned into knots and my heart started pounding. I heard Miranda gasping behind me, then felt her reaching her arm into mine. At the same time, Ty came whipping around the corner on the Gator, a cross between a golf cart and a four wheeler. I turned my direction back to Colt.

"Ty and I are headin' into the woods to look for the kids. You two stay here and call us if they come home. Call my mother and tell her to be on the lookout at the main house and try to hunt down Conner. If the kids are on the horses, we are going to need his help."

Colt leaned over and kissed me on the forehead before he hopped on the vehicle with his cousin. Ty started pulling away from us. "We will find them." His voice carried as the guys disappeared from out of our view.

I started to cry immediately and Miranda pulled me against her chest. "They'll find them Van."

"I hope you're right."

The rain started coming down harder as Miranda and I headed into the house. We frantically both went after our cell phones and started calling everyone with a phone on the ranch. I didn't expect Colt's mother or Aunt to go searching through the woods, but they did go out and check all around their vicinity. John happened to be over Aunt Karen's, so when we called, he and Conner set out to start looking themselves.

Once our phone calls were done, it was hard for both Miranda and myself to remain calm. The sun was starting to set and the rain was really coming down. In the horizon, large bolts of lightning lit up the sky.

Our children were out there somewhere. If they were anywhere near Thunder during this storm they were in danger. I didn't know if I could bear to lose another child. Noah meant everything to Colt and I.

Poor Miranda stood by the front door, hugging her arms around herself. Tears strolled down her face. Noah had been riding for over a year, but I knew that Bella was not as experienced. Noah wasn't even great at it himself. His little body was too small to maneuver a pony, and especially a horse.

G.o.d, please help us find our kids.

"Miranda, I'm so sorry this is happening. Noah knows better than to get on a horse by himself. Maybe Thunder just got out by himself and the kids were never with them. Maybe they are just hiding somewhere."

She covered her face with one of her hands. "Bella doesn't like thunder and lightning. Ty knows that too. She hides in his arms every time there is a storm. There is no way she wouldn't have come inside by now. Something bad has happened. I can just feel that something is wrong, Van."

"Don't talk like that! We don't know that. We just saw them a little while ago riding around having fun. We were outside the whole time and never heard anything. If they got hurt they would have cried."

I was trying to comfort Miranda, but also myself. She said nothing, but went flying outside. I followed behind her, wondering if she saw one of the kids. Instead, we saw Atticus coming down the driveway, running around neighing. As if seeing the pony running free wasn't enough, I noticed the horse had a saddle hanging loosely to the side. The reigns were hanging down to the ground as the pony paced around the yard.

It was dark outside and the only thing that gave us light was the flashing of the lightening. Miranda headed toward the pony, but I grabbed her and pulled her back onto the porch. "No, wait! I will never forgive myself if you get hurt. Just let the guys catch the pony."

Miranda turned around and sat down on the porch. She was sobbing. I sat down behind her and hugged her as close to my body as I could get her. My big belly wasn't helping too much. "They were on the horses, Van. They were on the horses," she kept repeating.

Teaching Noah to ride was something that had made me so proud, but now I worried if my teaching him had been the wrong thing to do. Our children were out there somewhere, they were alone, in the dark, and afraid. It was hard to not think that they weren't hurt or worse.

I didn't know how to comfort Miranda when I was petrified for the safety of the kids myself. If something happened to them I would never forgive myself.

Miranda pulled out her phone and started dialing what I a.s.sumed was Ty. I must have been right because I heard his voice pick up. "Have you found them?" She asked through sobs.

"What do you mean? Well, you have to keep looking. I know...yes, but I can't sit around here and do nothing. Ty, please, I need to do something."