Missing Family: Chandler County, #3

By Cherime MacFarlane

Johnny Dane, the heir, got knocked off the throne. Augie isn't his daddy. He hasn't a clue what to do now. With no relationship with the other Dane children, Johnny is hanging out in a cave in the woods.

Royce doesn't want the old place, Gentry lives in Alaska and Crystal married the sheriff. She doesn't need the land. Winter is on the way. The only family he has left is his momma, but he can't live with her. Momma is at the old Reynolds home place with Royce, who wants his hide nailed to a barn door.

Muriel ran from him years ago. All his fault. Never once has she tried to make contact. Will she help him now? Johnny is about to roll the dice on his last chance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cherime MacFarlane
• Release date: Jul 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201832308

Cherime MacFarlane

Meet Award-Winning, Best-Selling Author Cherime MacFarlane. A prolific multi-genre author, she has a broad range of interests that reflect her been there-done that life. Romance, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, all sorts of characters and plots evolve from a vivid imagination. As a reporter for the Copper Valley Views, Cherime MacFarlane received a letter of commendation from the Copper River Native Association for fair and balanced reporting. She was part of the Amazon Best Selling in Anthologies and Holidays, and Fantasy Anthologies and Short Stories. The Other Side of Dusk was a finalist in the McGrath house award of 2017.

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Copyright © Cherime MacFarlane

2019

––––––––

Copyright Notice:

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, events or locales is completely coincidental.

Author's Note: Change is hard and unavoidable.

License Notes:

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your retailer and purchase a copy for yourself. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Artwork: Designs by Dana

Dedicated to: The guy who figured out it was time to change.  

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Epilogue

Ice and Secrets

About the Author:

And check out these contemporary romantic suspense stories.

Chapter One

Below the cave, the sound of voices floated up. Seated well back from the opening, Johnny couldn’t be seen. He hadn’t climbed up the damn cliff face to this hidey-hole for fun. The cave he now hung out in had proved dry enough and it would do for summer, but he needed to figure out something before winter set in.

The rope he used to help him climb when he had a heavy load sat at the mouth of the cavern, where he had to crouch to enter. Luckily, a few feet inside it opened to standing height. A good thing. Comfortable enough, he has it set up well. People had lived in caves for thousands of years.

No one knew where he was. Fine by him. He sure as hell couldn’t go back to the place on Bald Knob Road. When the old man screamed out the words, I’ll disinherit the boy, he’d understood. Johnny no longer had a father. Regardless of his mother’s reassurances, Johnny couldn’t stay at the Reynolds place with her. He didn’t want to show his face in Chandlerville—he couldn’t. Too ashamed to be seen in the small town, he’d been hanging out in the woods for almost a month.

The first few days were a blur. Like an idiot, he binged on ‘shine. When the shine ran out and the hangover descended, Johnny sat shivering beside the small fire and came to a decision. No more getting drunk and screwing around. Liquor cost him his father, home, and his reputation. Oh, and one other thing—Muriel.

If he missed the woman before, he ached for her now. The position he found himself in felt like Deja vu stuff. The man he’d called father for the last thirty-five years wasn’t. Augie had gotten drunk and his best friend took advantage of that weakness to molest Sheila. She got pregnant by the ass, thereby bringing Johnny into this screwed up situation. He could have happily gone the rest of his life without knowing about it.

Below him, in the Daniel Boone National Forest, the people making all the noise moved away. Johnny figured they were hiking the small stream. From above them, it sounded as if they were leaving the forest. Good. He had more ginseng he wanted to dig. The feds wouldn’t be happy if they found him, but he had no plans to get caught.

Four bags of premium roots sat in the back of the cave, away from the small fire. There they would stay cool. He would dig today and tomorrow take the lot to the buyer. A different buyer than the one Augie Dane usually used.

Johnny met the man the previous year. They heard the buyer in the neighboring state paid more. He and the old man had used a bunch of back roads to smuggle some prime roots out of Kentucky into West Virginia. Ginseng hunters located in Kentucky were supposed to sell to buyers in the state. Taking the roots to a buyer in another state could cause the hunter a bunch of trouble.

Like selling ‘shine, it was all about getting past the man. If he stuck to the back roads and didn’t attract attention, he could make it. The buyer in West Virginia would pay top dollar for his haul. Top dollar there was a much better deal than he would get with their regular buyer.

Still, he wouldn’t have enough to get him through the winter if he had to rent a place. A circumstance which chapped his ass. The injustice of it all sank claws in and wouldn’t let go. He loved cruising around in the woods with the old man hunting anything, deer or ginseng. It was all about the hunt. The old man got it and so did he.

He could have sworn on a stack of Bibles a mile high they were like peas nestled side by side in a pod. Father and son. Augie felt the same; he’d said so. Johnny couldn’t believe his mother. How in the name of heaven could he not be Augie Dane’s oldest son?

She should know. If anyone knew the truth, it was Sheila Dane. He’d lined the facts up in his head often these last few weeks. Comparing his physical appearance against Royce, his younger brother, there were differences.

Royce stood an inch or two shorter and had wider shoulders. Johnny always assumed he took after his mother’s kin, but a careful examination of his Uncle Thad led him to a different conclusion. He didn’t look like Augie or his mother’s kin. About like a cuckoo, he got laid in a different nest.

After the initial shock wore off, a load of resentment against his mother threatened to explode. It seemed best to remove himself. For Johnny, anywhere in the mountains would do. He knew of a place to hide the old truck. It could sit there for days without being spotted. Depending on the weather, a two or two-and-a-half-hour hike took him deep into the wilderness.

On an illegal digging expedition with old Augie a few years back, he’d noticed the cave. Early one morning, Johnny scouted it out. Of the three others he knew about, occupation of this one would be least likely to draw attention from the feds. It wasn’t far from the truck either.

He had another cup of the camp coffee. As soon as he finished it, it would be time to dig up the rest of the ginseng. Come early morning, he’d load up his take and haul ass to West Virginia. By evening, this lot would be sold and his wallet full for a while.

Then he had to hole up somewhere for a day or so and get a plan lined out. If he wanted to buy an acre somewhere, he needed to get the money down soon. He’d need time to put up a shack to live in. Buying a place with a structure on it wouldn’t happen; this load wouldn’t bring that much cash.

He finished the coffee, put a couple of dry branches on the coals and raked ash up over the wood. It would smolder until he got back. With the last of the roots in the sack, he’d clean up the area. He’d leave an armload of fresh wood here in case.

A body never knew, he might need to spend the winter in the old cave. With a good arctic sleeping bag, it would be possible if he could somehow narrow down the opening. Last ditch stand is what the cave would be. He hoped like hell it didn’t come to that.

Chapter Two

Momma, what’s going on over there? Muriel had run into Lacy Napps-Tippet at a mall in Lexington, and Lacy insisted they have lunch. As soon as they sat at the table with their orders and a tall container of tea, her old friend had gushed out the news.

I met Lacy in town. What’s this about Johnny not being Augie’s son?

What about it? He’s nothing to you. It’s been ten, maybe eleven years since you left here on account of Johnny. When are you going to give up fooling around, get married, and give me some grandbabies? You and Fallon wait any blamed longer and your daddy and me will be too old to enjoy them.

Momma, you gonna tell me?

"You can’t still be hung up on tha man. He’s the reason you tore out of town like a scalded