Rachel watched as Lily went from booth to booth, getting samples of everyone’s food.

“When did Brooke learn to cook beans and greens?” Rachel was surprised she would participate in the festival.

“I have no idea,” Beth said then added, “You going to try it?”

“No, it would be too depressing if she can cook as good as she looks.” No self-respecting country girl could stand for her cooking to be upstaged by a city girl.

Lily came back to the table with a huge plate, sitting down between her and Mag.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Rachel asked Cash.

“Later.” His eyes were on a large group of men, sitting at a nearby table.

“You don’t like them, do you?”

“No.”

“Why? They seem friendly enough.”

“So was Ted Bundy.”

Shocked at the comparison, she saw that the rest of The Last Riders weren’t happy to see Scorpion and his friends. Viper had a frown, and Shade’s eyes had turned deadly. Something was going on that made these men nervous. Rachel was smart enough to realize that if they were worried, she should be also. Furthermore, she didn’t think it was a good thing Cash had compared them to a serial murderer.

“I can’t eat anymore.” Lily pushed her plate away, looking queasy.

“You only ate a biscuit.” Rachel looked down at Lily’s practically untouched plate.

“I guess it’s not agreeing with the baby.” Lily turned green, getting up from the table with Shade’s help. Seconds later, she darted to the nearest restroom inside the church.

“No need wasting food.” Mag reached out, pulling the plate toward her.

Rachel didn’t say anything. Compared to the plate she had fixed her, Lily’s looked like a banquet.

“I heard that things didn’t go well last night,” Beth broached the subject tentatively.

Rachel made a face. “That’s putting it mildly.”

“I was shocked the first time I went, too. I ended up leaving.” Beth’s face was red from embarrassment. “Lily ran back to college.”

“I tried to run, but Viper wouldn’t let me,” Winter gently butted into the conversation. “It was after my attack. Believe me, if I’d had use of my legs, he wouldn’t have been able to catch me, either.”

“I would have caught you,” Viper stated. Rachel believed him. With his hard, muscular body and long legs, Winter wouldn’t have gotten far.

Beth’s scream and her chair falling back as she rose terrified Rachel as she looked to see what was happening.

“No!” Rachel’s own scream parted her lips as Beth yelled for someone to call nine-one-one.

Mag had turned deathly pale and had passed out, her head falling back over the wheelchair. The men quickly pushed it back from the table, laying her on the ground. Rachel watched as Beth frantically took her pulse. Shade moved Lily back as she came out of the restroom, turning her so she couldn’t see what was going on. Cash knelt by his grandmother, holding her hand.

“Her heart is racing,” Beth told Cash.

Rachel stared down at Mag, crying. She fell to her knees beside Mag, laying her hand on her heart. After she had touched Cash, she’d had nothing left. For the last few months, her gift hadn’t shown a trace of itself.

Gathering her strength, she reached for her…

* * *

“Mag… Mag!” Rachel kept calling desperately, searching for the woman’s soul. She didn’t want to give up. “Mag, answer me, dammit!”

“Rachel, I’m here.”

Rachel moved her spirit to where she heard Mag’s voice.

“Thank God.” Rachel dropped down next to Mag, her pale eyes staring up at her.

“Don’t leave,” Rachel begged. She looked up, seeing the bright light approaching, and then held her hand tighter.

“Girl, I wasn’t meant to stay here forever. It’s time I went home.”

The acceptance in her voice had Rachel shaking her head. “Your time is close, but not now. It doesn’t feel right,” Rachel begged. “Listen to me, Mag. Something is wrong, but it’s not anything wrong with you. I would feel the pain. Please stay…” She was unaware of the small cries escaping her as she pleaded with the woman she had come to love.

Rachel felt Mag’s acceptance; she wasn’t even putting up the least resistance. Life was not given freely; it had to be wanted… she needed to be wanted. The answer came to her.

“I need you, Mag. Who is going to make Cash behave if you leave? Don’t you want to stay and see your first great-grandchild born? Isn’t that worth living for?”

“I’m going to have a great-grandchild?”

Rachel felt the spark within Mag flicker, the light pausing above her.

“Yes!” Rachel felt no qualms about lying to her if she lived. “Stay, please, stay… for Cash, me, and our child.”

Rachel put her last bit of strength into Mag’s fluttering heart, holding it steady until she could see the blinding, beautiful light receding away from Mag.

Rachel looked up; the light was moving toward her. She instantly understood the peaceful serenity that Mag hadn’t wanted to give up…

* * *

Cash was holding her when she woke. He held his breath as her eyes opened, staring up at him groggily.

“Cash?”

“I want to shake you. Don’t you ever fucking do that again. I don’t care who it is. Not Ever Again!” His hands tightened on hers, trying to give some of his warmth to her ice-cold flesh.

“Is Mag okay?”

“She’s fine. Wants to know what’s for dinner.”

Relief at his grandmother’s rapid recovery had been offset by his fear for Rachel. If he’d had any doubts of his feelings for her, they had been destroyed when he had come so close to losing her.

“What happened? I remember Mag fell and I helped her. I didn’t pull back in time, did I?”

“No, you didn’t. You almost died. The paramedics had to shock your heart back into rhythm.”

“I’ll be fine in a couple of days.”

Cash couldn’t believe the lack of concern she had for her own safety.

“You knew when you helped her what was going to happen, didn’t you?” When he saw the guilty look in her eyes, he had to get up. Moving to the window, he stared out.

“I didn’t know for sure. After I helped you my gift disappeared, I thought it was gone. My mother and grandmother both warned me that our gift is limited. We can’t do what we’re doing unless we give away a piece of ourselves. I gave too much.”

“It happened when you saved me, didn’t it? Lily didn’t tell me that part.”

“I made her promise.”

Rachel’s soft explanation raised his fury.

“Stop keeping secrets from me. You didn’t tell me that you saved my life, you sure as hell never told me that you’re a damn genius, and you didn’t tell me you’re pregnant.”

“What!” She tried to sit up in bed, only to fall back when she couldn’t contain the laughter erupting from her chest. “I only told her that to give her the will to live,” she tried to excuse the lie she’d told.