15
Dawn was delayed. The sun’s rays had to climb over the peaks before splashing on the cabin and the river at the bottom of the valley. William stared out the kitchen window, a mug of instant coffee in his hand. Though the forest remained dark, he watched the sunlight travel down the mountainside. The sound of rushing water from the river beyond the back porch had been strangely comforting, as he’d slept well on the dusty, thin mattress. Birds chirped in the trees outside the window, and he wondered what else was waking up in this secluded part of Mt. Hood National Forest.
Not including the long day it took to arrive at his grandfather’s cabin, he still had five days to figure out all the whys. Why, after all this time, Giles Randall decided to leave everything to William. Why the famil
