Page 1 of Canyon of Deceit
PROLOGUE
HILL COUNTRY, TEXAS
TWENTY YEARS EARLIER
THERESE
I smoothed a tattered quilt beneath a live oak about a mile from our home and laid my guitar atop it. “Are you ready for a concert?” I said to Kate.
My little sister sat on the quilt and lifted her pale face stained with blackberry juice. She’d had her fill of berries on our walk here. “I am. What a fun morning. I love spending time with you, and you picked the perfect picnic spot.” She touched her chin. “Remember when we went to the mountains in... Colorado?”
“Yes. The best vacation Mom and Dad ever took us on.”
Kate nodded, her white-blonde curls brushing her shoulders. “We went before I got sick, when I was three.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Five years ago. Anyway, sometimes I close my eyes and hear the water singing.”
“I loved the sound of it rippling over the rocks and rushing down the waterfalls. What else was your favorite?”
Kate tilted her head, and the sunlight glowed on her face. “The deer, elk, and the bighorn sheep.” She startled. “Remember the eagle, Therese?”
“Oh yes. We’ll ask Mom and Dad to take us back when you’re feeling better.”
“This time I want to learn how to do the special fishing.”
“Fly-fishing. Dad will teach us.”
Kate sorted through the remains of the picnic snacks. “Sissy, any more blackberries?”
“You ate them all, Katie-Bug. I wish you’d eaten your egg sandwich. How about a little more? I’ll peel off the crust.”
Kate shook her head. “No, thanks. Would you sing the Willie Nelson song about the road?”
I laughed and scooted next to her on the quilt. I tucked my guitar in the crook of my arm and pulled the pick from my shorts pocket. Every concert began and ended with “On the Road Again.”
“Why do you like that song so much?” I said while tuning the strings.
“’Cause I’m on the road to heaven, silly.”
I swallowed several times to rid myself of the acid-tasting fear. God would heal her. He had to. The doctors had made a mistake. “You have a beautiful reason. Mom says we are all on the road to heaven. But I’ll get there first ’cause I’m older.”
“But you’re not sick like me.” She patted my knee. “It’s okay. Angels tell me I’ll love being with Jesus.”
“You talk to them?” I held my breath.Please, heal my sister.
“Oh yes. At night they stand around my bed and keep watch over me.”
“Kate, I’m in the same room, and I don’t see them.”
She giggled and covered her mouth. “You’re not looking good enough.”
“Next time, wake me up, so I can see them too.”
“Okay.” She touched my arm. “Sissy, what do you want to be when you grow up?”
I smiled because she knew the answer. “I’d like to sing and play my guitar.”
Kate clapped her hands. “You’d be the best country-western singer in the world.”
I dreamed of performing at the Grand Ole Opry. I’d write my own songs, but Grandma said I should do what God said, and He hadn’t told me. “We’d sing together—The Palmer Sisters.”
