The next afternoon after lunch Rose and Miss Lilly sat out on the porch together. The sun was shining and Rose had something on her mind. She waited until the boys loaded up in the truck and drove off before she turned to Miss Lilly.

"Miss Lilly may I ask you something?"

Miss Lilly looked up from the bowl she was shucking peas into and nodded. "What can I do for you Miss Rose?"

"Miss Lilly, do you think I'm making a mistake?"

"Why on earth would you think you that?" she asked in genuine shock.

"Well," Rose said sitting down and taking a handful of peas. "Preacher Franklin said-"

Miss Lilly snorted in disgust. "And what does the good Preacher have to say?"

Rose looked up surprised by Miss Lilly's hostility. "He told me that being around the boys was dangerous, that they were violent...and that if I wasn't careful I would get hurt, like their sister..." Miss Rose dragged off looking down uncertainly at her hands. She picked at her thumb nail but couldn't bring herself to continue. She looked up and met Miss Lilly's gaze. Miss Lilly's eyes were burning with an anger Rose couldn't understand.

"He mentioned their sister?" Miss Lilly asked, her hands gripping the peas in her grasp much too tightly.

Rose looked down and away, suddenly not wanting to continue this conversation. "Yes," she said meekly. "And their father...the preacher said Forrest-"

Miss Lilly shot to her feet in outrage, knocking the bowl of unshucked peas all over the porch. "The Preacher said Forrest what?!"

"He said that Forrest-" Rose started to explain but Miss Lilly cut her off.

"-that old self righteous bastard wouldn't know the truth if it bit him on the nose. He is more than happy to hang those and many other sins on Forrest's head. Insinuat'in that Forrest had something to do with the little girl's death is as ridiculous as it is heartless." Miss Lilly stooped down and started shoving the peas back in the bowl with such vehemence that Rose was almost afraid to help. "There weren't nobody loved that little girl more than Forrest."

Miss Lilly climbed back into her chair arranging the bowl on her lap. "The Garret's was a happy family. Mrs. Garret is the one who brung me here, down from Chicago. She was a society lady. She met Mr. Garret and runned away with him. She was so beautiful." Miss Lilly smiled at the memory, shaking her head fondly. She chuckled once. "Course obvious ain't it – just gotta look at them boys." She gave Rose an appraising look before she continued. "Mrs. Garret died bringing her baby girl into this world. You shoulda seen Rosemary. She was the prettiest little girl..." Miss Lilly dragged off and didn't continue until Miss Rose reached forward and took a handful of peas to continue to shuck.

"Mr. Garret was a god fearin man, but when Mrs. Garret died he took to the bottle and when he drank he was mean...and he beat on them boys." She looked down at her hands. "All the time."

Rose found her hands were shaking. She bunched them in her skirt to stop their shaking. "So that's why they are..."

Miss Lilly snorted "They are nothing...he...he terrorized those boys for almost ten years...one day he was in a rage and went after Arthur. Forrest stopped him. He beat on that boy, but Forrest just took it. Finally, Forrest stopped him. After ten years he hit his father back, laid him out too. Next day Mr. Garret kicked Forrest out the house. The boy was only fifteen." She shook her head. "Me and my Dan took him in. He insisted on payin' us. That boy would never take a lick of help. I owed it to his mama. He worked in Dan's lumber camp. Worked harder than most grown men...I stayed on with Mr. Garret, to look after Rosemary.

"Couple months after, one night was really bad. Peter was out, but Arthur stayed behind. They never left her alone. Mr. Garret never...he was in a rage one night, started slamming Arthur around and wouldn't stop. I went for help. By the time Peter and I got back...Rosemary was dead, and Arthur was nearly there. Mr. Garret never touched Rosemary before, only way would be if she tried to stop him from kill'in Arthur.

"Dan and I were the ones to tell Forrest. I never seen anything like that. It was like see'in somebody die...A week after the funeral Forrest and his old man went fish'in early in the morning. Mr. Garret never came back."

Rose took a handful and started shucking peas. Her hands shook as she worked. She had been holding onto hope that maybe Preacher Franklin was wrong. But the more she thought about it, the more she knew she was the one who had been wrong. They had been sweet to her, but she was fooling herself if she thought that meant they weren't just as violent as every other man in their racket. They had to be, or they wouldn't have survived as long as they had.

When she finished helping Miss Lilly shuck peas she quietly excused herself and walked back to town. She had too much on her mind to wait for any of the brothers to return, and certainly too much on her mind to ride home in the truck with one of them. She needed time to herself to process what all she had learned.

That night she had nightmares the brothers were chasing her through the forests surrounding the town. She tripped and fell over vines and roots. The thick red mud coated her hands and dripped from the tips of her fingers like blood. All the while the Garret brothers laughed.

The next day when the train didn't come it was Forrest who was waiting for her. When she didn't approach the truck he parked in the lot and got out.

"There was no train today," Rose dropped back onto the bench with a huff.

"I know," Forrest said. "When it's running, we can hear it up in the hollow a good ten minutes before it gets to town."

"Hmm, so you boys always knew I would be here, here I thought it was some kind of grand gesture that your brothers were always waiting for me. Silly. "

Forrest didn't comment and when she didn't get up, he sat down on the bench next to her. "Peter and Arthur were worried about you when Miss Lilly said you left early. She said you weren't feeling well."

Rose nodded absent mindedly, not certain where Forrest was going with this. She had been vague with Miss Lilly, but had the feeling the older woman knew what was bothering her. It made her wonder what all Miss Lilly had told the boys.

"Then Peter was very worried that you would try walk'in back down from the hollow being ill."

Rose forced herself to flash Forrest a gentle smile, hoping he wouldn't notice how nervous she was sitting there next to him. "I'm just fine."

"I can see that," Forrest said. "After dinner Miss Lilly took me aside and confessed to tell'in you about Rosemary and my father." Forrest looked at the sky a moment. He ran a hand over his face before he turned back to her. "Don't punish Peter and Arthur. Please. Everything they been through, they already been punished enough. That blood is on my hands." Then he stood, clapped his hat on his head and walked back to the truck.

He didn't drive off though. Instead he sat and waited for her to make up her mind.

Rose wasn't sure what to think. She had spent her life trying to get away from men like them, and yet she had never met any men like them. Regardless, she realized Forrest was right. Peter and Arthur had never given her any reason to fear them. They had only been kind and welcoming. She hauled up her bag and walked to the truck and let Forrest drive her up to the store for lunch.

Dan came in late for dinner that night looking more tired than usual. He wasn't his normal jovial self. It didn't take long before Arthur goaded him into talking about what was bothering him. "I fired one of them Cassidy boys today," he said shaking his head.

Miss Lilly suddenly looked ill and gasped softly. Rose looked around, not understanding why they all looked upset. "Dan," she whispered reaching over and taking his hand. "How could you?"

Dan shook his head. "I caught him stealing from the cash box."

Arthur slammed his fist down on the table, making the glasses jump and Rose let out of squeak of surprise.

"Sorry," Arthur said, "but...damn."

"I don't understand," Rose said. "If he was stealing, why is it a problem that Dan fired him?"

Peter answered. "Dan's lumber camp been one of the most profitable businesses in the Hollow. And when the mill cut back on workers Dan hired a few of them. Two of them were the Cassidy brothers. It always stuck in their craw, workin for a black man. But times what they are, they did it anyhow."

Rose nodded along, not liking where this was going but not fully understanding.

Forrest spoke up, leaning towards Rose, lThe Cassidy brothers are Klan."

Miss Lilly started to cry then and Dan pulled her to her feet and hugged her to his chest. Even Eddie looked ill.

"But he was steal'in," Rose's knowledge of the Klan was limited to what little she had read in news papers when she could catch a glimpse of them. Memphis had a strong presence from what she gathered but she had never so much as seen a picture of a Klan's member.

Forrest ran his hand through his hair. "Won't matter to the Cassidy's, nor their masked brethren...maybe you and Miss Lilly ought to get out a town for a while. Least until this blows over and the bender you know he's on wears off."

Dan shook his head. "I ain't go'in no where. That lumber camp is mine and nobody gonna to run me off."

Miss Lilly cried harder but Forrest only nodded. "Then it might be best you take Miss Lilly home for tonight."

Miss Lilly looked like she was about to protest but Peter spoke up. "We'll manage," he assured her.

"I'll stay until closing," Rose offered. "I have helped Miss Lilly and I think I can handle it." Miss Lilly sniffed and nodded and disappeared into the kitchen to get her purse.

As soon as she disappeared Forrest took the gun from the small of his back and pressed it into Dan's hand. "Be safe. You let us know if there's any trouble."

Dan looked down at the gun then back to Forrest but it was Peter who answered. "If there's any trouble, we don't need one of the Cassidy's to end up with a bullet in him from your gun. You take Forrest's and head on home."

Once Dan and Lilly left Peter stood and started clearing dishes. Rose jumped up to help him, not wanting to shirk her duties. "Peter," Forrest said, still watching the road where Dan's truck had disappeared up the hill. "I want you to take the shot gun and head on up the hollow. Make sure there's no trouble."

Peter glanced at Rose and opened his mouth to protest but Forrest spoke up. "Arthur and I will stay close tonight. Make sure everything runs smoothly for Miss Rose." Peter looked like he wanted to argue but he finally relented, and went up the stairs to get his things.