old woman smiled sadly. “But I had a wonderful husband, even if I had to share him with the army. He went to Korea, you know?”
“It must have been hard for him to leave.” Harder than me leaving Trisha that day, three weeks ago. A knot of tears choked her as she remembered when Trisha had accidentally left her, and the back door, unattended. A split-second decision later, Kaylee slipped outside and then out through a gap in the chain-link fence. She went straight to the police.
Oblivious to Kaylee’s memories, Lois chuckled. “I had a friend whose husband was going to Korea on the same ship as Walter. We were supposed to say our goodbyes at the train station, but my friend devised this plan to drive down to Halifax where their ship was waiting.”
Looking conspiratorial, Lois leaned over. “Two women traveling all that way alone? There was no highway and her car was held together with rubber bands and a fast prayer.”
Despite herself, Kaylee smiled. “What happened?”
“We broke down as soon as we reached Nova Scotia.”
“So you missed your husband?”
“No! An elderly man stopped to help. He drove us straight to the dockyard! Oh, he was as nervous as we were, not knowing who we were or what would happen.” She finished with a teary laugh. “We wouldn’t have made it to Halifax without that man!”
Kaylee’s lips thinned. “You’d have found a way.”
“No. The Lord sent us that man. God wanted him to help us, even if we did scare him. He was so sweet and a good Christian man to trust the Lord.”
Eli and his desperate situation filtered back to Kaylee. Phoebe could easily end up like Trisha. Her heart clenched. God may have been showing her that she was supposed to help Eli, but it was too late now.
Eli was long gone.
TWO
Kaylee struggled through work that next Monday. Eli’s plea dogged her steps. Since she’d returned to normal society, she’d been fortunate enough to get a job in the town’s recreation center. It paid minimum wage, but she hoped to find a better position soon.
She assisted the rec coordinator with everything from sorting well-worn sports equipment to brushing the autumn leaves off the basketball courts.
But working proved futile. On Mondays, she should be tidying up after the weekend’s activities, but all she could manage was leaning heavily on her broom.
“You’re in another world. What’s wrong?”
She looked up at Jenn, her supervisor. “Bad weekend.”
Jenn strode across the gym floor. “What happened?”
“I don’t know. Stress, maybe?” Together they looked around the small gym. Kaylee hadn’t done too much. “Sorry, I’ll try to get the sweeping done before noon. I’m not lazy, you know.”
“I know you’re not. Don’t worry about me thinking that.”
Kaylee returned to her sweeping, holding back a sneeze when a stray draft threw some dust up at her face.
Jenn flicked her head toward the door through which she’d just come. “There’s someone in the office looking for you. Why don’t you take an early lunch? No hurry in here.” With that, she turned.
Cold dread doused Kaylee as she watched the older woman leave. Someone was looking for her? Today?
No. Please not him.
She’d spent yesterday morning at church, having given in to Lois’s gentle but persistent invitations. When she first came to Riverline, Lois had asked her to her Sunday services. She’d declined, even though the counselor she was seeing had thought it a good idea.
She’d had enough religion to last a lifetime.
But Lois had needed help bringing things to church and, feeling that she owed her kindly neighbor, she agreed.
Then Sunday afternoon she and Lois helped one of the seniors make some meals for the coming week. Throughout the day, Kaylee had even managed to keep away the guilt she’d felt whenever she thought of Eli. And she’d almost completely managed to keep thoughts of him far from her.
But now—
The door at the far end swung open. In walked Eli.
He had the same confident swagger as his brother. But where Noah preferred long hair, a thick beard and an air of mystery, Eli kept his hair short, almost a crew cut, and his smooth, square jaw gleamed, a handsome addition to a tanned and fit frame.
There was no mystery about what Eli wanted. He wanted Kaylee to help him. Period.
Their gazes locked. Natural light from the high windows proved complimentary to him. Despite the knocking of her heart, she tried her best to look unmoved.
She was not going to get caught up in a fascination of this man. Even if he was a law-abiding citizen wanting only to find his sister, Eli was still Noah Nash’s brother. And Noah Nash had threatened her and forced her to do and say things that she still struggled with today.
Eli stopped a few feet from her, concern etched in his blue eyes. “I’m sorry.”
She blinked. He was sorry? She hadn’t considered that he might apologize.
A contrite smile formed on his lips. “I was way out of line on Saturday. My mother had told me not to contact you, but I did it anyway.”
Kaylee felt a small surge of victory. She was right—vindicated by this man’s own mother. “Even when she’s so desperate to reach Phoebe?”
Eli straightened. “It does mean a lot to her to find Phoebe,” he answered slowly, “but she didn’t want me just barreling up to you. My mother realizes that you’ve been traumatized. She was worried I would ruin even the slimmest chances of finding Phoebe. But that’s what I did anyway. I’m sorry.”
She returned to her sweeping. “Apology accepted. If you’ll excuse me, I have work to finish before lunch.”
“Your boss said she’d give you an early lunch.”
“She’s feeling bad because of all I went through.”
“You told her?”
She stopped her sweeping. “Like you said, I was on CNN. Must have been a slow week.”
“Hardly. You were tortured for two years!”
“I wouldn’t go that far—”
“I would. My brother kidnapped you.”
“No. I went there willingly. I’d hoped to talk to Trisha, let her know I was worried. I figured she’d come home with me, if only for a short visit. We have mutual friends, an aunt who would have loved to see us…” She heard her words die off.
“But Trisha refused.
