is cute.
Terrell grasped Val’s hand on his right and Joash’s hand on his left. Stephanie jumped as Rick’s large hand wrapped around her smaller one. She had forgotten about the Watkins family tradition of holding hands when they prayed. Stephanie relaxed and wrapped her fingers around Rick’s palm, feeling his calluses and his strength. Tears pricked her eyes again as Haddie’s little fingers grasped her other hand. Stephanie was so grateful to be a part of this circle.
“Father, we thank You for the blessing of this food,” Terrell prayed. “We praise You that Stephanie is safe with us, and we pray that You would continue to watch over her and protect her. Grant her peace and the ability to trust You. Equip Rick and me in our work and help us to bring Julian Hale to justice soon.”
Amens circled the table, but Rick did not drop Stephanie’s hand after the last one. Instead, he squeezed it. She met his gaze. His eyes were amazing. If she had to define the color, she would probably call them hazel, but they had a metallic, reflective quality that gave them a silvery glow. She forgot to blink.
“We’ll find him, Stephanie. I won’t stop until we do.”
“Thank you, Rick,” she whispered. Once again she hoped he knew how much that meant to her.
During the rest of the dinner they all tried valiantly to keep the tone light. The kids finished earlier than the adults and were excused to watch a cartoon and eat their dessert in the living room. Joash skated around the kitchen in his socks, while Haddie bobbed with excitement. Val didn’t let them eat outside the kitchen often.
Stephanie had hardly tasted her food. It was difficult to swallow anything with her stomach in so many anxious knots. She tried to decline dessert, but Val set the pie and mug of hot coffee in front of her despite her protests.
“You are an evil temptress,” Stephanie accused her. Val returned a smug smile.
“Hey, you can tempt me all you want,” Terrell informed his wife, patting the empty spot at the table in front of him. “Where’s my pie?”
“I’ll eat yours for you, Stephanie,” Rick teased. He leaned back in his chair and winked. “It’s a dirty job, but...” He shrugged.
Stephanie pulled her pie close and encircled it with her arms. “Back off, Powell. Now that it’s in front of me, it’s all mine.”
The laughter swirled around her, lifting the weight off her chest. Could we all just stay right here, happy and safe like this? But she knew they couldn’t. It was too soon before Terrell and Rick pushed back from the table, their half-hour lunch break long past.
Terrell pulled Val into his arms and kissed her forehead. A pang of jealousy hit Stephanie as it always did when the Watkinses were affectionate in front of her. Terrell and Val fit together; they had always been a perfect match. What would it feel like to be loved like that?
Terrell walked to Stephanie’s chair and squeezed her shoulder. “Until Hale is captured, I think it is a good idea for you to stay here with us,” he told her. “I can drive you over to your place after work to pick up whatever you need.”
“I don’t want to put you guys in danger,” Stephanie protested. “You said Julian has been following me and had a detailed list of all of my activities. I’m sure your address showed up on that chart a few times.”
“It’s a risk we are willing to take,” Val said, her hands on her hips. “You can’t go back to your house alone.”
Stephanie didn’t like the idea, but where else could she go? Should she try to leave town? What about teaching in the morning? Should she show up at her school or take a leave of absence?
Question after question marched across her mind demanding answers, making her head pound. There were so many details to figure out. She would impose on Terrell and Val only as long as it took for her to figure out an alternative plan.
Haddie waddled into the kitchen rubbing her eyes. Stephanie didn’t know a more adorable little girl. Haddie’s creamy brown skin and melted-chocolate eyes came from Val, but the black hair that her parents left all natural came from her daddy. She always wore bows or headbands, but her beautiful hair made a statement all by itself. Haddie was a walking, talking reminder of Stephanie’s dreams for the future. She reminded Stephanie of all of the girls waiting for her in the Liberian orphanages. Stephanie wanted to fill up those hungry little girls until they radiated as much life, love and health as this sweet girl did.
“Mommy,” Haddie said to Val. She crinkled her button nose. “I no like smoke.”
Val scooped her into her lap. “What, baby? Are you sleepy?”
“No, I not sleepy!” Haddie pounded her fists on her thighs. She tried to get her point across again, “I said, I no like...” but if she finished the sentence, it was impossible to hear her tiny voice over the screaming smoke detector.
The demanding wails of the fire alarm assaulted Rick’s ears as fingers of smoke slithered into the kitchen along the ceiling. The acrid scent and quickly filling air left no doubt that they were dealing with real fire. One of the chairs crashed backward, but no one bothered to set it back up in their haste to escape.
Haddie plugged her ears, her wails competing in volume with the alarm. “Turn it off, Daddy. Turn it off!”
Rick yelled for help into his radio, hoping dispatch could make sense of his words on their end because he was struggling to hear their responses back to him.
“Go to the alley!” Terrell shouted as he pushed the women and Haddie out the kitchen door into the backyard.
The encroaching smoke drove Rick and Terrell to their knees in search of fresher air. Rick began crawling on all fours toward the living room, but Terrell grabbed his shoulder and hollered, “I’ll get Joash,” Terrell pointed at the back door. “The girls shouldn’t be out there alone.”
Did Hale do this? Rick crawled fast for the back door, wondering if the women were in more danger outside all alone than if they had stayed together. Emerging from the house, he drank in the rain-washed air in greedy gulps, thankful to be free of the choking smoke. His eyes still burned as he ran toward the women and Haddie. Although they looked unharmed, their faces were slack with shock, and the orange glow flickering in their eyes made Rick dread turning around to look for himself.
The little blue house, the sweet haven Rick loved, was reducing to a glowing skeleton before his eyes. Giant tongues of fire licked the roofline, then converged into pillars of flame and black smoke billowing into the late-afternoon sky. Burning bits and pieces of the house floated on the air before landing on wet grass and smoldering out. The fire had already consumed the front half of the house, and the glow from the back windows said the kitchen would be next.
Rick imagined the family photos hanging on the walls. He pictured the kids’ bedrooms and their toys. He saw all of the little things that made Val and Terrell’s house a home. He couldn’t stand the thought of it all burning. This was not right, and if this was Hale’s doing, he would pay for it. Rick would make sure of it.
Rick leaned toward the house, eager to go back for Terrell, but the women beside him needed him, too. He was torn about who needed him the most. Hurry up, Terrell.
