Heart of a Hero (New Beginnings Book 4)

by Margaret Daley

  “No, but they glared at Joey as the bus left. I think something bad is going on.”

  “You might very likely be right. Did you say anything to Joey about it?”

  “No, we aren’t exactly friends. I just thought you should know.”

  “If you see those guys again, see if you can find out their names. It might be nothing.” But David thought Andy’s instincts were dead on. One of those older boys could be Joey’s supplier. “Can you describe any of them?”

  “There were three. The one I think is the leader—he did all the talking—is tall, over six feet and muscular like he uses steroids or something. He wore a Mohawk and had several earrings and a nose ring. I used to see him pick up Joey from basketball practice sometimes.” Andy thought for a moment. “His hair’s brown. The others were blond and medium height. I don’t remember much else.”

  “That’s a start. I’ll ask around.” He’d talk with someone in Vice and see if he knew anyone who fit the description.

  “Please don’t say anything to Joey. We have a truce right now, and he’d be mad if he knows I went to you. He saw me when he sat down on the bus. He knows I was watching him.”

  “This will stay between us, but if you see those guys again, let me know.” David picked up the table and started for the entrance. Everything came back to drugs. He’d known when he decided to mentor Joey that he might be thrust into the middle of the drug scene again. Dread blanketed him as he paused on the stoop into the rec hall.

  “Actually, Joey’s been pretty decent at school. Some don’t know what to make of it,” Andy said.

  “No bullying?”

  “Well, he hasn’t totally changed, but not nearly as much. In fact, last week he came to the defense of someone who isn’t a friend.”

  “That’s good.” After Andy opened the door, David entered. “Are you ready to perform tonight?”

  “I don’t understand how Gabe and Terry talked me into singing. But they wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

  “That sounds like your mother.” David searched the large room and found Lisa over by the food tables, helping to set up the goodies for the party after the Christmas program.

  He cared about her more than he should. He should walk away from her before he fell totally in love with her. He wouldn’t be good for her. He carried around too much baggage—the conversation he’d just had with Andy proved that—and Lisa had her life on the right track. Although he hadn’t known her as a drug addict, he’d seen enough of them while patrolling the streets of Dallas to see how much she had changed. That accomplishment awed him. But after the holidays, he needed to back off, let her get on with her life and find someone who’d take care of her. She deserved that much.

  Chapter Twelve

  Andy, Gabe and Terry came out onto the temporary stage in the rec hall to close the Christmas program. Lisa tensed. Andy had practiced for the past several weeks, and she could tell he was very nervous. He hadn’t eaten a bite most of the day.

  Andy rubbed his palms down his new black dress slacks while Gabe stepped forward to announce their song, their updated version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Behind them as the boys sang the first verse, one of the children from the cottage, dressed up as a flamingo in a tutu strutted across the stage. As each stanza was sung, someone illustrated the words.

  She leaned close to David and whispered, “I volunteered to be the three chocolate bars, but the kids told me no adults were allowed on stage.”

  “Yeah, I was getting hungry watching Joey eat the three bars. I wonder how much he had to practice that particular skill.”

  She laughed. “Eating is a skill now?”

  Hannah shifted in her chair toward Lisa. “Shh, you two. I’m trying to listen.”

  “Sorry.” Color flooded Lisa’s face. In her defense she was nervous and needed to do something other than just sitting. Andy’s tension had rubbed off on her throughout the day. On top of that, David had asked her to attend the midnight Christmas service at church. As his date. He’d made that very clear.

  The song ended, and Andy came forward on stage. “We also have a surprise song we’ve been rehearsing for y’all. Just in case you’ve forgotten the reason we’re here celebrating.” Then he took a step back into line with Gabe and Terry.

  Gabe gave a signal to someone off to the side and the music started for “O Holy Night.” By the time the song was over, tears ran down Lisa’s cheeks. She hadn’t realized how beautiful her son’s voice was until he did a solo in the middle. David reached over and took her hand. Her gaze slid to his, and in the depth of his eyes she saw that the words affected him as though he finally got it. He understood what the Christmas season was all about.

  Thank you, Lord.

  When the three boys finished “O Holy Night,” the audience sat for a few seconds in complete silence, then suddenly the room exploded with applause and shouts of “bravo.” David rose, clapping louder than anyone. Lisa’s heart expanded at the sight of her son beaming at the people who filled the hall.

  Andy flew off the stage and planted himself in front of her and David. “What y’all think?”

  “I—I…” She didn’t have the appropriate words to express how moved she’d been.

  Andy’s forehead crinkled.

  “It was fantastic!” David patted him on the shoulder. “I didn’t know you could sing so well.”

  “Neither did I. Gabe’s the singer, but he talked me into doing this with him and Terry. He wanted to surprise his mom.”

  “Well, you surprised me.” Lisa tapped her chest. “I’m rarely without words, but as you can see, I was. David put it nicely.”

  She spied Joey off to the side, watching them. She motioned him over. Reluctantly he prodded toward them, his expression wary.

  “Joey, I was envious of you. I almost leaped on that stage and snatched a chocolate bar from you.”

  He looked away, mumbling something.

  She was almost afraid to ask, “What?” but she did, wanting to include the young teen.

  “They were okay.” He glanced at her. “At least I wasn’t the flamingo in a tutu. I drew the line at that.”

  Andy laughed. “I think we asked every guy involved in the program to do it. We thought it would be funny if a boy was dressed up in that outfit, but we couldn’t get one to agree. If it will make you feel better, you were the last one we asked.”

  Again, Joey mumbled something under his breath, but Lisa didn’t get any sense of hostility coming from the teen—only bafflement at all that was happening.

  “I see Mitch. Gotta go.” Joey shuffled away.

  “It’s okay if I ride to the midnight service with the other kids on the bus?” Andy asked, pulling his attention away from Joey.

  “I figured you would. I have a ride with David. We’ll be sitting with Kelli and her children if you want to join us.”

  Andy studied David for a few seconds. “I kinda told Gabe and Terry I would sit with them.”

  “That’s okay. I’ll see you at the birthday party after the service.”

  “Whose birthday party?” David asked after Andy left, making his way toward the refreshment table.

  “Jesus. By the time the service is over, it will be Christmas. We always have a cake and punch before we go home.”

  “Oh, I should have figured as much. This is all new for me.” He swept his arm to indicate the room full of people celebrating Christmas. “I usually worked the holiday because I didn’t have a family. It gave the guys who did the day off to be with theirs.”

  “Maybe this is your time to enjoy the holidays with family and friends. It sounds like too many years where you didn’t.”

  “Ever since I became a patrol officer. Kelli wasn’t too happy, but she had her children and husband to console her.”

  “Where is Kelli? I thought she was coming with her children.”

  “Abbey threw a fit. Didn’t want to come tonight, so Kelli stayed home to be with her children. She works long hours
and I suspect she feels guilty.”

  “Yeah, guilt can make people do things they don’t want to or shouldn’t.”

  “It can rule a person’s life.”

  The adamant way he said that sentence underscored how much guilt ate at David. “I have firsthand experience about it. Beating yourself up over a regret, trying to ignore it as though it doesn’t exist or playing the blame game won’t take the guilt away. I tried each one of those.”

  He pulled her to the side away from the crowd. “What do you do?” An intensity vibrated off David.

  “Forgive yourself, then move on. Don’t look back. The past can’t be changed. The present and even the future is what’s important.” She was learning that, too. What David was going through only emphasized that. It wasn’t always easy to look forward, but she was making strides in that direction.

  David sighed. “I don’t know if I can do it. It’s not like I haven’t tried.”

  “Maybe you need help.”

  “From you?”

  “No, from someone with more power than me.”

  “Hey, you two, what are you doing off by yourselves,” Hannah said as she approached them in the corner by the stage. She glanced at David, then Lisa. “Did I interrupt something?”

  “No, we were just talking. No big deal.” But the tension in his body conveyed the opposite. “Y’all had a nice turnout.”

  “This seems to get bigger and bigger each year. Before long we’ll need to move to the high school auditorium.” Hannah faced the hall full of people.

  “Well, you’ve got connections since Peter is the principal.” Lisa thought of the present she had for David. More and more she knew it was what he needed to help him move on.

  “C’mon and join in the fun, you two. And please eat some of the ton of dishes we have. I don’t have enough storage places for the leftovers.”

  The rest of the evening at the rec hall sped by with shared laughter, good food and friends. David stayed by Lisa’s side, even put his arm around her shoulder once, pulling her close to him.

  When it was time to head to the church, she grabbed her oversized purse while David helped her with her warm coat. “We need to make a mad dash for your car. The wind is from the north and it’s cold out there.”

  “We might have a white Christmas after all. I know the kids want one.”

  The last Christmas it snowed she’d been beat up and left for dead in an alley by her ex-boyfriend. The memory of snow and Christmas wasn’t a warm one for her. “It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. The children may be disappointed, but there’ll probably be snow for them sometime this winter.”

  “I’m sorry I brought it up. I forgot what you told me about four years ago at this time. I find life doesn’t work out like in one of those holiday movies you see on TV.”

  “Where everything works out perfectly while it begins to snow? I agree.”

  “I believe my cynical attitude is rubbing off more and more on you.”

  “Has my Pollyanna outlook had an effect on you?” Lisa stopped at the entrance into the hall.

  David cocked his head and thought a moment, as though he were mentally reviewing his attitude. Surprise flicked into his gaze. “Actually, it has.”

  Once outside, the bite of the wind pierced through her overcoat. Shivering, she jogged next to David who opened his passenger’s door for her. After he slipped behind the steering wheel, he immediately turned on the car and its heater.

  “It will take a while to warm up,” David said while Lisa rubbed her hands together.

  “I lost my gloves a few weeks ago. I’ve been so busy with the holidays I haven’t had time to get a pair.” She didn’t have much money, so cheap was all she could afford.

  “That’s a perfect opening to this.” Switching on the interior light, David reached into the back seat and brought a wrapped gift to the front, laying it in her lap. “Merry Christmas.”

  “You shouldn’t have,” she whispered, stunned by the gesture. She couldn’t remember a gift at Christmas from a man—one she was interested in. No, it was more than that. One she trusted. One she loved. The feelings stunned her with their power.

  “Lisa, you okay?”

  She gave him a smile. “Yes.” Very all right. She tore into the paper.

  “I wrapped it myself.”

  “Yes, I can tell.” She lifted the top off the oblong box.

  “I know there’s too much tape and I need to work on making the paper even—”

  “David, I love this.” Lisa pulled out first a set of black leather gloves, fur lined, followed by a black cashmere scarf and matching hat. She brought the scarf to her face and relished its softness against her cold skin. “Thank you. This will keep me warm.” She wound it around her neck, then donned the hat and gloves. “What do you think?”

  The softness in his expression matched the feel of the cashmere. “Perfect. I wanted to get you something you could use, and I noticed you didn’t have a hat or gloves. The scarf I threw in extra.”

  She plopped her big purse on her lap and dug into it. “I didn’t want you to see this until I could give it to you privately.”

  He took it from her grasp and looked up at her. “You shouldn’t have.”

  “I could say the same to you.”

  “I thought you only bought gifts for Andy and the needy children.”

  “I made an exception this Christmas.”

  He gingerly peeled back the red-and-silver paper and revealed a black Bible with his name engraved on the front in gold letters. His mouth fell open.

  “If you don’t want it—”

  “No, I don’t have one and have been thinking about getting one.”

  “I noticed in the adult class on Sunday you’ve been asking some questions. I think this will help you answer some of them.” He had been searching for what the Lord wanted from His children, what was expected of him if he was a Christian.

  He leaned over, tugged her across the console and kissed her. “I’m gonna miss you tomorrow.”

  He would spend the day with his sister and her family, while she and Andy went over to Hannah’s as they had for the past few years. “I should be home by seven tomorrow night. Call me and tell me how your day went.”

  He caressed her hair behind her ear. “Can I stop by and tell you in person?”

  “I’ll have the hot chocolate ready. Who knows? I might even bake some ginger snaps.”

  He chuckled and gave her a quick kiss, then straightened and threw the car into reverse. “Are you sure you won’t be home earlier than seven?”

  “Probably not. It’s hard to drag Andy away from his best friends.”

  “I’ve got a gift for Andy, too, but I’ll wait and give it to him tomorrow night.” He threw her a look. “I’m actually looking forward to the day. A first in a long time.”

  * * *

  Lisa scanned the game room that held several groups of mothers and their young children but was otherwise empty. Mitch was seeing to the children and any needs that might arise. After two weeks with the kids off for winter break and spending a great deal of time at The Ultimate Pizzeria, it was almost deserted now that school was back in session.

  Lisa turned into the main dining room. Having been through this before, she wasn’t concerned about the lack of customers. These few hours between lunch and dinner were a good time to do some of her reports for Noah or ordering because this evening would most likely be crowded even on a school night.

  Like her life lately—crowded with activities. She looked forward to some downtime now that the holidays had passed. But when she thought back over the past month with David, she couldn’t help but smile. A special memory was Christmas night when he’d stopped by after being at his sister’s all day. After Andy retired for the night, thrilled by his gift of a ticket to see the pro basketball team in Oklahoma City, David and she had sat in her living room with the lights dim, listening to for one last time Christmas music and talking quietly while sipping hot choco
late. She’d discovered David’s favorite color was green, favorite series of books Winston Churchill’s about World War II and favorite ice cream plain-old vanilla.

  She weaved her way through the maze of tables toward her office in the back behind the counter, greeting a few stragglers enjoying a very late lunch. Out of the corner of her eye a movement caught her attention. She peered over her right shoulder to see David coming into the restaurant, making a beeline for her.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, pausing near the drink fountain.

  “Stopping by to say hi to a friend. I saw your car out front and decided I needed to finally grab something to eat.”

  “Working through lunch again?”

  “Yep. We got a hot tip on the robbery gang, and I just got through booking one of the suspects. It won’t be long before the others are caught. I feel like celebrating tonight. Want to join me for dinner?”

  “Here?”

  David shook his head. “A fancy restaurant. It’s about time I took you some place other than here.”

  She leaned close. “Shh. Don’t let Noah hear you say that.”

  “He’s here?”

  “No, but you never know when he’ll pop in.”

  “Roman told me about this little inn outside of town with a great restaurant, so I think he’ll be okay. Wanna come with me?” he whispered into her ear.

  A shiver zipped down her length from the warm caress of his breath and the minty scent of his toothpaste peppering the air. “You and Roman are becoming quite good friends,” she finally said and took a step back to give her breathing room. His close proximity erased everything but him from her mind.

  “When I’m not around, he’s taking Joey under his wing at the refuge. At least when he’s not fussing over Cathy.”

  “Yeah, I hate she hasn’t been feeling well.”

  “So does Roman.” David’s cell on his belt buzzed. He withdrew it, saying, “I’d better get this. Be just a sec.” David stepped a few feet away, turning from her, and spoke low into the phone.

  She thought she heard him murmur, “I can’t talk. I’ll call you back.”