The Earth Is Full (Child of Deliverance Series Book 1)

by B. D. Riehl

  Kiet weaved them in and out of crowds and Lydia was invigorated by the culture clash. She heard French, German, Thai, Chinese, and English spoken all around her. She knew from last night that plenty of dark activities went on, even here, but the atmosphere was so different.

  For the first time in her life, she looked at the people around her for what they were: God’s creation, His design and plan, and she couldn’t believe how much that one detail had changed her entire perception. She felt giddy and Michelle caught the silly smile on her face.

  “Wow, you’re really excited Kiet came, aren’t you?” she teased.

  Lydia, embarrassed, glanced at Kiet to see if he heard. But the market hummed with activity and the men were too far ahead. Still, she looped an arm through Michelle’s and whispered back, “He is nice and it will be wonderful to have someone here that can speak the language, but it’s honestly not that. I’m just happy.” She stopped and looked into Michelle’s eyes. “Life is brand new to me. I have never felt this invigorated before. Is this just a crazy sleep deprived thing? Can Christ really change us this much this fast?”

  Michelle smiled at her. "I believe He can. I also think He’s been pursuing you for a while. Now that you’ve stopped running, it makes sense that your soul is rejoicing at being found. All of heaven is rejoicing.”

  Lydia hugged her tight. The girls pulled away when Kiet and Luke called for them.

  “Seriously, ladies, we’ll check out the purses in a bit, no need to cry about it!” Luke shook his head at them dramatically, a teasing glint in his eye.

  Michelle and Lydia laughed out loud, wiping happy tears from their eyes. When they caught up to the guys, Lydia gave Kiet a no-nonsense face.

  “Okay, if I’m going to eat a bug, it needs to be now, while I’m hungry enough to do it.”

  The wide-eyed surprise on her companions’ faces made Lydia giggle.

  Kiet held out his arm to her like a southern gentleman caller. “Well, then by all means, let’s go.”

  A few booths down they found them, a cart full of fried insects that would have scared the life out of Lydia if she’d come across them while they were still able to crawl. Now she was actually going to put one in her mouth.

  Fried silk worms: white and skinny with black eyes, grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, even scorpions. She felt her mouth go hot and her stomach churn as she looked them over, half expecting the table of insects to come back to life and charge at her.

  Kiet wiggled his eyebrows at her. “What will it be, milady?”

  She swallowed hard and stared.

  “You don’t have to do this, you know.” Kiet’s breath was warm on her cheek as he leaned into her, privately providing her a gracious out.

  Lydia shook her head, determined to go ahead. “Nope. I’m ready. You pick, but here’s the deal: Whatever you pick, you have to eat too.”

  Kiet smiled at her. “Alriiight.” He rubbed his hands together and turned to the man behind the cart. The two spoke in Thai for a minute, Kiet asking questions, the man explaining and gesturing.

  Finally, the man pointed at the scorpions, and Lydia felt her stomach drop. Kiet exchanged money with the Thai man and turned to Lydia, holding one of them out to her on a skewer. She hesitated for a minute while she looked over the intimidating creature, trying best to determine where to even grab it.

  She looked at the tail and shriveled stinger. “Wait…is there still poison in it?” She almost hoped Kiet would say he wasn’t sure and pick something else. Her eyes shifted to the cart. Those silk worms were looking pretty tasty—and small.

  Kiet’s eyes twinkled at her. “On the count of three, okay? One, two…”

  Lydia closed her eyes and heard Michelle squeal when she bit off a big chunk before he got to three. The legs were crunchy, but the body was tough, which surprised her. Her mouth filled with an overwhelmingly bitter taste, made slightly salty by whatever spice it had been seasoned with. She winced from the flash of Michelle’s camera behind her closed lids and swallowed quickly before she shoved the rest of the skewer into her mouth, carefully scraping the remainder of the body off with her teeth. Her lips curled and her nose flared while she chewed furiously.

  Lydia peeked one eye open and saw Kiet standing there, his scorpion still in hand, mouth agape. She swallowed and flapped her hands in the air. “Water!” she spurted.

  Kiet spun around and purchased a bottle of water from the cart.

  She unscrewed the cap and downed half of the warm liquid before she took a deep breath and glared at Kiet. “I can’t believe you didn’t eat it!” Her voice was gargled, scratchy from the bitter coating in her mouth. She cleared her throat and took another drink.

  Kiet, eyes still wide, sputtered, “I didn’t think you would! I thought you would chicken out!”

  They stood staring at one another; she swishing water in her mouth, trying to discreetly spit it out so as not to offend the Thai man that sold those nasty things for a living; he with a soft expression she couldn’t decipher. Finally, Lydia began to laugh, a deep down laugh that started in her belly and rang out across the busy street.

  Kiet laughed with her. “I just can’t believe you ate it!” he exclaimed.

  “Yeah, well, I’m full of surprises lately.” She smiled at him. “But you’re still holding an uneaten scorpion. Get munching, mister.”

  Kiet shook his head and mumbled under his breath, “I can’t believe this farang ate a scorpion before I did!”

  Once he quit grumbling, he considered the scorpion and bared his teeth as he ate the legs, then the rest of it. His reaction was very similar to Lydia’s, and he drank what was left of her water. Lydia turned to Michelle and Luke, who stood back, enjoying the show.

  “What do you guys think?” she asked. “Does Kiet owe us dinner, or should we just enjoy the delicacies on this corner?”

  Michelle shook her head and held out her hands in protest. “Hey, I was promised Thai cuisine. I’m thinking I’ll just let you two share this experience.”

  They walked on, Lydia and Kiet teasing Luke and Michelle with their black tongues. Kiet stopped periodically at different carts and purchased a few bags of food at each one before they found a table in front of one of the booths and spread out the bounty.

  “Okay,” Kiet passed out portions from each bag in Styrofoam boxes, “we’ve got gai sup bon kok, which is fried chicken, pla sup bon kok, which is balls of—”

  “Fish!” Lydia interrupted. “I can smell it. That’s what that thing tasted like. I hate fish.” Lydia crinkled her nose and passed the steaming bowl of deep fried fish, shaped into large balls, to Michelle across the table.

  Her companions just stared at her.

  “Seriously?” Luke asked. “You just ate a scorpion.”

  “Exactly,” Lydia said in a playfully sassy tone. “And I’m not going to eat anything else nasty tonight.”

  Kiet shook his head, but his lips curled upward slightly. “Let’s leave the lady be, then.” He continued to set food on the table. “Naam dtohk moo, basically a pork dish that has peppers, garlic, mint, and other delicious things.” He pulled two more containers out of the bag. “Sticky rice for everything and fresh pineapple for dessert.”

  The three tourists cheered, and after Kiet said grace, they all tucked into their meal with relish. Everything was delicious and Lydia was sure this would be a meal she would never forget.

  Once they cleared the table and began to walk back to the shoppers’ portion of the market, something caught Michelle’s eye and she and Luke stopped. The owner spoke English and Michelle waved Kiet and Lydia on. “We’ll catch up with you,” she promised.

  “So, how was today?” Kiet asked, touching her elbow to guide her around a large group posing for a photo.

  “Incredible,” she breathed, embarrassed to say more. After all, how did she go from such doubt just the night before to such assurance this afternoon? She fingered the bracelet Kiet had given her.

  He ducked to look into her
eyes. “Incredible, huh?”

  She looked around in exasperation, pulled him out of the stream of shoppers with two hands on his arm. “Kiet, this is all so new to me. I am a selfish, materialistic woman. Even back there.” She pointed in the direction of the booths full of designer jeans. “I felt a ridiculous excitement come over me over all of the clothes and accessories I could buy for cheap. Thankfully, we’re only allowed one small suitcase on this trip, or you might not have been able to get me out of there.” She took a deep breath.

  His eyes were warm as they looked into hers. Open. Accepting.

  She rushed on. “That…that’s the real me. I'm the girl that shops and thinks only about how to express herself through dressing to show off my body. I don't even know what I'm trying to express other than I can do what I want. I'm just the girl who doesn’t care about God or anybody else.”

  Kiet’s eyes softened as hers misted over.

  “Since early this morning, though, I’ve been thinking about this God you’ve all been telling me about. The One you make sure those girls know about. The One that you say cares so very deeply for us and is actively involved in our lives. I’ve been looking into the bright smiles of those girls all day and thinking, only a God like that could accomplish this joy in the lives of these broken people. It’s embarrassing because I’ve been fighting this for most of my life. And in one little day…” She held up her finger and thumb, indicating a small amount. “In just a few hours, I flipped around completely. From agnostic to born-again Christian. Is that even possible?”

  Lydia shook her head and whispered in self-mockery. “Am I even allowed in this club after my years of rejection?”

  Kiet, in what was becoming a familiar gesture, gripped her chin and lifted her eyes to his. “Lydia, do you know that heaven rejoices over you the same way we rejoice when a girl is rescued? This isn’t some flippant choice; God is a pursuer of souls. This trip, your friend Michelle, your sister’s service in Cambodia, none of it is coincidence. All of this is in line with His plans. Don’t be ashamed! Embrace it! I, for one, am so very happy that you know Him.”

  She sniffed, her stomach flipping. “You are?”

  “Of course. I want all to know Him and be assured of His love.”

  “Right. Of course,” she said, averting her eyes, afraid he would see that she felt slightly let down.

  He let go of her chin to gently grasp her upper arms and pull her a little closer. She gazed into his warm brown eyes. The bustle of the market melted around them, and her heart pounded in her ears. She had never had a man look at her so tenderly, never laughed so hard with the opposite sex, never been treated as well as Kiet treated her. She’d never felt so innocent in the eyes of a guy before. Lydia smiled tenderly and tilted her head at him, drinking in his handsome face.

  Kiet had a strong jaw, a small scar above his eyebrow that she longed to reach out and trace. He smiled back at her, his eyes searching her face, landing on her lips. She chewed her bottom lip nervously, and he looked away and then back into her eyes, not saying a word, his eyes telling her secrets she didn’t understand. He took his right hand from her arm and cupped her cheek with it. She closed her eyes in contentment. She felt warm and safe. Happy.

  “Kiet Thomas? I thought that was you!” A deep voice boomed behind Lydia, interrupting their private moment.

  Kiet flinched before he let go of Lydia’s arms and looked around her to the source of the voice that now shouted.

  “Guys! I told you! C’mere!”

  Lydia turned around to find an American man in his mid-twenties standing just a few feet away, waving to a group of boisterous men. Slightly overweight and sweating profusely, he wore a backward baseball cap, cargo shorts, and a T-shirt with a cartoon of an Asian woman in high heels posed in a provocative position. Lydia curled her lips in disgust before Kiet pulled at her hand and positioned himself in front of her.

  The man turned from calling his friends and thumped Kiet on the shoulder. “Man, I followed all of your matches, even traveled here a few years ago to watch you in that championship.” He leaned forward, and Lydia could smell the alcohol on his breath from behind Kiet’s shoulder. “I, uh, lost quite a bit of money on that last match, you know.”

  His friends arrived, and all clapped Kiet on the shoulder. Suddenly men, infused with cheap beer, talking too loudly about boxing in terms that Lydia didn’t understand, surrounded her. She watched Kiet do his best to be polite, but his forced, tight smile suggested that he was extremely uncomfortable. His arms hung casually, but she could see him clench and unclench his hands.

  When the group began to urge Kiet to join them for their next destination, he refused.

  The first man groaned, “Man, you don’t know how much money you made me lose. You owe me!”

  Kiet shook his hand and leaned close to tell the man something Lydia couldn’t hear. Another member of the group made his way to Lydia, now slightly separated from Kiet by the rest, and offered her a sip of his beer. His breath reeked, and she tried to breathe through her mouth and keep a straight face.

  “No, thank you.”

  He tried to shove the cup in her face. Kiet turned toward them and set the man away from her, spilling the amber liquid down the man’s front.

  The sour smell filled the air. The man, seething, charged; his head aimed at Kiet’s midsection. Within seconds the two were wrestling on the ground.

  Michelle appeared next to Lydia, her eyes wide, a small paper bag in her hands. While the group formed a circle around the guys, Luke stepped in to help Kiet, but was held back by the first sweaty man who screamed in excitement, “Yeah! Here we go, boys! Here we go!”

  Kiet easily twisted free of the man, and punched him once in the stomach—hard. He stepped back as the opponent dropped to his knees and spit into the ground, clutching his middle.

  Kiet looked each man in the group in the eye, a silent challenge. All stepped back, their hands, some still holding plastic cups of beer, raised in surrender. Kiet jutted his chin at Luke, then grabbed Lydia and Michelle and walked purposefully away from the group.

  None of them noticed the man that watched it all quietly from the shadows. Nor did they know he and others had been watching Kiet with his new friends the entire evening and had paid careful attention to his intimate moments with Lydia. He had heard the group of drunk Americans discuss a recent boxing match and pointed to Kiet Thomas questioningly, wondering aloud if he was the famous boxer from years ago. The man was amused when they fell for the act and immediately surrounded Kiet, making him uncomfortable. Kiet moved protectively in front of the girl and the man knew Kiet was concerned for her safety.

  “Finally, Kiet.” The man took a long draw on a cigarette, the orange light illuminating his face for an instant. He dropped his hand back to his side, smoke escaping with his next words. “It’s good to see you are still a man. I was beginning to wonder. And what a nice little farang you’ve found.”

  The man flicked his cigarette to the ground, grinding it absentmindedly with his toe while he touched the face of his phone and composed a quick text with the tip of his finger. Others like him were immediately dispatched to follow Kiet and Lydia as they made their way through the crowds.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Charlotte was exhausted, tired, dirty—soul worn and broken. As the plane descended into Boise, she leaned her forehead against the window, watching as the morning sun spread its light over the patchwork quilt that she called home. She felt a stirring of comfort as the plane dipped low over the large movie theater where she had first seen “Titanic” as a teen, then over her old neighborhood, just blocks away from the theater. She knew from experience that if she looked close enough, she could see her old house.

  The plane dipped and the pilot’s voice came over the speaker, instructing the attendants to prepare for landing. Charlotte braced herself for the bumpy touch down. Even more, she braced herself for the feel of her home soil beneath her feet. She would soon be where her heart r
esided, with her girls and Sam, but a chunk of her had been left in Cambodia.

  She had spent the taxing journey in tears and murmured prayers of thanksgiving and despair. Her heart had been broken. Ripped from her and handed over to a stranger in a foreign land, never to be seen or heard from again. Her only solace was that the piece of her heart belonged to Christ, and only He could be trusted to watch over what she couldn’t.

  She couldn’t wait to wrap her arms around her family, but knew a shower and bed was all she could muster. Thankfully, Sam had the foresight to know how difficult it would be for her when she returned; the girls would be desperate to play with her, cuddle with her, talk with her. Instead, they arranged for Stacey to pick Charlotte up from the airport and let her sleep for a few hours at her home before she surprised the girls at a park that afternoon.

  The plane taxied in and the door to the gate was opened. When other passengers began to file off, Charlotte held back and went through the motions. Once she left the plane, she knew that her time with Noah would be more memory than reality.

  She took a deep breath and walked off of the plane, through the airport, and finally into her mother’s outstretched arms. She became unglued and sobbed, deep, gut wrenching sobs into her mother’s shoulder. She knew people were staring, but she didn’t care. Stacey pulled her tighter. Mother and daughter sank to the floor in a heap.

  Charlotte couldn’t remember the last time she had sobbed into her mother’s neck this way. She felt secure and warm and, eventually, her tears subsided enough for her to dig in her bag for a handkerchief.

  “Oh, Sweetie,” Stacey, eyes red as well, tucked a strand of loose hair behind Charlotte’s ear, “I’m so sorry.”

  Charlotte nodded. “This is crazy, Mom. So I cared for a baby for a little over a week? Why does it feel like my own child has been taken from me?”

  Stacey looked up as a distracted businessman almost walked over them. He cursed at them under his breath as he returned to typing on his phone and swerved around them.