A sharp ache filled Kate’s chest. “I’m sure they have, Megan. I have a whole list of people I pray for every day, even if I don’t tell them about it all the time. My children, of course. They’re all grown-up, but I still pray for them. And my grandchildren, and my husband. I also pray for people in the church who are sick or facing troubles.”
“Do you ever pray for yourself?”
“Oh yes. Every day. But I try not to pray for material things. Mostly I ask for God’s guidance and his help to achieve his plan for me.”
“Does he listen?”
“I believe he does, yes.”
Megan grew quiet and thoughtful, and Kate hoped she had touched the girl’s heart in some small way that would help her reach out to the Lord.
The windshield wipers continued their steady beat as rain washed over the car.
As they turned onto the gravel drive leading to the Maddocks’ trailer, Megan said, “Do you think God would listen to me?”
“I’m sure he would. You just have to open your heart to him.” Kate brought the car to a halt in front of the trailer.
Megan stared straight ahead at her run-down home with its tilted porch and the rain-soaked laundry hanging on the clothesline. “What do I say?”
“To God?” Kate felt the girl’s struggle, her fears and hopes, the pain of growing up in a difficult situation. “All you have to do is talk to him.” She touched her own chest. “Right from your heart. He’ll understand you.”
Slowly Megan reached for the door handle.
“How about I come in and meet your mother?” Kate spoke hastily, not wanting to lose contact with Megan. “You’re late getting home, and she might be worried about you.”
She shook her head. “Ma’s not home.”
“Oh? She went out somewhere?” As Kate thought about it, she’d never seen a car parked by the trailer. Where would Glynis have gone without a vehicle, in the rain?
“She’s away. That’s all.”
Reaching for the girl’s arm, Kate stopped Megan before she could get out. “What do you mean, she’s away?”
“Just gone. It’s no big deal.”
“Megan, it’s time for you to be honest with me. How long has your mother been gone?”
“She went away for the weekend. She’ll be back. I gotta go—”
“How long ago did she leave?”
Angry, Megan turned on her. “It’s none of your business, okay? And don’t go calling children’s services or anything dumb like that. We’re getting along fine. Stay out of it and leave us alone.” Tears filled her eyes and threatened to spill over.
“Megan, I’m making it my business because I care about you,” she said softly. “I know you’re in trouble and are afraid of something. I’ve sensed it all along. Now tell me what’s going on.”
The girl’s chin trembled. “She told me not to tell anyone.”
“Don’t you think it’s a secret you’ve kept long enough?”
Swiping at her eyes with the heels of her palms, Megan tried to stanch the flow of tears. “Ma left about six weeks ago. She made sure we had plenty of food in the house, and she left me with some extra money. She was gonna come right back after the weekend. She promised. But she hasn’t, and I don’t know what to do. I’m so...s-s-scared.”
Chapter Seven
Kate took Megan in her arms as she would her own child and held the girl tight. The danger, it seemed, was even more serious than Kate had realized.
“It’ll be all right, honey,” she soothed, fighting the threat of her own tears.
At thirteen, Megan shouldn’t have been faced with such an adult responsibility, having to hold her family together and care for her younger siblings. It was too big a burden for her slender shoulders to bear.
“Shh, now, we’ll work it out. I promise.”
“But why hasn’t Ma come home?” Megan sobbed and hiccuped.
“I don’t know, honey.” But sure as the sun rose in the East, Kate was going to find out. Rich or poor, what mother would desert her children for six weeks? It was beyond comprehension. “Has your mother called you?”
Sniffling, Megan shook her head. “The phone company turned off the phone. I think Ma forgot to pay the bill.”
Kate found a tissue in her purse and handed it to Megan. “Let’s get you inside. You can change out of your wet clothes, and we’ll talk about—”
“You can’t tell anyone that Ma’s gone, MizHanlon. You can’t!” She wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
“But you need help,” Kate said.
“If you tell, children’s services will come after us kids. They’ll separate us and put us in foster care. Ma will never be able to find us again, and I won’t be able to take care of Gwen and Beck.”
It sounded as if Megan had either been told dire tales about the foster-care system or been a part of it at one time.
“What makes you think you’d be separated? I understood they tried to keep siblings together.”
“But they can’t. Practically nobody wants three kids. And Beck’s dyslexic. Sometimes he gets really frustrated and angry. They’d stick him someplace just to get rid of him. Gwen would be okay, if she’s lucky.”
“And you?”
“I’m a teenager.” She said the word as though announcing she was a rattlesnake. “They’d put me in some stupid group home with a bunch of druggies and dropouts.”
Gently, with her heart nearly breaking for the child, Kate pushed Megan’s straight hair back from her face. “How do you know all this?”
She shrugged. “Other kids. Ones at school. And where we used to live.” She swallowed hard. “Ma told me to take care of Gwen and Beck. I can’t break my word. I’ll take them and run away if I have to, but we’re not going to foster care.” She set her chin at a determined angle that said she meant business.
“At this point, no one is threatening you with foster care. I’m just trying to help you.” Please, Lord, I need your help more now than ever. What should I do?
“Beck said your father’s in jail?”
Megan nodded.
“Do you have any aunts or uncles who could look out for you until your mother comes back?” If she’s coming back, Kate thought with a combined surge of anger and fear for the children.
“Nope.”
“Grandparents?”
The teen shook her head.
“Close friends of the family? Maybe one of your neighbors here?” There had to be someone who could love and care for these children.
“There’s nobody. Ma doesn’t like any of these neighbors and doesn’t talk to ’em. Says we’re supposed to stay clear of ’em. I’m the only one that can take care of Gwen and Beck.”
But you’re only thirteen, Kate wanted to say. Not that it would have made any difference to Megan. Not when she’d made up her mind that there were no other choices available. As an adult, Kate knew there had to be.
The most obvious choice was for the children to move in with her and Paul, temporarily.
“Let’s go inside. The three of you can pack up a few things. You’re coming to my house.”
Megan stared at her blankly. “We’re okay like we are.”
“How much food do you have in the house? Have you got anything besides peanut butter to eat? Gwen and Beck are too little to go without healthy meals.” She softened her tone. “You’re not okay, honey. No one should have expected you to be okay for this long. You can stay with me and my husband. Together we’ll figure out what to do.”
Megan’s chin started to tremble again, and she bit her lip. “What if Ma comes back? She won’t know where we’ve gone.”
“We’ll leave her a note.”
“You’re not going to call children’s services, are you?”
“No, I won’t call anyone, unless I absolutely have to, and that’s certainly not going to happen tonight.”
Kate went into the trailer with Megan. The living room-kitchen combination was neater than she might have expected. Beck
and Gwen were sitting on a tired salmon-colored couch watching a static TV. They looked up in alarm.
“It’s all right,” Kate said. “I know your mother’s away, so you three are going to come spend a few days with me.”
They checked with Megan to be sure she approved of the plan.
Since they didn’t have suitcases, Kate found some large black garbage sacks for them to fill with their clothes and personal items. While they were packing, she walked over to the phone on the kitchen counter, planning to leave a note for Glynis.
She moved aside a pile of school papers, searching for something to write on. Beneath the clutter, what she found made her blood run cold.
On a notepad, someone had printed the words Run! Run!! Run!!! in increasingly large letters as though they were terrified. The handwriting looked decidedly adult.
Was Glynis in trouble? Is that why she hadn’t returned? Had she been warned of the danger and fled? Without her children?
Tearing off the note, she slipped it into her handbag. Then she wrote her own message, leaving her name and phone number so Glynis could reach her and the children. If she returned.
On a hunch, she picked up the phone. No dial tone.
The unpaid telephone bill was stuck under the phone. Kate took a quick look. She wrote down Glynis’ phone number listed on the bill and dropped that in her purse as well.
Megan appeared from the back of the trailer carrying a heavy black garbage bag over her shoulder and shoving a cardboard box in front of her with her feet.
Puzzled, Kate asked, “What’s in the box?”
“My cornhusks and some ol’ scraps of material. If I’m going to make more dolls, I’ve gotta have my stuff.”
“Of course.”
“Beck’s good jeans are out on the clothesline. I gotta go get ’em and the other stuff too.” Megan headed for the door.
“No, you’ve gotten soaked enough for one day.” Kate pulled the last empty garbage bag from the box. “You make sure Gwen and Beck have everything they need and use the umbrella to walk them to the car. I’ll be right there. And lock the front door on your way out.”
“The lock’s broken. Has been forever. We don’t have anything worth stealing anyway. The TV barely even works.”
From the looks of things, Kate figured that was probably true.
As she hurried out the door and around to the side of the trailer where the laundry was hanging, she noticed that someone had tipped over the trash can and strewn the contents across the yard. She wouldn’t take time to pick up the soggy mess now.
Even though the rain had slowed, Kate worked quickly, snatching the sopping wet clothes from the clothesline and dropping them in the bag. She’d run them through the dryer at home.
She was reaching for the last piece, one of Beck’s T-shirts, when she heard a rustling noise in the nearby stand of trees.
Thinking one of the children had come out to retrieve something, she turned. “We can come back tomorrow—”
No one was there. Only shadowed woods.
A tremor of fear prickled the hairs on the back of her neck.
She dropped Beck’s T-shirt into the bag.
When she looked up, she saw something moving between the trees and quickly vanish into the dark shadows.
A person? An animal? The culprit who’d turned over the trash can?
Run!
Hastily she picked up the bag and hurried to the car.
PAUL’S PICKUP WAS IN THE GARAGE when Kate arrived home with the children. She parked the Honda beside the truck.
Paul opened the door that led from the house to the garage, calling to Kate. “Hi, honey, I was beginning to—”
Megan got out of the car, quickly followed by Gwen and Beck. Kate popped the trunk before she exited the car.
“Paul, you remember the Maddock children—Megan, Gwen, and Beck. They’re going to be staying with us for a while.”
Visibly surprised, he quickly recovered. “Terrific. We always like having company. Come on in.” He held the door open.
“Come on, kids. Grab your things from the trunk. Megan, you can put your box of supplies in my studio under the drawing table.”
Megan made sure her siblings got their own bags and carried them inside. She trudged in after them.
“Could you get the air mattress out?” Kate asked Paul. “I’ll have to put the girls on the foldout couch in your study. We can use that portable privacy screen that’s in the garage and make a space for Beck in the corner of the living room. He can sleep on the air mattress.”
“What’s going on?” Paul whispered.
“Their mother left six weeks ago and hasn’t been heard from since,” she whispered back, reaching up to kiss him.
He touched her damp hair. “Looks like you got caught in the rain.”
“I did. We’ll talk more later.”
All three children were huddled together in the middle of the living room. Although they’d been inside the house once before to use the restroom, they looked lost.
“This is the biggest living room I’ve ever seen,” Beck said.
“This house belongs to the church. It’s the parsonage,” she explained. “Sometimes we have church meetings here, which is why this room is so large.”
“We’ve never lived in a house with a fireplace.” Gwen cautiously approached the river-rock fireplace in the corner and peered up at the chimney.
Paul appeared from the garage with the air mattress.
“Maybe after dinner Paul can start a fire for us,” Kate said. “Right now we’d better get the beds made up. Paul, can you and Beck blow up the air mattress? You know where the extra sheets and blankets are. The girls and I will handle the foldout couch.”
“Got it.” Paul hooked one arm around Beck’s shoulders. “Come on, buddy. Let’s get you set up for where you’re going to sleep.”
After the beds were made up, Kate started dinner. Spaghetti seemed like the easiest thing to pull together in a hurry. Besides, it was a dish universally enjoyed by youngsters.
She put a pound of ground meat in a frying pan to brown for the sauce and got down one of her largest pots to cook the pasta.
“Do you children have homework?” she asked as they wandered into the kitchen.
“Do we gotta do homework?” Beck complained.
“You bet you do. When my children were growing up, they did their homework right on that oak table over there. Go get whatever you need. Paul will help you.”
Beck remained reluctant but did as he was told. Megan said she’d done her homework during a free period at school and sat down to help Gwen with her math.
Kate was struck by how familiar the scene appeared. Three youngsters at her old oak table, well-chewed pencils in hand, laboriously doing their schoolwork. Paul had the patience of Job as he worked with the boy, even when Beck lost control and threw his pencil across the room.
“I can’t do this!” Beck screamed. He folded his arms across his narrow chest and stubbornly pushed out his lower lip.
Megan and Gwen watched expectantly for what would happen next.
Paul gave Beck a moment to pout before he interceded. “You know what, buddy? There are lots of things I can’t do. But if it’s something important, like schoolwork, then God wants me to at least try.”
“God doesn’t care about any ol’ schoolwork.”
“He cares about you. That’s the important thing. He doesn’t need you to be perfect in everything you do, but he does want you to do the very best you can.”
Beck laid his head down on his arm. “I’m stupid.”
“I don’t think so,” Paul said. “God made some people good at math and some good at spelling and some good at sports. What are you good at, Beck?”
“Nothin’.”
“He’s a real good artist,” Megan volunteered. “He likes to paint and color and things like that.”
“Me too,” Gwen said. “I like to draw houses and people and trees and dogs. We’ve nev
er had a dog, but I want one someday.”
“Really?” Paul leaned back in his chair and winked across the room at Kate. “How about flying kites? Have you ever done that?”
Suddenly interested, Beck lifted his head. “Nuh-uh.”
“Well, now, let me tell you about the kite contest we’re going to have right here in Copper Mill.”
Listening to her husband explain the Old Timer’s Day kite decorating and flying contest, Kate got down a jar of homemade spaghetti sauce she’d made with tomatoes she’d bought from a local farmer. She poured the sauce into one of her Mauviel pans and added the browned meat.
By the time the sauce was simmering, the noodles had cooked, a tossed green salad had been made, and Beck had struggled through the rest of his homework—motivated by Paul’s promise to help all the children make kites.
“Time to set the table,” Kate announced. “Gwen, you can do the silverware. And Megan, would you get some plates down for us, please?” Kate gestured toward the cupboard that contained the dishes. “Beck, how about clearing off the table for us?”
The children scurried around to do their respective tasks. Soon everything was ready, and they all sat down at the table. Beck’s eyes were so wide, he looked as though he was ready to jump into the big bowl of spaghetti and eat it all by himself.
“One of our customs is to say grace before dinner. Will you join us?” Kate asked.
Hesitantly, as though unfamiliar with the tradition, the children folded their hands in front of them. Kate nodded for Paul to begin.
“Dear Lord, thank you for bringing Megan, Gwen, and Beck to stay with us for a while. Help us to be kind to each other and learn your loving ways. Bless this food to your service and guide us along your path. Amen.”
Kate echoed her husband’s “Amen.”
“Can I ask God to bring back our Ma?” Megan asked.
“Of course,” Paul said.
Megan squeezed her eyes tightly shut. “God, I don’t know if you can hear me or not. But if you can, would you please find our Ma and bring her back home? We miss her something fierce. Amen.”
Kate pressed her lips together, struggling against the burn of tears in her eyes. Please, Lord, hear Megan’s prayer and help these children.
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