Just then, Shannon shuffled in, her hands stuffed in the front pouch of her sweatshirt. Bobbi motioned for her and hugged her. “How was your nap?”
“Best sleep I’ve had in months,” Shannon said, dropping onto the sofa. “Where’s everybody at?”
“Abby and Joel took Ryan and Jack to get snacks and Dad’s making tea. And coffee, I hope.” She joined Shannon on the sofa and pulled the afghan around her shoulders. “Are you warm enough?”
“I’m fine, thanks.”
“You know, you have Christmas presents to unwrap.”
“I don’t deserve—”
Bobbi pointed a finger at her, but the reproof was only halfway teasing.
“I mean, I’ll get to them later.”
“Much better.” She smiled and patted Shannon’s knee.
“So tell me some more stuff. What’s everybody been doing? What about the police? Did they ever find the guy that shot Brad?”
“Oh my goodness! You’ll have to get Jack to tell you. His grandfather showed up at Dad’s office one day in November.”
“No way!”
“He did. He saw the shooting. He had the guy’s name and he went to the police.”
“And?”
“And they called this morning. I haven’t even told your dad yet. Chuck!”
He stepped in the doorway “Yeah? Oh, hey, sweetheart.”
“Detective Ramirez called. They arrested Antoine Miller.”
“Honey, that’s great!”
Bobbi frowned. “He’s trying to negotiate a plea deal.”
“I need to talk to the prosecutor,” Chuck muttered. “We can do better than that.”
“Speaking of prosecutors,” Bobbi said, “is the paper in there?” Chuck returned a few minutes later with the morning newspaper, and Bobbi shuffled the pages around. “Here. You’ll both want to read this,” she said, pointing to the article on Dylan Snider’s arrest.
“Just when I’m about to lose faith in the justice system,” Chuck said, “they come through.”
“Joel said one of those girls was a patient of his. He may have to testify.”
“I’d love to testify against that punk.”
Then Bobbi noticed Shannon sinking back against the sofa, chewing on her bottom lip. “Baby? Everything all right?”
“I feel a little sick.”
“I shouldn’t have had you read it. I’m sorry.”
“No . . . I just . . . I believed him, and everything he ever said was a lie. He said I was amazing, that I was special.”
“Those are true,” Chuck said, and she shook her head.
“Yeah, but he . . . I mean, I let him go too far, and then . . .”
“Oh baby.” Bobbi took her in her arms again, sharing silent tears with her daughter. She rubbed Shannon’s back and spoke gently. “You’ve been through a horrible experience. I wish coming back home could magically erase all that hurt, but I know it doesn’t. We’ll work on it, though, and the healing will come, I promise you that. Healing will come.”
* * *
At the close of the day, after draining the last of the coffee into her mug, Bobbi joined Chuck on the love seat in the study. He slipped his arm around her, and she nestled even closer. “Kids asleep?” he asked.
“I know Shannon is. Jack’s light was still on.”
“I think you were more beautiful today than I’ve ever seen you. There were times when I had to stop what I was doing and just watch you.”
“Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you?”
He shook his head. “No. You had your family all around you . . . I don’t know . . . you just glowed.”
“It was quite a day.”
“We’ve had a few of those over the years, haven’t we?”
“Probably have a few more before it’s all said and done.”
He shifted so he could stretch out his legs. “You know, we need a fireplace in here. That would make it perfect,” he said.
“It’s close enough.”
About The Author
After working several years as research chemist, Paula Wiseman was blessed with the opportunity to stay home with her children and follow the writer’s path. Contingency: Book One: Covenant of Trust Series, her bestselling debut novel, won two Indie Excellence Awards and was a Readers Favorite Winner in Christian fiction. Indemnity, the follow-up, was also an Amazon bestseller and #1 Hot New Release. When she isn’t working on new projects, Paula blogs on matters of life and faith at www.paulawiseman.com.
Precedent: Book Three: Covenant of Trust Series Page 30