Mistletoe Prayers

by Marta Perry

  Annabel exchanged glances with Amanda, knowing they were both thinking the same thing. Where was the boy? Was he safe?

  “I’ll take this side.” Amanda gestured to the area of church lawn to the right of the sidewalk. “You take the other. Tell them to gather in front of the stable.”

  Annabel nodded, used to Amanda taking the lead. After all, she’d been doing that since they were born. She hurried across the lawn, catching parents and children as she went and sending them back to the stable, not pausing to explain.

  In a few minutes, they’d collected everyone who was still on the premises. Some would have left as soon as the pageant was over. Amanda would have a list. They could start calling.

  Pastor Tim raised his hands for quiet. “Sorry to keep y’all, but we need to locate Kyle Morrison. He was supposed to wait for his parents, but he’s not here. Has anyone seen him since the end of the program?”

  Annabel’s hands clenched into fists. Pastor Tim was deliberate. Better than rushing off in all directions at once. Better than alarming everyone. But she wanted to do something—anything.

  A few people raised their hands at the pastor’s question. “We’ll want to talk to each of you,” he said. “Everyone else can go on home, if you want.”

  One of the deacons exchanged glances with his wife. “We’ll stay and help look for the boy,” he said.

  Other heads nodded. Within minutes, small groups started searching the church, the education building and the grounds.

  Annabel surveyed the small group, which had admitted seeing Kyle after the program ended. Her gaze lingered on Charlie. He looked down, intent on digging a hole in the turf with his toe.

  She put a gentle hand on his shoulder and squatted down. “Charlie, did Kyle say anything to you tonight?”

  He shrugged, not meeting her eyes. “I dunno.”

  She touched his chin, urging his face up, and gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Come on, Charlie. Nobody’s mad at you. But we need to find Kyle. He could get hurt out there by himself at night.” A shiver went through her at the truth of the words.

  Please, God, keep him safe.

  Charlie’s lips trembled, and he pressed them together. Then he nodded. “Okay. He said as how he wasn’t goin’ home tonight.” He looked at her, eyes wide, and she thought he was telling the truth. “That’s all I know, honest, Miz Annabel. I didn’t see him go.”

  She gave the boy a quick hug. “Okay, Charlie. It’s not your fault.”

  “He should have told us that right away.” Judith Morrison dashed tears away with a quick gesture. “We have to find Kyle. We have to!”

  “We will,” Pastor Tim said. “The police—”

  Judith shook her head. “No. Not the police. They’d scare him. Can’t we find him ourselves?”

  “When he ran away before, we found him at a friend’s house.” Don Morrison’s voice was tight with strain. “Let’s make some calls.”

  Annabel tugged on Pastor Tim’s arm, drawing him a little aside. “I think the police should be called.” She said the words quietly, not eager to get into open conflict with the Morrisons. “No matter why Kyle ran away, this is getting too serious.” Surely, if the police became involved, the truth would come out.

  “I agree,” he said. “If the parents don’t locate him with any of his friends, I’ll take the responsibility on myself to call the police.” He paused, looking at her searchingly. “Do you think he could be trying to go to the farm? It’s obvious he loves the place.”

  “I don’t know how he’d get there, but it’s worth trying.” She dug in her bag for her keys. “I’ll go check. I have my cell phone with me. Call me if you learn anything.”

  “Right. Don’t worry too much.” He smiled faintly. “Praying is much more useful.”

  “I know.” Keys gripped in her hands, she set off toward her car at a run. If there was any chance Kyle had gone to the farm, she’d find him. And she’d get the truth out of him, one way or another. This situation couldn’t go on.

  She was pulling out of the lot when she realized there was one other place Kyle might have gone, to one other person he seemed to trust—Travis. He could have gone to Travis.

  Chapter Nine

  Travis stopped halfway down the stairs at the Bodine house when the front door burst open. Annabel shot into the hallway. One look at her white, strained face told him that something was very wrong.

  He bolted down the steps, conscious only of the need to reach her, and grasped her arms.

  “What is it? Are you hurt?” The need to take care of her overwhelmed him like a giant wave at sea, crashing through all his barriers.

  “It’s Kyle.” She gasped out the words, her voice shaking. Her fingers closed over his forearms. She took a breath. “He’s not here?” Her gaze searched his face. “I thought he might come to you.”

  “I haven’t seen him since the pageant.” He clasped her hands in both of his. “What’s happened? Did he run away again?”

  She nodded, seeming to regain her composure with each passing second. “I…I’m sorry if I startled you. I just felt so panicky all of a sudden.” She drew her hands away. “We’d finished, and we were clearing up when Kyle’s parents came for him. He wasn’t there.”

  “They hadn’t come to the Nativity?” The memory of the emotions that had flooded him came back, and he set it aside. Right now, he had to concentrate on the boy.

  “Apparently, Mr. Morrison had been away on business, and his wife went to the airport to pick him up. They didn’t get there until it was over.” Her eyes darkened. “And Kyle was gone.”

  “Didn’t anyone see—”

  “He apparently told Charlie he wasn’t going home, but he didn’t say anything more. We have people searching the church and the surrounding area, and Kyle’s mother is calling his friends.”

  “You thought he might come to me.” He frowned, not sure he wanted to take hold of that idea.

  “I was actually headed for the farm. Pastor Tim thought he might try to go there. And then I thought of you.” Her face seemed so vulnerable as she looked up at him. “He admires you, you know.”

  He shook his head, not entirely sure what he was rejecting. “How would he get to the farm? Isn’t it more likely he’s hiding at the church?”

  “If he is, they’ll find him.” She took a step away from him. “I’m going to check the farm. I’ll let you know what hap pens.”

  Anger seemed to come from nowhere. “You think I’ll just ignore the fact that a kid is missing? I’m coming with you.” He beat her to the door. “Let’s go.”

  In minutes, they were leaving Mt. Pleasant behind, headed north toward the farm. His fists clenched on his knees, feelings tumbling through him crazily.

  “You think this is my fault, don’t you?” The words shot out, carried by a gust of guilt and anger.

  “No, of course I don’t.” Her gaze scanned the sides of the road as she drove.

  He did the same, sweeping his eyes from side to side, as if he were searching gray waves for the sign of a survivor. “You wanted me to talk to Kyle. You think if I had that none of this would have happened.”

  “Stop telling me what I think.” Annabel snapped the words right back at him. Then she shook her head, her lips trembling a little. “Please, Travis. There’s no use in blaming ourselves. If you’d talked to him, if I’d talked to him, if Pastor Tim had gone to social services with your suspicion…none of that does any good now. We just have to find him. Then we’ll sort the rest of it out.”

  She was probably right, but… “You don’t think it’s telling that Kyle ran away just when his father was due home?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.” She stared ahead, obviously straining to see the sides of the road in the near-dark.

  He rubbed the back of his neck, unable to erase the tension. His throat was tight, but he knew he had to speak.

  “It’s not that I don’t want to talk to the boy. I can’t.” His throat closed, and
he shook his head. “I can’t. That’s the only way I know to deal with my past.”

  She didn’t speak for a moment, flipping on the turn signal as the sign for the farm appeared ahead of them. “Miz Callie always says the past is for learning from, not for living in.”

  “I’m not. I don’t.” The thought sent a wave of revulsion through him. “That’s the last thing I’d do.”

  He expected an argument. He didn’t get it. Annabel slowed, turning into the lane.

  “I would have said that, too.” She drove slowly, leaning forward to watch the edges of the lane. “But as long as I let what happened two years ago affect what I do today, I am.”

  His jaw was so tight that it might have splintered. Did she really think her broken engagement compared to what he had endured? The moment he thought that, he seemed to hear it as if someone else had spoken. His heart had turned into a battleground.

  Annabel’s cell phone rang. She snatched it, stopping the car.

  “Yes? All right. We’ll come right away.” She dropped the phone and jerked the wheel around to turn. “He’s safe.”

  Travis closed his eyes for a second. “Thank God. Where?”

  “He stowed away in Miz Callie’s car.” Annabel spun back out the lane toward the road. “She didn’t discover him until she’d reached the beach house.” She glanced at him. “Kyle begged her to call us before she got in touch with his parents. I said we’d come right away. Is that okay?”

  Do you care enough to be involved in this? That was what she was really asking.

  He wasn’t sure of the answer. But he knew he couldn’t run from the situation, not when a child’s future was at stake. “Yes.”

  Annabel’s heart pounded in time with her footsteps as she hurried up the stairs to the beach house, with Travis right behind her. He had come, at least. Whether that would do any good, she didn’t know.

  Dear Lord, be with us now. Help us to understand what to do for this hurting child of Yours.

  The door opened. Miz Callie stood framed in the opening, the light behind her making a halo of her white hair. She lifted a finger to her lips.

  “He’s in the kitchen,” she said softly, “having some hot chocolate. Poor child was shaking. I don’t know what’s wrong, but I know a troubled child when I see one. Do you have any idea what’s going on?”

  Annabel clasped her grandmother’s hands, feeling comfort and reassurance in Miz Callie’s firm grip. “A little. Maybe now’s the time he’ll talk about it.”

  “I hope so.” Miz Callie glanced from Annabel to Travis. “I called Pastor Tim when I heard your car. I couldn’t delay any longer. I pray that’s the right thing.”

  “Just keep on praying.” She turned toward the kitchen and drew in a breath, her mind spinning. What could she say?

  Travis caught her arm. “Wait. I’ll do it.” His face was a rigid mask, but a muscle twitched in his jaw, and pain moved in his eyes.

  “You don’t have to.” Her heart hurt for him.

  “Yes. I do.” He walked away from her, into the kitchen, leaving the door open behind him as if to invite them to hear.

  She watched Travis cross the familiar kitchen, pull out a chair and sit down next to Kyle. The boy gave him a quick, questioning glance and then stared down into his hot chocolate.

  Annabel clasped her hands together, a wordless prayer forming in her heart. She felt Miz Callie’s hands over hers and knew that her grandmother was praying, too.

  “Seems like you had an adventure tonight, buddy.” Travis’s tone was casual, but Annabel could guess what that cost him.

  Kyle hunched his shoulders.

  “I guess you don’t want to tell me why you ran away.”

  Kyle’s body seemed to tense. Then he shook his head.

  “Maybe I’ll talk, then.” Travis put one hand on the back of Kyle’s chair, leaning close but not touching him. “You see, I think I know what’s going on with you.”

  The hand on the chair tightened until the knuckles were white. Annabel held her breath.

  “I was younger than you are when my dad started hitting me.” By some effort of will, he kept his voice even. “At first it was because I did something wrong. So I tried to do everything just right, but that didn’t seem like it did any good. Pretty soon it was every day, no matter what I did.”

  Kyle didn’t move, but Annabel sensed he was listening with every fiber of his being. Please, her heart murmured. Please.

  “You know, for a long time I figured it was my fault. I mean, if a guy’s dad hits him all the time, there must be something wrong with the guy.”

  Pain stabbed at Annabel’s heart. Why hadn’t she seen that? Why hadn’t she realized that a child would feel that way?

  “It took a long time before I knew that it was my dad who had something wrong with him. But I kept quiet. I went on keeping quiet.” Travis sucked in a breath, his chest heaving with the effort.

  “I was wrong. All my life I’ve been wrong about that. I shouldn’t have kept quiet about it then, because my dad needed help, and he didn’t get it. And I shouldn’t have been keeping quiet about it since then, because that hurt me.” He touched his chest. “In here, it hurt me all the time, and I wouldn’t admit it.” He touched Kyle’s chest, very lightly. “Does it hurt you in there, too?”

  Kyle stared at him for a long moment. Then he nodded.

  Annabel’s tears spilled over onto her cheeks. Thank You, Lord. Thank You.

  Travis brushed Kyle’s hair back from his face very gently. “It’s not right for your dad to hurt you. You know that, don’t you?”

  Kyle bit his lip. He turned his face away. And Annabel knew.

  She moved forward and knelt by Kyle’s chair, a wordless prayer filled her heart. “It’s not your daddy who is hurting you, is it?”

  Kyle shook his head, and tears rolled down his cheeks. “Not Daddy. Daddy never hurt me. It’s Mamma.”

  Chapter Ten

  On Christmas Eve, the Bodine family traditionally gathered at the beach house after the worship service. This year was no exception, but Annabel’s feelings were mixed as she headed into the living room, which already seemed filled with siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and in-laws.

  The buzz of talk was nearly deafening, but maybe that was a good thing. She could smile, nod and think her own thoughts.

  The past couple of days had gone in a blur of activity as she’d tried to help Pastor Tim with the ramifications of Kyle’s words. Thank the good Lord all three of them had heard. Otherwise, Kyle might have recanted, either out of fear or some innate need to protect his mother.

  With all that had been going on, there had seemed no opportunity for a private talk with Travis. Still, maybe that was how he’d wanted it.

  She glanced toward where Travis stood at the far end of the room, a glass of eggnog in his hand, talking with Hugh. She’d have expected this gathering of the clan to overwhelm him, but he seemed perfectly at ease.

  Miz Callie, standing at the laden buffet table, clinked a spoon against a glass, and everyone fell silent. In the glow of candles, her blue eyes shone as she looked at her family.

  “Seems like we have a lot to be thankful for this Christmas. Let’s pray.”

  Heads bowed around the room, and it was so quiet Annabel could hear the ticktock of the grandfather clock in the corner.

  “Gracious Lord, we come before You on this Christmas Eve with our hearts filled with gratitude. This has been a year of change in our lives, and we’re thankful for new beginnings and for new members. We welcome you to our family.”

  Annabel didn’t need to look to know that Amanda was holding hands with Ross. Or that her cousin Adam had his arms around Cathy and Jamie, just as Georgia held tight to Matt and Lindsay.

  “We’re thankful to have my dear brother-in-law, Ned, returned to us after all these years.” Miz Callie’s voice was warm with thanksgiving that he was once more part of the family group. “And our hearts long for Luke and Cole, doing their duty far
away. We pray your blessing on our dear friend Travis, joining us for the first time. Most of all, Lord, we thank You for the gift of Your dear Son, Whose birth we celebrate this night. In His name, Amen.”

  “Amen.” The word echoed around the room.

  Talk started up again, more muted now, like a comfortable hum filling in any lonely crevices in her heart.

  People began to move toward the buffet table, with the usual exclamations about how lovely it was and who had brought what. She felt a hand on her arm and knew without looking that it was Travis. Her heart gave a little lurch, but she tried not to let any disturbance show in her face as she glanced up at him.

  “Have a minute?” he asked. “I just wondered what the latest is on Kyle’s situation.”

  “Pastor Tim and I were over at the house this afternoon. Don Morrison’s mother arrived this morning, and she’ll be staying indefinitely to take care of Kyle. I liked her right away—very warm and loving. Just what he needs, I’d say. And Don has managed to switch his job around so that he won’t be traveling. I think he feels guilty that he didn’t recognize just how wrong things were.”

  Travis’s face tightened. “I’d have to agree with that. He should have.”

  “Sometimes people see only what they expect to see. And I think Kyle did an awfully good job of covering up for his mother.”

  “I guess so. What about her?”

  “She’s out of the house and going into therapy. I know it’s not a perfect resolution, but at least it’s a hopeful one.”

  Her own words gave her pause. Over the past two days, she’d begun to realize that her future might not include Travis. If so, she could still smile and go on. She could be content doing the work God had given her to do.

  Travis nodded toward the buffet table. “If you’re not set on eating right now, we could go outside and have a look at the stars, couldn’t we?”