Page 128 of Left Behind

“Well, we’ll see what we will see,” Cameron said, “and I think Shirley just rang the dinner bell. I’ll gather up Sir Lancelot, while you go make him a plate.”

***

Wiley heard the same dinner bell and scooted Ava off his lap. “Dinner’s ready, sugar. Grammy has a whole bunch of good stuff cooked for us to eat. Would you like Linnie to make you a plate? She knows what you like.”

“Where do I sit?” Ava whispered.

“I think there’s a little table set up on the back porch for you and Mikey. And there are tables set up out in the yard beneath the shade trees, and chairs on the porch, too.”

“We don’t sit inside?” she asked.

“Not today. Too many people. We took all of the chairs outside to the big picnic tables and put all of the food on the kitchen table and the desserts on the kitchen island. We’ll all be outside with you, okay? It will be just like eating lunch with a classmate at school. And Mikey will go to school where you go, too, so you’re going to have a friend already on the first day of school.”

Ava nodded. The idea of a friend was reassuring, even if it was a boy.

***

Cameron grabbed Mikey’s drink and took it and him to the little table. Rusty was right behind them with his plate of food.

“Where’s the girl gonna sit?” Mikey asked.

“Right here with you,” Rusty said. “You be nice to her. She doesn’t know all these people like you do, and she might be a little bit scared.”

The little boy’s eyes narrowed. “I know how to be good. I’ll take care of her, Mama.”

“Thank you,” Rusty said. “Daddy and I are going back to get our plates, and then we’ll be eating out here, too.”

They went inside as Wiley was coming out with Ava and her drink, and Linette was behind them with Ava’s plate. But before they could say a word, Mikey raised his hand.

“She’s a’pposed to sit here, Uncle Wiley. I’ll take care of her.”

Wiley blinked. What the hell? “Well, that’s really nice of you, Mikey.”

Ava stared at the little boy with the black eyes and dark hair, and then slipped into the other little chair at the table without an argument.

Linette set the plate of food in front of her, handed her a fork, and then took Wiley’s hand.

“Let’s go get our food. We kind of need to sit by my folks. Can’t abandon them in the middle of a houseful of strangers.”

They looked back as they were going inside and saw Mikey eating and staring at Ava as if he’d just found the mother lode, while Ava was primly picking at the food on her plate and eating like a little princess.

“Where the hell did she learn to do that?” Wiley muttered.

“Do what?” Linette asked.

“Flirt. I swear to God, she knows he likes her.”

Linette laughed. “We’re born with it. Calm down. They’re just kids meeting for the first time. I need to go rescue my parents before Dad makes an ass of himself.”

Wiley laughed, and the moment passed.

By the time they got to dessert, Mikey was doing his dead-level best to make Ava laugh.

Linette watched Wiley among his family and saw him anew, and by the time they left, her parents were as sold on Wiley Pope and his people as Linette was. They left Jubilee the next morning accepting of the fact that their daughter was marrying into a clan.

***

Wiley went to work. Linette headed for the hospital, and Ava was at Dani’s house, talking about a little boy named Mikey who could whistle between his teeth and make himself burp. The ultimate accomplishments for a seven-year-old boy.

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