Page 114 of Left Behind

“More secrets?” she said.

“Only one, but it’s a good one. Let me get changed, and I’ll help you with supper.”

Linette cupped the side of his face. “Well, however you get to Conway, this is great news.”

“The best,” Wiley said, and then bolted out of the room just like Ava had, only with longer, louder steps.

Linette shook her head. “Two peas in a pod,” she muttered, and went back to peeling potatoes, but as soon as he returned, the first thing she told him was about her mother’s call.

“I told her if they wanted to meet you before the wedding, they had to come here. They’re retired. We’re busy. She laughed.”

“Are they coming?” Wiley asked.

“I’m sure they will, but I also told them to book a room at one of the hotels because we don’t have an extra bedroom, which is, for us, a blessing. Dad’s a control freak, and Mom enables him. It works for them, but by the time I was fourteen, it was driving me crazy. I love them to death, but I could never be married to a man like my father.”

Wiley rolled his eyes. “I get it. Most boys want to be just like their fathers. I wanted mine to disappear. Anyway, I can’t wait to meet them. If they made you, then they’re fine with me. Now, what are we doing with this hamburger meat?”

“The decision has yet to be made. But something that goes with potatoes, because Ava wanted potatoes like Bubba makes, which I take to mean fried potatoes.”

Wiley smirked. “Yeah, fried potatoes are my thing. See, B.J. has nothing on me. Just because he can turn cake into art doesn’t make him the only brother who can cook. How do you feel about plain hamburger steaks?”

“I have a deep fondness for beef in all incarnations. Do we have Worcestershire sauce?”

“Yes.”

“Then do the patties. I’ll douse mine with the sauce and pretend it’s a rib eye.”

“And I’ll call mine a T-bone. For Ava, it’s just burglar meat dipped in ketchup.”

Linette laughed, and the sound carried through the house and down the hall into Ava’s room, where Ava had Phillip the squirrel, Teddy the bear, and Pinky the doll lined up on her pillow and was sitting on the bed beside them, reading aloud when she heard Linette laugh.

She paused in the middle of a sentence, looked up at the open doorway, and listened.

That is a happy laugh. Not a mean one like when Corina made fun of me. Bubba kept his promise not to yell. Linnie is his almost wife. Almost like a mommy. I have a family now. Corina is an ass.

Satisfied with the security she felt, Ava looked down at her book and picked up where she’d left off.

***

Wiley tucked Ava into bed Sunday night, then sat down beside her.

“I have to go to work really early tomorrow, so you’ll still be asleep when I leave. Linnie will take you to Dani’s house like always, and I’ll be home in the evening like always, okay?”

“Why do you have to go early?” she asked.

“Oh, it’s a very important meeting. I’ll tell you all about it when I get home. Go to sleep, honey. Everything is fine and you’re safe. I love you.”

She blinked. “Because you wanted me, right?”

“Yes. Because I wanted you.”

She snuggled a little deeper into the covers. “I wanted you, too,” she whispered, and closed her eyes.

Wiley got up and turned out the lights, leaving her in shadows. But for the tip of her head, the covers had swallowed her. She was already disappearing before his eyes.

Linette was in the shower across the hall. Wiley went into the bedroom, locked the door behind him, and stripped as he headed for the bathroom.

The room was warm and steamy. The shower doors were covered in condensation as he pushed them aside and walked in behind her.

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