Page 31 of Perilous Healing

Mable giggles in response, so Bianca heads back into the kitchen.

“Just waiting to burn out, huh?” Lance asks, a knowing grin on his face.

“Yeah. Just waiting to burn out,” I reply.

He laughs. “That’s what I thought too.” He claps me on the back. “Let’s get you some water. Looks like you could use a cooldown.”

“I have to say,Bianca, that was some of the best spaghetti I’ve ever had,” Pastor Redding compliments as he stands and starts collecting plates.

“Thank you. Let me grab those.” Bianca gets up and tries to take the plates from him, but he keeps them just out of reach.

“Nope. You cooked, we clean.”

“But I really don’t mind.”

“We do.” Kyra stands and collects the rest of the empty plates.

“Uncle Lassy, can I go color now?”

“Sure thing, Nugget. Your bag is on the couch.”

She hops down from her chair and heads into the house. She kneels at Bianca’s coffee table and starts pulling out the coloring book and crayons she’d insisted on bringing. Just watching her calms the nerves that have been twisting ever since I saw Bianca in that doorway.

I should have insisted on keeping the boundaries I’ve built in place. But even as I know they should have remained firm, I feel them slipping a bit more each day. Especially over the last week as we worked so closely together.

That voice in my head that keeps telling me it’s not her fault who she was born to grows louder and louder each day. It reminds me that she wasn’t sure she could trust me and that’s why she wasn’t honest.

Yet whenever I reach for those voices, hoping to cling to it, another one slips in…and it speaks of betrayal.

“You good?”

I turn toward Lance. “Fine. Why?”

“You just look a bit strained.”

As I fully face the table again, I’m surprised to see that it’s just him and me sitting down. Even Michael has gotten up and gone in to help the Reddings’ with cleanup. And Bianca stands at the edge of her porch beside Eliza who is cradling baby Mable.

The wind picks up a strand of her hair, and she smiles.

It’s like a punch to the chest.

“Not strained,” I manage. “Just focused.”

Lance follows my gaze. “Ahh, I get it.”

“No,” I insist. “Not on her. I’ve got a lot going on.”

“Sure. I get it.”

I start to argue. Start to push back. But then Bianca turns to face me and I find myself captivated by her once more. Bianca has always had a hardened look about her. Pain that she’s transformed into armor. But tonight, she looks free of it.

Like a woman unburdened.

Is it truly the Bible that’s bringing her so much peace? Or is this an act because she’s scared about what might be coming?

Lance’s phone dings, pulling my attention away from the dark-haired beauty. “No update. Sheriff Vick still has nothing.” He shoves the phone back into his pocket. “Either it was all coincidence—which I’m not buying—or whoever killed him is laying low. Either way, I don’t like it.”

“Me neither. I asked my cousin Bradyn to look into it. He’s got some good intel on the Culvers’.”

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