Page 39 of Stranger Gifts

“Just knowing what she did, what she was trying to do to me makes me feel terrible. Although,” she hesitated, “she could be calling to apologize.”

“I’d like to believe that’s the truth, honey, but I’m not sure that’s why she’s calling. It could be but she didn’t really seem remorseful for what she’d done,” said Matthew.

“Can I think about calling her back?” asked Jenna.

“Of course you can,” said Nash. “When you want to return her call, we can all be there to hear what she has to say. Just to be certain she’s not trying to do anything strange.”

“Strange?”

“Well, she could be trying to locate you,” said Nine. “If she knew where you were staying, she could attempt to come here.”

“I don’t want to see her. I’m going to pray on this for a while,” she said standing from the table where the group was seated. They all nodded at her as she moved toward Bree and Ashley, obviously needing to speak with them.

“Matthew, I know you’re a praying man,” said Nash, “but that woman means nothing good by calling her. I can feel it in my bones.”

“I’m afraid I would agree with you. She’s truly hoping for that man to turn out to be a good person and to come back for her. Poor woman is delusional and eventually might harm herself or others,” said Matthew.

“Should we let the convent know?” asked Nine.

“I feel as if they might already know. From what I heard, she’s not allowed to leave the convent grounds any longer.”

Alec, Tailor, Angel, and Gabe walked in, nodding at the table. They took their seats, grabbing pieces of cornbread from the basket on the table.

“They found Bolchek’s body in a ditch,” said Gabe. “He was shot twice in the head. My guess is that Killer didn’t like what he had to say to him when he asked where we were located.”

“He’s got no one and that’s going to make him desperate and dangerous,” said Gaspar. “Where is he now?”

“That, we don’t know,” said Alec. “The building was vacant, nothing left inside except some elephant and bison shit. Other than that, nothing. It looks like all of the men have left. No one that was Abilene continued this way. They all went their separate ways. Whatever Valentina did to them, worked.”

“She’s good at what she does,” smiled Nash.

“And what is it exactly that she does?” asked Tailor.

“She can feel peoples hate and love and manipulate it. She has the ability to turn hate into love and love to hate. It’s been very handy on occasion forcing in-fighting with groups that were coming for us. Her only challenge is that she has to be much closer than most of the rest of us.”

“Let’s keep a tight hold on that,” said Gaspar. “I don’t want her risking her neck for anyone. We’ve dealt with a lot of hate in our time. It’s not going away any time soon.”

“I know he’ll come for me,” she whispered to herself. “I’ve paid my penance for my sins and God will look after me. He’ll be here. He loves me, I know he loves me.”

“Sister Frances? Are you alright?” asked the Novice.

“Yes. Yes, I’m fine child. Just talking to myself,” she laughed. The young woman smiled, nodding at her and continued to walk toward her own rooms. The gates were locked, the church closed for the night but for some reason she wasn’t able to sleep.

“Psst! Hey, over here,” said the voice.

Frances stared off into the darkness trying to see if there was anyone there or if she were imagining things.

“Sweetheart, it’s me. I know you remember me,” he smiled from the fence.

Frances stood and started to walk toward him, not believing her eyes. The last time he was here was to ensure that she helped him to prevent Jenna from speaking to the police. He was angry when she couldn’t do it.

“Harry? Harry is that you?” she cried. He cringed at the use of his Christian name but nodded at her.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s me baby,” he cooed.

“I knew you would come for me,” she said. The sounds of the young novices walking along the covered path toward their rooms made her turn and crouch down so as to not be seen.

“Who are they?” he asked.

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