Page 11 of Secrets

“Actually, I’m about to go fishing for the day. Matthew had a great idea. A good catfish fry tonight.”

“Oh, that sounds wonderful. I don’t think I’ve ever been fishing. I’ve eaten the fish but never actually caught any.”

“Would you like to come with me?” he asked quietly. “We could choose a boat with a sun cover, so you don’t get burned. I’m sure Miss Sara would let you have the day off.”

“I’d love that,” she smiled. “Let me pack us some food, and I’ll be right back.”

Trevon was smiling from ear to ear, never happier than he was in that moment. He looked at Matthew, who had a satisfied expression on his face.

“Did you do that?” he asked him.

“Do what?” said Matthew with innocence.

“Mr. Matthew, I’m not like all the geniuses on this property, but I’m a pretty smart man. Sometimes, you touch a person, and it’s as if all their worries, all their fears, go away. It felt like that was what happened a minute ago with Millicent.”

Matthew stood from the table and leaned over Trevon, kissing his forehead as he patted his cheeks.

“Maybe it wasn’t her fears I was quelling.”

Before Trevon could say a word, Millicent appeared with a large cooler and the biggest smile he’d ever seen on her face. She was such a pretty young woman with big hazel eyes and light brown hair that fell around her shoulders. She had it pulled up today in one of those strange clips that women use, but it only served to highlight her beautiful face.

“I think I have enough food for us,” she laughed. Trevon picked up the cooler, feeling the weight of it, and laughed.

“I think that’s enough for me, but what will you eat?” For a moment, her face sobered, then she laughed. It was a loud laugh. One he’d never heard before. In fact, the entire cafeteria turned to see her laughing.

“You’re teasing me,” she smiled with red cheeks.

“Yes. Yes, I was, and that was the prettiest laugh I’ve ever heard,” he said, holding out his hand.

As they left the cafeteria, Mama Irene, Ruby, Claudette, Erin, Lena, and Matthew watched them.

“They should be busy all day catchin’ fish out there,” said Irene. “You sent ‘em to the right spot, didn’t you, Matthew?”

“You know I did, my love. They’ll catch enough for everyone.”

“She looks as though she’s becoming more confident every day,” said Erin. “I hope that means she’s trusting all of us more.”

“I think she’s trustin’ him more,” said Ruby. “For now, that’s all we can hope for. While we’re talkin’ about all the magic we can do around here, why can’t someone just go kill her brother in prison? That’d be the right thing to happen.”

“He’s giving testimony over the next few months on members of several organized crime families,” said Erin. “I think the plan is once that’s done, they’ll make it look like a hit on him. Until then, we make sure that he’s behind bars and can’t get to her.”

“He won’t know where she is,” said Claudette.

“No, but he’s definitely given enough threats that it makes all of us nervous. I can’t imagine what that must have been like for her. A terrified seventeen-year-old girl running from her only family, then having to move from one location to another just to be safe.”

“She says she doesn’t remember it, but she thinks she saw them kill her mama. I’m sure she’s blocked it out,” said Irene.

“How do you know that?” asked Erin. She looked at the faces around her, then shook her head. “You know what. I don’t need to know that information.”

“It’s so beautiful out here,” smiled Millicent. “Indiana and Illinois are nothing but farmland and flat. Very, very flat.”

“My grandparents had a farm in the Midwest,” smiled Trevon. “It’s what gave me my love for the earth, for planting and growing things.”

“I tried to grow a garden once,” she frowned. “My father told my brother to beat me for it. He said I might dig up something I wasn’t supposed to. I didn’t know what he meant then. I was only about seven or eight years old.”

“I hate that you don’t have any good childhood memories,” he said.

“Tick tried. I think he followed my father and brother, Jay, only because he didn’t have a choice. I remember, I remember one Christmas my father let us put up a tree. Even Jay seemed into it. We had it all decorated and lit up. It was beautiful. Then Jay said, ‘what difference does it make? There won’t be anything under it.’ Later on, I wondered why. I knew they were getting paid a lot of money to do what they were doing.

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