Frustration churned what was left of the orange in her stomach.How do I make him see, Lord?“God, the true God, wants to set you free, Thomas. It’s your god who wishes to enslave you, get you hooked on drugs and video games that rob you of your will to live. He comes to kill, steal, and destroy, while Jesus comes to give you life, abundant life. Yes, He wants you to follow Him because He knows when you do, you’ll find the joy and fulfillment He created you for.”
He made no response. Instead, minutes passed before he spoke again. “So, these Jews whom God supposedly saved from the flood, is that in your Bible?”
Excited, Tori plucked her Bible from her backpack, scooted over to sit beside him, flipped the pages to Revelation 12, and read him the passage.
“First of all, where did you get that contraband?” He gestured toward the Bible.
Tori eased her hands over the fine leather. “It was my sister’s.”
“Secondly, a dragon? Really?” His tone was snarky. “And who is this woman it talks about?”
She forced down her annoyance. “The dragon is the devil. The woman is Israel. Come on, you have to admit it foretells exactly what happened.”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
The moonlight shifted, and she could no longer see his face, but she sensed his unbelief. Closing the holy book, she drew it to her chest, angry at herself for not being able to help him see the truth. “We should get some sleep.” She scooted back to her spot across from him.
“Sleep well, Tori.” His voice emerged from the shadows full of more care and love than she expected.
???
Thomas wanted to believe what Tori believed, but probably not for the reasons she wanted. He longed to get closer to her, to regain that bond they’d had when they were younger, both physical and emotional.
The nameless faces and figures of dozens of women he’d been with over the years paraded in his memory like so much fluff and futility. None of them had moved him, impressed him, excited him like Tori Griffin.
He watched her as she checked on Sara, covered her with her only jacket, and then promptly laid her head down on her backpack and fell fast asleep.
How she could sleep so peacefully when they were being hunted like rats for extermination, he didn’t understand. Him? Sleep? Oh, how he longed for one of those sleeping pills in his cabinet.
Brianna finished her nursing and tucked little Callie safely into the makeshift sling over her shoulder, then leaned her head back against the wall with a sigh.
“So, looks like we have been unwittingly assigned night guard duty,” Thomas said.
Brianna gave a sad smile as she glanced down at her sleeping girls. “I worry about them so much. It’s hard to sleep sometimes.”
Thomas couldn’t imagine having children, or anyone he loved so much, that fear for their safety kept him up at night. For some reason, the thought made him glance at Tori, sound asleep on the dirt as if it was a down-stuffed mattress.
Brianna followed his gaze. “She’s amazing, isn’t she?”
He nodded, wanting to say so much more but couldn’t find the words. The Tori he’d known as a teen had been flighty, fun, wild, and yet weak in many ways, insecure, incapable of facing hardships, a follower, not a leader. She’d carried around scars on her heart from a dysfunctional childhood and the abuse of a stepfather. How many nights had she cried in his arms as he comforted her?
ButthisTori, this Tori was strong, confident, hopeful, unafraid, and definitely a leader. He wondered what had happened to change her. Not that he minded. In fact, he found his respect for her growing by the day.
He drew in a deep breath and released it. This was going to be a long night. “So, what’s your story, Brianna?”
Sorrow tugged on her expression. “You really want to know?”
“Sure.”
“It’s not entirely pretty.”
He smiled. “What did you do…for a living, I mean.”
“I was CEO of Menotec Group.”
Thomas flinched. “The Fortune 500 Menotec?” He whistled. “Now,thatI was not expecting.”
“Yeah, I bet.” She laughed. “I had everything. Education, money, power, success. I worked hard for years to get where I was.”
