“Amen,” Graham whispered. He’d felt the personal loss of Bailey when she’d delivered OJ on Christmas Eve, almost fourteen years ago. It had taken her several years before she’d even come home again, and longer before she’d interact with OJ.
But Graham believed that she had never been lost to the Lord. He’d always known precisely where she was, and exactly who she needed in her life, and what He could place there to bring her to this Friday where she was moving in to her new house in Coral Canyon.
“It’s going to be okay,” Laney said.
He nodded, and a few seconds later, Graham eased off the accelerator and started to slow the truck so he could make the turn into Bailey’s driveway. He put his blinker on, though thisroad held no other traffic, and he made the turn without slipping at all.
“The moving truck is here,” Stockton said, and they definitely expected that.
Bailey’s driveway was quite narrow until it got closer to the house, and then Graham was able to pull alongside the truck.
“The garage door is open,” Eli said, and irritation ran through Graham at the running commentary from the back seat. He put the truck in park, and Laney was the first to open her door and fly from the vehicle.
She’d never been overly emotional or irrational, but Graham followed her at a quick pace, leaving the truck running and the keys inside. None of that mattered. He needed to see Bailey and make a decision about calling the paramedics or not.
His mind moved fast enough to note the sectional couch pieces in the garage while he and Laney reached the steps leading into the house. He let his wife go first, confusion riddling through him and making his heartbeat accelerate all over again. How long had Bailey been here?
She pushed right into the house, saying, “Hey, it’s Laney Whittaker.”
“In the living room,” a man called, and Graham estimated him to be somewhere in his thirties, the same as Bailey.
His boots squeaked wetly against the new tile he and his brother, Beau, had installed just last week. It looked really great, but he didn’t have time for that right now. He found boxes on the kitchen counter and a heap of wet clothes and coats in the empty dining area.
Walking past all of it, he joined Laney in the living room, where a man poked his head out of a bundle of blankets. Cardboard boxes stood three tall in front of the fireplace, with two on the end near his head tilting inward.
That was smart, Graham thought as he took in the dark-haired man with a full beard and long hair to match. Graham’s first impression of the guy made him pause, and then he reminded himself that this man had saved Bailey and called him until he picked up. He’d called the electric company, and he’d somehow figured out who Bailey was and how she was related to Graham. And he believed someone’s physical appearance almost never indicated the worth of a soul.
“She’s starting to wake up,” he said. “At least, I think so.”
Laney dropped to the ground and peeled back the blanket covering Bailey’s face. “Bailey, honey, Momma’s here. You need to wake up for me.” She looked over to Graham, her eyes wide and frantic. “How do you make someone wake up?”
“I didn’t have time to get her any clothes,” Reeves said. “If you want to take my place, I can go look through her boxes.”
“I’ll look through her boxes,” Eli said.
“I didn’t go down into any of the bedrooms,” Reeves said, still in his position on the floor, his body spooned around Bailey’s underneath blankets and coats. “But she seemed to have almost everything in, and she’d made piles in various rooms, at least out here.”
“We’ll check.” Eli thumped Stockton on the chest, and they went down the hall to the bedrooms.
“Oh, she’s waking up,” Laney said. “Bailey.” She smoothed her hair back off her forehead. “Bailey, it’s Momma. You passed out, and we need you to wake up.”
A mighty groan filled the room, and Graham dropped to his knees beside his wife as Bailey’s eyelids fluttered open. “Momma?”
“Yes,” Laney said. “Momma and Daddy are here. You gotta wake up for us and tell us what happened.”
“I don’t know if she’s hurt,” Reeves said quietly. “She maybe shouldn’t move too much.”
Bailey’s eyes met Graham’s, and they widened. “Who isthat?” And she did exactly the opposite of what Reeves had suggested. She sat all the way up in one fluid motion and twisted to look behind her. She sucked in a breath and then looked down at herself.
She only wore a sports bra and her underwear, and she quickly clutched at the blankets and coats that had fallen off when she’d sat up.
“He’s a friend,” Graham said quickly. “He picked you up and saved you.”
Reeves backed away from her and sat up himself. He wasn’t wearing pants either, and Graham spotted them on the hearth. He got up and walked around Laney to pick them up and handed them to the man who stood and moved behind the boxes to put them on.
“He’s your neighbor,” Graham said, meeting Reeves’ eyes.
“Right next door,” he said. “I’m five-zero-two-five. She’s five-zero-seven-five.”
