It was obvious she wanted to leave, but didn’t want to offend. Melvin wanted to smile. For the first time tonight.
She had that aura about her that Anita had always had. That grace and an odd sense of stability, really. The thing that said “I can handle whatever you throw at me.”
He missed that woman. So very much.
The girl in front of him gave a slight—polite—smile. She had an extraordinary smile. He had never realized that before.
This young woman had been through utter hell. Some of that…maybe a part of it had been his fault, as well. If he had done something about Steve Wilson sooner, maybe…some of what this girl had been through wouldn’t have happened. James 4 put it best:Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Had Melvin sinned by not stopping what that man had done to Heather Coleson four years ago? He probablyhad.He could have protected those women from Wilson. If he had chosen to do the right thing, instead of the easy, out of desire for money. Outof loyalty to those he considered friends. Loyalty did not always meanright.
Regrets…they weighed a man down. His burdens at times…they were heavy. His sins.
He was learning to accept that.
Steve Wilson, that young fool. As arrogant as his father without the intelligence to be cautious in all things. He’d lost his head over Lieutenant Coleson. Let the evil inside himself out, simply because of that woman. Yes, Heather was a beautiful, intelligent, engaging, rather phenomenal young woman. He had known she stirred up the men in Wichita Falls. It was rather hard to miss, and inevitable. He had tried to keep her as hidden as he possibly could.
It had been forherown well-being as well. If she hadn’t been there to tempt the men they worked with, some of the problems would have been eliminated. And they had.
Until Steve Wilson. That young man had taken one look at Heather and lost his head completely. A modern-day Samson and Delilah story, he supposed. Or…David and Bathsheba. Either narrative would fit. Men…destroyed because of their lust for a woman.
Lust…it brought problems. Many men did not learn that until it was too late. Melvin hadn’t.
Melvin’s warnings to that fool to leave her alone hadn’t mattered at all.
Now, Wilson was in a coma—the wages of his sin, not death in this instance. But perhaps something far worse.
Melvin stayed where he was and thought about what he could have done differently years ago. And whether it would have prevented where they were now. If he could have prevented good men—and women—from being harmed.
Maybe he could have. He prayed for forgiveness for those sins, too. For some sort of absolution.
It took him a long time to move. He just stayed where he was. And prayed.
22
She was trying notto let the panic show. Hope sat in the hospital waiting room, with her mom on one side and her sister Joy on the other. She knew what they were doing—they were trying to protect her from whatever was about to happen. They always did that—especially when it involved Heather. They all tended to baby Hope a little. Well, a lot. Hope and Cara and Cashlyn and Crispin.
They were the youngest of the girls Bonnie had raised. Heather was one of the older ones. Heather had been the one to take care of the younger ones when they’d been kids, while Bonnie had worked to support them all. Heather…Heather was the one who always made everything okay. For all of them.
Until Steve Wilson had hurt her the way he had.
Hope was a little bit terrified for Heather right now. How could she not be? Her sister was back there—a bullet hole in her body. Hope had her own bullet hole, right there on her shoulder. It was itching. She was trying tonotremember, to not think about what had happened. Trying not to remember how much it hadhurtwhen it had happened and trying not to imagine whather sister would have felt. How terrified she had been out there on the dark road that night. With Madison.
Madison.
Madison was right there, in front of her, saying something. Hope looked up at her friend. It took her a minute—then she nodded. Hope stood. “I could really use something to drink right now. Mom? Joy?”
They shook their heads. There was a worried look in her mom’s big brown eyes. Her mom was doing thatthingagain, where she pretended everything was going to be all right. So the girls she had raised wouldn’t be afraid. She had been out there tonight, had seen how bad Heather was.
Hope…Hope didn’t think she had ever stopped beingafraid.
Not since the night she’d been four years old, and her sister Bonnie had told her that her mom and dad were gone. Dead. And that they were never coming back. But Bonnie would be there for her forever. No matter what. Hope hadn’t even known what deadwasback then, let alone that it was permanent. And that the rest of her sisters were crying and hurting. And afraid.
Bonnie had become her Bonnie-mommy after that. And then just…mommy.The only mom Hope would ever remember.
Hope bent down and hugged her mom carefully. She hadn’t told her family that she stillhurtsometimes, they had enough to worry about right now. She’d scared them—she didn’t want them hovering over her.
Heather was going to be okay. It would just take time. Hope just…really hated this hospital. She’d been there too many times lately. She just wanted Heather to be okay, and to get her big sister out of here and back to their house. Where they were all safe. At least for a little while.
