Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 92043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92043 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“How’s Charles?”
“To be expected,” Renn replied, leading me around the back of the house. “Every day he grows worse.”
“I’m going to bring them back to my parents.”
“Yes. That would be best.”
“Thank you for taking them in,” I said softly as we came to a stop behind the house. Two children were completely oblivious to our presence as they exited the small chicken coup and headed toward the barn.
“It was a privilege,” Renn replied, sitting down on a bench. “You know that.”
“How are things?” I asked, sitting down beside him.
“Quiet, mostly.”
“Not a lot of people to hide anymore?”
“There will always be those who have nowhere else to turn,” he responded. “The monsters are just more easily hidden now. It is mostly mothers and children these days.”
“Do you need anything—”
“The Lord provides.”
“You’re a stubborn old goat.”
Renn scoffed.
“How are your wife and the children?”
“Well. Your parents?”
“Grieving,” I replied with a sigh. “Angry. Scared.”
“Trying times.”
“Has Charlie said anything to you about what’s going on?”
“No,” Renn answered. “And I do not ask. Better for everyone that I do not know.”
“If there was any way I could’ve kept you out of this mess, I would’ve. Zeke trusted that you’d keep them safe. That’s why he sent them here.”
“Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil,” Renn replied calmly. “I have no regrets.”
“Ephesians,” I mumbled.
“You remember.”
“I could recite the entire thing from memory,” I said dryly, leaning forward to rest my elbows on my knees.
It was peaceful here. Quiet, except for the wind blowing through the trees and the occasional farm animal. It was the perfect place for Renn to do what he’d been doing for longer than I’d been alive, sheltering and protecting those who needed it for as long as they needed it. If there was anyone in the world who deserved recognition for the good they’d done, it was Renn, but he’d never accept it. He believed that he’d been called upon to be a shepherd in a world of wolves, and he’d never wavered in his dedication to the cause.
“Ambrose,” Lucy called as she stepped out of the back door.
I rose to my feet as a slender man followed her outside. He was thin to the point of being delicate, with a sharp chin and dark brown eyes that matched his sister’s. It looked like he’d attempted to tame his hair and only been half successful, but he was fully dressed, complete with shoes, as he strode toward me and reached out his hand.
“Hello,” he said, his voice low and raspy.
“Charlie,” I greeted. I couldn’t stop the smile that pulled at my cheeks or the ache in my chest. “I’m Ambrose.”
“I would’ve recognized you anywhere,” he replied with a nod.
He was perfect. It was easy to imagine him sitting with my baby brother, scolding him for dropping his shoes near the door or warning him that marshmallows would rot his teeth out of his head.
“It’s good to finally meet you.”
“I wish it were under better circumstances,” Charlie said, his voice cracking as he let go of my hand. He cleared his throat. “Sorry.”
“I told Charlie that we’re going with you,” Lucy announced. “To your parents’ house, right?”
“That’s right.” I nodded. “It’s the safest place for you right now while we get to the bottom of all this.”
“That is a wise choice,” Renn told Charlie as he stood. “There is no safer place for you than beside Erik Boucher.”
“I’m standing right here,” I joked, glancing at him.
“A babe in swaddling cloth,” Renn replied, smiling gently at Charlie. “But he’ll do.”
“Thank you so much for everything,” Charlie told Renn, his eyes welling with tears.
“Say nothing of it,” Renn replied. He gathered Charlie to him, one arm wrapped around his back and one hand resting on the crown of his head as he prayed over the younger man.
“Erik is your dad?” Lucy asked me softly as we took a few steps away to give them some privacy.
“Yes.”
“And he knows about Charlie?”
“He knows. He’d be here too, if he could leave my mother for longer than a few days.”
Lucy nodded. “I’m going to go get Charlie’s bag. Tell him I’ll meet you guys out front.”
She went back inside just before Charlie turned back to me.
Someone screeched inside the barn, and Renn twisted to look over his shoulder.
“It was good to see you again, Renn,” I said as wailing commenced inside the barn.
“You know where to go next?” he asked.
I nodded.
“God go with you, Ambrose,” Renn replied as he strode away.
“Lead the way,” Charlie said, waving me ahead of him as we rounded the house.
“Lucy said she’d grab your bag and meet us out front.”
“She doesn’t like goodbyes,” Charlie replied. “Never has.”
I couldn’t stop looking at him. This man held the other half of my brother’s soul. He was Zeke’s perfect match in ways that I would never understand. He was responsible for the happiest moments in my baby brother’s life. The immediate sense of protectiveness I felt shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did.