Chapter Eight
The afternoon sun shone into the dining room and added a touch of warmth. Emily sat at the table with her laptop nearby, her phone, a purple Sharpie marker, tape, a roll of wrapping paper, scissors, a variety of pictures, and the box for the photo album she’d purchased while they’d been at the Square. Earlier, she’d spent a good hour at the drugstore two blocks away, printing pictures she’d taken on her phone and acquiring supplies to wrap the gift. Once she had everything she needed, she returned to the suite to put the book together. Of course, selecting photos had been equally time consuming. She couldn’t put all of them in the small album.
She leaned back in the chair and flipped through the pages. Pictures of her and Andrew showed a few of their happy moments together. They had so many, and she could think of plenty not on film. But the ones she’d captured would suffice. She’d made comments on several pages, hoping to spark a laugh or smile. The snapshots she’d added from the ultrasounds were the ones with the clearest images of the baby. She’d left half the book empty so she could add photos in the coming months, including a few with Matt. It was a family album after all.
Satisfied with the outcome of the gift, she placed in the box. She put the lid on before she unrolled the blue paper with snowman. Once she’d trimmed off the amount she needed, she began wrapping.
Her stomach growled as she finished taping the last end. She’d had a bowl of cereal early in the morning and fruit a couple of hours ago for lunch. She put off eating a meal so she could enjoy dinner with her two favorite men. But given the loud eruption from her belly, she suspected she should eat some kind of snack to hold her over. After she wrapped a ribbon around the gift, she stuck a bow on top and declared her work complete.
She took the gift into the bedroom and set it on the nightstand. She couldn’t wait to see the expression on his face when he’d see it.
Emily returned to the dining room to clean up her mess. She checked her cell to see if Andrew had sent any new messages in the short time she’d stepped away. He hadn’t. He’d sent a few earlier saying how bad traffic had been and how the Square was crowded. He seemed in a better mood compared to last night’s bedtime. For some reason, he’d worked himself up about getting her a present. He should have known her well enough by now to realize she didn’t any gifts.
Emily tossed the scraps of paper in the trash and left the supplies on the table in case Andrew might need them later. She returned the unused pictures to the Ziploc bag for safekeeping. With nothing more to do, she could relax until the men came back.
The laptop sitting on the table reminded her she needed to do research on the demon in Texas. Before coming to Rockville, she’d been checking every couple of days to see if she could find something about Jacob or Ahmed. She’d delayed further research on him to enjoy the holiday with Andrew. Since she had nothing to do now, there was no reason to stop her from looking online for the evil man.
She propped up the monitor as she sat in the chair. Similar to the other times she searched for the demon, she visited Facebook first. When nothing appeared, she entered the names of his parents. A recent post showed the demon’s brother was planning to visit for the holiday. As usual, the parents failed to mention anything about Jacob. Emily scanned the brother’s Facebook page, too. Again, she found zilch about Jacob. It was as if the family had cut off ties with him.
Emily browsed other social media sites before looking on Google. Her stomach growled again. She’d forgotten to grab a snack. Frustrated with the lack of information on the demon, she took a break to find some food. She snatched a bowl of yogurt from the fridge, a spoon, and the small container with crackers. Items in hand, she returned to the laptop.
Emily ate the strawberry yogurt while she checked for both names on the main search engine. Like always, the information on the screen did not pertain to the person she was looking for. The demon didn’t want to be found. Why? Because he was evil. And what did evil people do? Cause chaos, hurt others, and destroy lives.
She set the empty cup with her spoon on the table. The demon owned a property, so he wasn’t completely a ghost. She pulled up the map to his address and zoomed in on the image. The small ranch home sat on maybe a quarter acre of land in a shabby neighborhood. The garage in the back didn’t connect to the home. A tall wooden privacy fence surrounded the property. Next door, a two-story house had boards over the windows. Graffiti covered the walls. Emily slid her finger on the pad to move the image back to the detached garage. The windows at the top had a dark tint to them.
A touch of nausea stirred within her. The fact the demon had changed his given name to a Muslim one and he stayed under the radar troubled her. Moreover, each demon Andrew had gone after had been worse than the previous one. Terrorists and extremists were everywhere in today’s world. What if this demon was such a person? What if he had plans to cause major destruction or walk into a mall or theatre and start shooting people? The thoughts made her sick.
She flinched from the chime of her phone. Andrew’s name appeared on the screen. She tapped it as she lifted the cell.
“Hey honey,” she said.
“We’re getting ready to leave,” Andrew said. In the background she heard Christmas music and people talking.
“Oh, great. See, that didn’t take as long as you thought it would.”
“I think you’ll like what I got you.”
“We talked about this, remember?”
“I know. I have a confession to make.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“I told Matt about the concert. I couldn’t help it. I had to share my excitement after you told me you found tickets.”
Soon after the two men had left in the morning, she’d hopped online to check for Trans-Siberian dates on Christmas Eve. Lo and behold, they were playing in DC. She had to go to a different site to buy overpriced tickets, but the cost seemed like nothing compared to the memory the three of them would share. What she hadn’t told Andrew was the band’s performance would be longer than normal and include patriotic tunes since they’d chosen to play in the DC.
“Ah, that’s okay,” she said. “Is he excited too?”
“Very much. He’s heard of the band.”
“Excellent. We should have a great time. Dinner. A concert. And then late-night Mass. We’ll have so much fun.”
After she’d purchased the tickets, she’d found a Catholic church with late-night mass in DC. She’d informed Andrew, but she hadn’t told him it was a well-known historic church. From the pictures she’d seen on the Internet, the structure looked to be at least one hundred years old. Presidents had been known to attend services at it, too.
“We are heading to the car now,” Andrew said. “I’d say it might take us at least twenty minutes to get there because of the traffic.”
“It is Christmas Eve.”
“I think we should hit the road early to get to DC to find a parking spot.”
“I can look for a place to eat there. I’m sure there has to be plenty.” She closed out of the map screen on the laptop and opened a new browser.
“That’s a good idea. Let’s make it a night in the city.”
“I’ll have a few choices by the time you arrive.” She typed in the Google search box for restaurants to dine at on Christmas Eve.
“See you soon.”
“Love you.”
She set the cell on the table as the screen loaded with a variety of dining places. Excitement had replaced the slight nausea she’d felt earlier. The plans for Christmas Eve were shaping up well. She couldn’t wait to spend time with her new family and to see the look on Andrew’s face after he opened his gift.