CHAPTER SEVEN
GOSSIP HAD DIED down in Catelow since Colie made it known that she and J.C. were engaged. Even if it was a lie, it gave her a little relief from the censure.
Her father knew better. He accepted what she told him, but his eyes said that he didn’t believe a word of it.
He was so happy to have her back home that he didn’t question anything.
“It’s been lonely without you, Colie,” he said when she’d unpacked her few things and was puttering around the kitchen. “Rod’s gone so much lately that it’s like I live alone.”
“And I haven’t visited, either,” she replied. “I’m sorry. We get so wrapped up in our own lives that we just don’t think.” She turned to him. “I’m sorry that I’ve made things hard for you in Catelow, Daddy,” she added. “I didn’t even realize how bad it was until Mrs. Meyer spoke to me.”
“I didn’t put her up to it,” he said.
“I know that. But she was right. I didn’t consider how it would be for you.”
“Life is hard,” he pointed out. “We make choices and then we have to live with them. Some have more consequences than others.”
She nodded slowly and went back to her chores.
“How long will he be gone?” her father asked.
“A few weeks, he said.” She gnawed her lip. “It’s dangerous work. He makes a lot of money, but he earns it.”
“I know two men in our congregation who have done the same thing, in the past. It’s a fairly secure area,” he said to comfort her. “I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
She managed a weak smile. “Sure he will.”
“Is he going to marry you, Colie?” he asked quietly.
She drew in a long, slow breath and studied the sponge in her hand. She was wiping the stove top with it. “I’d like to think so,” she said after a minute. “But I don’t really know. J.C.’s deep. He doesn’t share much.”
“Maybe you’ll influence him.”
She laughed. “That’s a pipe dream, Daddy. He is what he is.” She turned. “But I love him. So I...deal with it. It’s not the way I want things. It’s the way they are.”
He nodded. He still hoped that one day she might see the light and leave J.C. He knew it was a long shot. Years ago he’d loved like that. He’d loved Colie’s mother. But he’d married her, had children with her. He’d never lived a less than moral life. He sorrowed for his child, because he knew better than she did what was likely going to be the result of her liaison with J.C. He wasn’t a man who wanted ties, and he wasn’t going to settle down. Colie would likely learn that the hard way. But her father would be there for her, when it happened. And he’d do all he could to help her. That was what life was all about. Not being judgmental, even in his position, and trying to ease the pain of loss and love for those to whom he ministered. It was his job. He took it very seriously.
* * *
MISSING J.C. SUDDENLY became the least of Colie’s problems. She got up as usual and made breakfast before she dressed and went to work. But soon after she cleared the table and went to her room to dress, she had to make a mad dash for the bathroom.
She lost her breakfast and what felt like supper last night, as well. It was a virus. It had to be a virus. J.C. would go crazy if she got pregnant. She’d never see him again. He’d walk right out of her life. He’d insinuated as much many times.
It couldn’t be a baby. Not when they’d only messed up one time. Just one time. She took deep breaths before she cleaned up and brushed her teeth. Surely it was just a virus. There was one going around. She’d heard her father mention it. Everything would be all right. She just had to keep her head and not panic.
She went back down the hall, dressed, her hair brushed, her purse over her shoulder. She reached for her coat and popped her head into her father’s study. “I’m on my way out. Need anything else?”
“No, thanks. Breakfast was great,” he added on a chuckle. “I am really very tired of black toast.”
“I’ll make biscuits tomorrow morning. See you tonight.”
“Drive carefully. Lots of snow out this morning.”
“I’ll go slow,” she promised. She might have added that J.C. had given her lessons on how to drive in snow. She didn’t. Things were going nicely without that.
* * *
SHE’D HOPED SHE might hear from J.C. She knew he had a phone with overseas capability. But he hated to talk on the phone. Still, he might miss her enough to call.
He didn’t call. Days went by without a word from him. Colie missed him so much that it was like having a limb removed. She ate without tasting anything. The nausea, thankfully, had passed. There were some odd symptoms. She was tired a lot. She went to bed earlier than ever. Her breasts were tender. But her period was due, and some of those symptoms went with the monthly curse. She had to think positively.
She put up a Christmas tree and decorated it. She didn’t have much money to buy presents, but she did the best she could. There was a sweater for her father, a new wallet for Rod and part of a keychain for J.C. It was in the shape of a heart, but two halves. The inscription was in French. It said Plus que hier, moins que demain. More than yesterday, less than tomorrow. A promise of love. The keychain was in two parts, one for each lover. Colie’s parents had carried such a keychain when Colie and Rod were small. Perhaps she thought it might work some magic on J.C.
* * *
SHE RAN INTO Merrie Colter in town. Merrie had left the baby with Ren long enough to go Christmas shopping. Catelow was dressed in colored lights and tinsel for the holiday. Merrie was just getting into her car when she saw Colie on the sidewalk.
“Hi,” she called.
“Hi!” Colie grinned from ear to ear. “You’re without the baby? My gosh! It’s the end of the world!”
Merrie laughed good-naturedly. “Ren’s babysitting while I get some shopping done and buy something special to cook for supper. It’s Delsey’s night off. How are you?” she added.
Colie grimaced. “Missing J.C.,” she said honestly. “It’s lonely.”
“I know how that feels,” Merrie said. “Ren and I had a rocky courtship. He was a horror when I first met him.”
“That’s what people said,” she replied.
Merrie cocked her head. “You’re wondering if we’ve heard from J.C.”
Colie caught her breath.
“Sorry,” Merrie said. “I get these strange insights from time to time. But it’s common sense. I’d miss Ren, if he’d gone overseas.”
“It wouldn’t be so bad if he’d write or call,” Colie confessed. “I guess it’s hard for him to find time to do those things.”
Merrie didn’t dare admit that J.C. had called the house twice already to talk to Ren about things he’d had the men start setting up at the ranch.
“I imagine it is,” was all Merrie would say. “Anyway, he won’t be gone that long. Honest, the ranch would fall apart without him.”
Colie laughed. “So would my life,” she confessed.
“Men. You can’t live with them sometimes and you can’t live without them. I guess we just take the good with the bad and go on.”
“Sometimes that’s all you can do,” Colie agreed. “I have to run. I’ll be late back from lunch.”
“See you.”
“See you.”
* * *
COLIE WAS DEPRESSED after she’d seen Merrie. She knew, somehow, that J.C. had talked to Ren since he left. It made her feel sick to her stomach. If J.C. had really cared about her, he’d have called. He’d have written. He’d be as desperate to talk to Colie as she was to talk to him.
But he was self-contained. Aloof. He didn’t get involved with people. He didn’t trust them. She knew that if she ever gave him a reason, she’d never see him again. He held grudges and never made a secret of it. He wouldn’t talk about his father, who was presumably still alive somewhere. He didn’t forgive, even after twenty-two years. It was disturbing.
He did want her. She knew that for certain. But wanting wasn’t enough to hold a couple together for years and years. Desire was a fleeting thing, easily satisfied and then lost. She was afraid that J.C. would tire of her. She could tell he wasn’t happy with the way she was in bed. He knew she didn’t get much out of sleeping with him. Maybe he was right about the latex thing. But it was uncomfortable beyond that.
Perhaps if she’d leveled with him at the beginning, told him her age and that she was innocent, things might have gone in a different direction. He might not have taken her out at all. She’d had a major crush on him, but once they started dating, she fell in love, fell hard and deep.
Life had been uncomplicated. She’d gone to work, to business classes at the local community college at night, she’d cooked and cleaned for her father and Rod. Her life had been vaguely satisfying, if stale and boring.
J.C. had changed all that. He’d made every day an adventure. She looked forward to getting up in the morning because she knew she’d see him most days.
Not that he’d been around a lot. He’d gone on that trip to Denver that had almost caused them to break up. Now he was gone to Iraq to train policemen. It seemed sometimes that they’d been apart more than they’d been together.
She sensed that J.C. had been trying to draw back from her before things got too serious. He worried about her. He couldn’t hide it. He was surprised and pleased at the way she’d taken care of him when he was sick. He didn’t like being dependent on anyone, especially a woman. Was that what made him get cold feet? Or was it just that he was determined to stay single, and he resented Colie for wanting things he couldn’t give her?
* * *
SHE WAS NO closer to an answer on Christmas Eve, when the nausea returned. Her period was almost a month overdue. She was regular. She never missed it by even a day. The fatigue was growing, as well.
She’d hoped that J.C. would call her on Christmas Eve. He knew how special Christmas was to her. But, as her father often said, J.C. was a man who avoided religion. Merrie Colter phoned her to say that Ren pulled strings to get a call through to J.C. There had been a communications blackout, so J.C. hadn’t been able to call out. Ren, with his military connections, managed to get through. J.C. had asked him to have Merrie call and wish Colie a Merry Christmas from him, and to tell Colie that he missed her and would be home soon.
It made her day. She beamed all through making the special meal for her and her father. Rod had phoned and made a jerky apology about not being able to make it home because of car trouble. Even that didn’t spoil her mood. She was glowing. J.C. missed her. It would be all right. All her worries had been for nothing.
She drove to a nearby town and bought a pregnancy test. She went to a local shopping mall and used the test in a stall in the ladies’ restroom.
When the little paper changed color, she felt her heart freeze in her chest. It could be a false positive, of course. But with her other symptoms, she was certain that it wasn’t. She was pregnant.
Her first reaction was overwhelming joy. She’d never felt so happy in her entire life. Her second reaction was stark terror. She couldn’t have a child out of wedlock in Catelow, Wyoming. It would destroy her father’s ministry. Well, maybe not destroy, but it would shame and humiliate him. He was such a good man. It would hurt him even more than she’d already hurt him.
There was a slight chance that J.C. might actually change his mind, despite what he’d said about not wanting to settle down. Surely, if he knew there was going to be a child, his sense of responsibility would kick in. Surely, he’d do the right thing!
She convinced herself that it was just a matter of putting it to J.C. the right way. She’d make him a wonderful supper when he got back from overseas. She’d make him comfortable, curl up in his arms. And then she’d tell him, gently. He was a good man. He wouldn’t throw her away because of an unplanned pregnancy.
She put the pregnancy test in the trash can and went home.
* * *
KEEPING IT SECRET was going to be the hard thing. Her father knew how pregnant women behaved. He’d been through two pregnancies with Colie’s mother. She was careful to eat just enough of Christmas dinner not to arouse suspicion, and she made sure she had the water running in the sink when she threw up, so he wouldn’t hear.
He took her word that cramps were making her so sick that she went to bed early. He didn’t question her. He was proud of his new sweater. He’d given Colie a bathrobe, a nice white chenille one that was very soft. Rod hadn’t come home for Christmas. He’d called to wish them a happy day, but hung up almost immediately.
She was grateful that Rod was hardly ever home. But he wouldn’t have noticed that she was pregnant, anyway. He was acting more and more erratically. She was beginning to think he was mixed up in something very dangerous. He hardly spoke a word to his father and sister at the supper table on the rare times when he ate with them, and he was always going to Jackson Hole on the weekends.
Colie and her father celebrated the new year together with glasses of eggnog. Her father was sad that his son hadn’t even called this time. He went to bed with his steps dragging. Colie was sorry, but there was nothing she could do about her brother. She only wondered why he was acting so strangely.
* * *
COLIE HAD STARTED going back to church with her father. It helped her fit back into the community that had started to shun her. People of faith were big on forgiveness, and Colie was loved.
But one Sunday morning in January, she was too sick to go. She pleaded an overnight stomach virus and apologized, but her father just patted her on the back and smiled. He’d had three members of his congregation out with it already. She’d be over it in no time.
She saw him off and then went back to bed.
* * *
SHE WAS DOZING when she heard cars drive up outside. The front door opened and closed. She heard voices.
Curious, she got up and pulled on a thick robe before she went into the living room. What she saw shocked her so badly that she couldn’t even speak.
Rodney was taking possession of a suitcase absolutely packed with drugs. There were bottles and bottles of prescription drugs and several packets of what looked like white powder.
“You know how to distribute it,” his friend in the smart suit told him. “Make sure your contacts hand it out free at the local schools, that gets them hooked... What the hell?!”
He’d glanced toward the doorway and saw Colie standing there, white-faced and shocked. Rod’s mouth fell open.
“You take care of that,” he told Rod. “Do it right now! One word of this gets out, you’re a dead man, you hear me?!”
He went out the door and slammed it behind him.
Rod glared at Colie. “What the hell are you doing home?” he demanded. “You’re never here on Sunday!”
“I got a virus,” she said. “Oh, Rod, what are you doing?” she wailed. “Dealing drugs?”
He looked guilty and sick for a minute, then he glared harder. “You’re one to talk,” he shot back. “Living with a man, and Daddy a minister!”
“I love J.C.,” she said defensively.
“He’ll never marry you,” he returned icily. He laughed coldly. “Daddy doesn’t suspect, but I’d bet money that’s no virus that’s keeping you home. You’re pregnant.”
She gasped and went pale.
He’d been guessing. Apparently he was right. He lifted his chin. “You keep what you saw to yourself, or I’ll make you sorry. I’m making a lot of money. I’m sick of working for chicken feed when I can have nice things like my buddy does. I’m going to have whatever I want...”
“You’re poisoning children!”
“If they get hooked, it’s their own business, not yours,” he said. “They’re not kids, they’re teenagers.”
“People die from drug use,” she persisted.
“It’s not your business,” he repeated.
He closed up the suitcase. “You keep your mouth shut, or I’ll make you pay for it. Don’t even think of going to the sheriff!”
“I don’t have to go to the sheriff,” she said coldly. “All I have to do is tell J.C.”
As threats went, it was masterful. He knew J.C. better than Colie did. He had no desire to end up in federal prison for dealing hard narcotics.
“You’d better not, Colie. I mean it.”
“Will you stop right now? Give that—” she indicated the suitcase “—back to that son of the devil you’re going around with!”
“Not on your life,” he retorted.
She lifted her chin. She didn’t say another word.
She didn’t have to. Rodney knew what it meant. He turned away. He was going to have to stop her. He wasn’t going to prison or the mortuary because his baby sister suddenly developed morals again. He knew exactly what he was going to do.
* * *
J.C. SENT COLIE a message by Ren, who had Merrie call her.
“He said to tell you he’s coming back Sunday,” Merrie said, laughing at the delight in Colie’s voice. “No, he doesn’t want you to meet him, he’s got his SUV at the airport in Jackson Hole. He said if you wanted to come over and fix supper for both of you, he’d be delighted. It’s going to be a long flight and he’ll be hungry.”
“I’ll make something wonderful,” Colie said dreamily.
Merrie smiled to herself. “I think what he really wants is to see you. Food would be nice, but Ren said J.C. talked about you every time he called. He wanted to make sure you were staying at your father’s place, and that you were okay.”
“I wish he’d called me,” Colie sighed.
“He hates talking on the phone,” Merrie said. “He told Ren he never knew what to say and he hated trying to put his thoughts into words over a long-distance line. He said he’d say them in person when he saw you. He missed you,” she added. “Ren thought it was hilarious, although he didn’t tell J.C. Neither of us ever imagined we’d see J.C. Calhoun go crazy over a woman.”
“Is he? Crazy over me, I mean?” Colie asked huskily.
“From what we see, yes, he certainly is. He’s just been sold out too many times to trust people easily, Colie. That’s all it is. He’ll learn to trust you, in time.”
“I’ll never let him down,” she promised. “Oh, gosh, I have to get busy! It’s Saturday. He’ll be home tomorrow! I’ll go crazy waiting!”
“Anticipation is nice,” Merrie said demurely. “It leads to amazing memories.”
Colie laughed. “I’m anticipating that,” she confessed. “Thanks so much for calling me!”
“You’re more than welcome. We’ll be waiting to hear how things work out. I’m sure we’ll have exciting news in the near future,” she added drily.
“I hope so!”
* * *
HER FATHER WAS sitting at the kitchen table, finishing supper. Rod was there, glowering at Colie.
“Well, what lit a fire in you?” her father asked amusedly.
“J.C. will be home tomorrow!” she said excitedly. “He’s flying into Jackson Hole tomorrow afternoon. I have to go make supper for him. I’m so happy!”
Her father hid his misgivings quickly. “I’m happy for you. Just put out cold cuts for us tomorrow night,” he added. “Save you a little time.”
She kissed his cheek. “Thanks, Daddy.”
Rod didn’t say anything. He kept his eyes down. He was having an epiphany. He knew exactly what he was going to do now.
After supper, he even smiled at Colie as he went into his room, took out his cell phone and made a call.
* * *
COLIE HAD MADE roast beef and a potato casserole and English peas, with a cherry pie for dessert. She’d shopped for the ingredients and taken them to J.C.’s place, using the key he’d given her when they first moved in together.
She was so excited that she almost burned the potatoes. She couldn’t wait to see J.C. again. It had been almost two months, two long and lonely months without him. She put a hand on her flat stomach. It was far too soon to even feel a rising there, but she knew there was a baby. Her symptoms were such that she couldn’t have mistaken them, even without the positive pregnancy test she’d used. Pretty soon she’d have to see a doctor. If J.C. didn’t want to marry her, she could see a doctor at the health department and swear him to secrecy. What she’d do about hiding her condition was a puzzle, but she’d work something out. Surely, there would be a way.
But she might be worrying for nothing. Once J.C. knew, if he’d missed her as much as Merrie said he had, there might not be any need to worry at all.
* * *
SHE WAS ON pins and needles as darkness fell. The snow had melted somewhat, but it was still in the shady areas of the property, shining, glowing, in the moonlight. It gave the cabin’s surroundings a fairy-tale look. She hoped her personal fairy tale would have a happy ending.
She punched up cushions and watched the news, but still J.C. didn’t come. It was almost nine o’clock, and she’d just reheated the meal again when she finally heard his SUV drive up outside.
Odd how he slammed the door of the vehicle. He didn’t usually. She heard his footsteps on the porch. The door opened abruptly. And there he was, shepherd’s coat, boots, jeans and all.
She started to run to him until she saw his face close enough to recognize the furious temper he was in.
“H-hi, J.C.,” she began uneasily.
His jaw was clenched so hard that it looked as if his teeth were in danger of breaking. His pale gray eyes were glittering like hot sun on a gun barrel.
“What’s wrong?” she said, moving a step closer.
“You tell me,” he replied icily. His eyes went homing to her stomach.
He knew! How did he know? She hadn’t told anyone!
Her hands went protectively to her belly. She felt sick all over. “I haven’t said anything...!”
“When were you going to tell me?” he asked, lifting his face to sniff the air. “After a home-cooked meal and some passionate sex?” he added. He laughed coldly. “Not that you’d know passion if it sat on you, you little icicle.”
The joy drained out of her all at once. “Who told you?” she asked sadly.
“Your brother.”
“Rod?” She was trying to think. He’d made threats. He knew about the baby... “When did you hear from him?” she asked.
“He met me at the airport, with the father of that child you’re carrying,” he said in a voice as cold as the grave.
Her lips parted on a shocked breath. “What?”
“He brought your boyfriend Barry with him. Rod said he was absolutely disgusted with the way you’d behaved. It hurt him that you’d two-time his best friend with another man. It hurt even more that you were willing to pass the child off as mine, because your boyfriend didn’t have as much money as I did.”
“What...boyfriend?” she exclaimed. “I don’t have a boyfriend!”
“Give it up,” he shot back. “You’re busted, Colie,” he added. “I was sick of you, anyway,” he said as he headed toward the bedroom. “You never did anything in bed except lie there like a plastic doll. You never wanted me. You couldn’t even pretend that you did. I guess your boyfriend was better in bed, even if he was poor. Rod said you couldn’t keep your hands off him, even in front of your father.”
She started after him, shocked, sickened, absolutely bereft of words.
He pulled her things out of drawers and stuffed them into the big duffel bag she’d left there. He shoved her trinkets and the photo of her mother and father and Rod into the bag with them.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“What does it look like?”
He finished, very efficiently, and zipped up the bag. He carried it out through the living room to the front porch and slid it toward the steps.
“Do you have your cell phone?” he asked with icy politeness.
“Yes. In my pocket...”
“Good. You can call your father to come get you. Goodbye, Colie. I’m sorry I wasn’t quite gullible enough to make it work out for you.”
“He lied,” she managed through tight lips and tears.
“Sure he did.” He looked her up and down with eyes that hated her. “I almost fell for it. Sweet, gentle Colie who loved me more than anyone in the world and just wanted to live with me and take care of me. What a line!”
“I meant it.”
He wasn’t moved by her white face or the hot tears rolling silently down her cheeks. “Just for the books, I wouldn’t have married you, even if that child had been mine,” he added. “I told you. I love my freedom.”
She just looked at him, so wounded that she couldn’t even manage a defense.
He was still glaring at her. “Maybe you’ll have better luck with your new lover.”
It was cold. She had on a thin jacket. She hadn’t expected to need anything warmer. Her truck wouldn’t start, so she’d called a cab to bring her here. It had been warm inside the cab and she’d imagined she’d stay with J.C. once he was home. She hadn’t counted on being put outside like this. It was freezing.
“Women,” he finished with pure venom. “Two-timing prostitutes, the lot of you! I thought you were different. I really did. But you were just out for what you could get, like all the others.”
Her gaze fell to the porch. Please, God, don’t let me faint at his feet, she pleaded silently.
Her silence made him even angrier. “How long did you wait to crawl into his bed?” he demanded. “Did you even wait until I was out of the country? Or was it going on before, when I was in Denver? You said you’d dated another man, was it really him and not some out-of-town accountant?”
“I told you the truth,” was all she said.
“What would you know about the truth, Colie?” he asked. “Did you have to grit your teeth every time you slept with me? You never gave anything back. I had to do it all. And you made me feel inadequate, every time. It got to the point that I hated even touching you!”
She swallowed, hard. She could have told him why, but he wasn’t listening.
“I hope it goes without saying that I never want to see you again,” he said finally. “If I see you in town, I’ll look right through you. I won’t speak. From this day forward, you don’t exist for me.”
She drew in a breath. She was so sick that she hardly even felt the cold.
“Go home,” he said coldly. He went back inside and slammed the door, enraged that he couldn’t make her apologize.
She opened her cell phone a minute later and called her father.
“Can you drive over to J.C.’s house and get me, Daddy?” she asked in a haunted whisper.
He knew immediately what was wrong. “I’ll be right there, honey.” He hung up.
She started crying. The wind cut through her like a knife. She didn’t care. Her life was over.
* * *
THE REVEREND DROVE her home and made hot chocolate for her. Then he just sat and let her talk. She told him that Rodney had gone to J.C. with a lie that broke them up, but not what it was.
He caught his breath. “Rodney did this to you? But, why?” he asked, aghast.
“You can ask him,” she said. “I won’t carry tales.”
“I don’t understand why he’d lie to his best friend about something so important,” Reverend Thompson persisted. “This isn’t right, Colie. I’ll call J.C. myself...”
“No!”
He hesitated.
She laid her hand over his on the table. “He was looking for an excuse to get rid of me, Daddy,” she said sadly. “He said so. He was tired of me.”
He grimaced.
“There’s something more,” she continued, shamed and sick at heart. “I’m...pregnant, Daddy.”
He groaned out loud.
Tears rained down her face in a silent torrent. “I’m so sorry!” she sobbed. “I’ve ruined my life and your life, because I was in love. I thought he loved me. I thought...” She swallowed down nausea. “I’ve been such a fool. I’m so sorry!” she repeated.
He got up and pulled her into his arms, rocking her as he had when she was little and someone had hurt her.
“We’ll manage,” he said. “Don’t you give it a thought. We’ll manage!”
“It’s so shameful,” she wept.
“It’s a baby,” he said softly. “Babies aren’t shameful.”
“It doesn’t have a father,” she reminded him.
“It has a mother,” he retorted. “You’ll be a wonderful mother. The very best!”
That made her feel worse. She’d expected censure, anger. But he was kind and caring and loving. Just as he’d always been. She realized that she didn’t really know her father at all. What she’d taken for disapproval was his knowledge of how things were going to turn out, his sorrow for her. He’d known, as she hadn’t, how it was going to end. But he loved her just the same. She wailed.
“You get a good night’s sleep,” he told her when the crying stopped. “In the morning, we’ll talk and make decisions. Meanwhile, I’m going to have a very long talk with my son!”
“It won’t do any good,” she said quietly. “He’s mixed up with bad people, Daddy. It would be better if you didn’t say anything about this to him.”
“Colie...”
“Promise me,” she said. She knew what her brother was doing. If her father pushed him too hard, found out what was going on, he’d put himself in danger. She didn’t want that. Rodney wasn’t the son her father remembered. He was a stranger now.
“What do you know, Colie?” he asked.
“Things I’ll never say. Not now.” It was true. She’d have told J.C., and he’d have handled it. But J.C. would never believe her now. He’d taken Rodney’s word over hers, knowing that Rod couldn’t tell the truth if his life depended on it. There was no going back now.
“All right, then,” the reverend replied. “I’ll let it drop. Things usually work out.”
“Usually.” She didn’t believe it, but it was easier to agree. “Thanks for not being mad at me.”
“You’re my daughter. I love you. I may not approve of what you’ve done, but that doesn’t mean I’ll turn away from you, ever.”
She smiled and hugged him again. “Thanks, Daddy. Good night.”
“Good night. Try to get some rest.” He hesitated. “Colie, it might be as well if you called in sick tomorrow. We’re going to need to discuss a few things.”
She nodded. “I’ll do that.”