Precedent: Book Three: Covenant of Trust Series (41 page)

“
But I—”

“
Came home.” She kissed her and hugged her once more, then she turned and pointed to the front porch where her brothers stood. “Now, I think those boys are anxious to see you.”

Joel met her halfway up the walk, lifted her off the ground with his hug and spun her around like she was nine again. “Welcome home, Squirt.”

“
Thanks, Jellybean.”

Jack stayed on the porch, though. She couldn’t blame him. They weren’t on the best terms when she left. She took a deep breath and walked carefully up to the porch. “Jack, what I said to you . . . I’m so sorry. Can you forgive me?”

“
I need to ask your forgiveness, too,” he said.

“
What for?” He pulled her spark plug wires from behind his back and smiled sheepishly. “That was you? I thought it was Dad!”

“
After the things you said about my mother . . . well, I was pretty angry with you.”

“
Oh, Jack.” Her own hateful words flooded back into her memory. “I was . . . I’m sorry. There’s no excuse for ever talking about another person like that, especially someone you love so much. If things are not the same between us, I understand.”

“
I doubt they’ll ever be the same.”

Shannon nodded with resignation.

Then he grinned. “Can’t they be better?”

She returned his smile and hugged him. “They already are. Much, much better.” Her parents and Joel stepped up on the porch as she let go of Jack. When she reached for her mother’s hand, she noticed the cars lining the street. “Who’s here?”

“
Come and see.” Her mother pushed open the door for her.

Before Shannon saw anyone she smelled breakfast. Pancakes. And bacon and sausage. And coffee. Home. Aunt Rita was making breakfast, and all her cousins were there. Even Danny. Seeing him made her miss Brad, but not in a bad way. He had a greater homecoming than this one.

Katelyn squealed as she hugged her, bursting with the news of her parents’ remarriage. “What else did I miss?” Shannon asked.

“
Joel and I are expecting,” Abby announced, and Joel and Ryan beamed.

“
Seriously?”

“
Just found out Christmas Day.”

Shannon hugged Abby and Joel again, whispering in her brother’s ear, “I hope it’s twins.”

Even Pastor Glen and Miss Laurie were there. “We’re glad you’re home safe,” Laurie said.

“
Thank you. Pastor Glen, we need to talk if you have some time in the next day or two.”

“
You bet. Just let me know.”

Her mother, never more than an arm’s length away, laid a hand on her shoulder. “Baby, let me have your coat, and we can sit down for Aunt Rita’s breakfast feast.”

But she was wearing her housekeeping uniform and had no intention of sitting through her homecoming breakfast with everybody staring at it. Even the prodigal son got to change clothes. “Ummm, actually, I think I’d like to run up and change. Into my own clothes, you know.”

“
Of course,” her mother said and followed her up the stairs. After a moment’s hesitation and a deep breath, Shannon opened the door to her bedroom and stepped inside. That wonderful home-from-vacation smell wrapped around her, and every detail was just the way she remembered it. “We didn’t move anything,” her mother said.

Shannon dug through the box in the back of the closet until she found an old University of Missouri sweatshirt that had belonged to Joel. Then she got jeans and her favorite old sneakers. She quickly threw off the uniform and got dressed. Even the smell of the fabric softener was wonderful.

Her mother stood against the doorframe, smiling, on the verge of tears again. “Mom, I’m so sorry.”

“
Not today.” Her mother hugged her tightly. “Nothing but good stuff today.” But as she let go, her mother winced.

“
What?”

“
Nothing.”

“
Liar,” Shannon said with a raised eyebrow and a grin.

“
All right. Sit down.” Her mother sat on the bed and patted the spot beside her.

“
You’re kinda scaring me.”

“
The scary part is over.” Her mother reached for her hand, a kind seriousness in her deep brown eyes. “I wasn’t going to tell you this for another day or two, and I threatened everybody downstairs not to breathe a word of it.”

“
Mom, just say it.”

“
I had surgery on the seventeenth to remove a small tumor from my right breast. It was cancer. Radiation starts Monday.”

“
MOM!” She . . . cancer . . . radiation? She leaned forward, trying to catch her breath, trying to make the bed stop spinning. “And I . . .”

“
Had no way to know. Shannon, it’s okay.” Her mother pulled her over into her arms. “The surgery was a complete success. I feel fine. A few little treatments and we’ll move on like it never happened.”

“
But Mom . . .” The tears of guilt and shame came with no way to stop them. No rationalizing or justifying this one. As if the direct pain she caused weren’t enough.

“
Baby, I know everything inside you is telling you ‘shame on you.’”

Shannon nodded. “And that’s the nice stuff. The rest is worse.”

Her mother smiled and pushed the hair back from her face. “Don’t listen to it. The people who love you aren’t shaming you. Don’t do it to yourself.”

* * *

Bobbi cleared the throw pillows from the family room sofa, making room for the family to settle in for an afternoon of watching the bowl games. Shannon said she wanted everything to be like a normal New Year’s, so football and snacks became the order of the day.

Just then, Shannon shuffled in, her hands stuffed in the front pouch of her sweatshirt. Bobbi motioned for her and hugged her. “How was your nap?”

“
Best sleep I’ve had in months,” Shannon said, dropping onto the sofa. “Where’s everybody at?”

“
Abby and Joel took Ryan and Jack to get snacks and Dad’s making tea. And coffee, I hope.” She joined Shannon on the sofa and pulled the afghan around her shoulders. “Are you warm enough?”

“
I’m fine, thanks.”

“
You know, you have Christmas presents to unwrap.”

“
I don’t deserve—”

Bobbi pointed a finger at her, but the reproof was only halfway teasing.

“
I mean, I’ll get to them later.”

“
Much better.” She smiled and patted Shannon’s knee.

“
So tell me some more stuff. What’s everybody been doing? What about the police? Did they ever find the guy that shot Brad?”

“
Oh my goodness! You’ll have to get Jack to tell you. His grandfather showed up at Dad’s office one day in November.”

“
No way!”

“
He did. He saw the shooting. He had the guy’s name and he went to the police.”

“
And?”

“
And they called this morning. I haven’t even told your dad yet. Chuck!”

He stepped in the doorway “Yeah? Oh, hey, sweetheart.”

“
Detective Ramirez called. They arrested Antoine Miller.”

“
Honey, that’s great!”

Bobbi frowned. “He’s trying to negotiate a plea deal.”

“
I need to talk to the prosecutor,” Chuck muttered. “We can do better than that.”

“
Speaking of prosecutors,” Bobbi said, “is the paper in there?” Chuck returned a few minutes later with the morning newspaper, and Bobbi shuffled the pages around. “Here. You’ll both want to read this,” she said, pointing to the article on Dylan Snider’s arrest.

“
Just when I’m about to lose faith in the justice system,” Chuck said, “they come through.”

“
Joel said one of those girls was a patient of his. He may have to testify.”

“
I’d love to testify against that punk.”

Then Bobbi noticed Shannon sinking back against the sofa, chewing on her bottom lip. “Baby? Everything all right?”

“
I feel a little sick.”

“
I shouldn’t have had you read it. I’m sorry.”

“
No . . . I just . . . I believed him, and everything he ever said was a lie. He said I was amazing, that I was special.”

“
Those are true,” Chuck said, and she shook her head.

“
Yeah, but he . . . I mean, I let him go too far, and then . . .”

“
Oh baby.” Bobbi took her in her arms again, sharing silent tears with her daughter. She rubbed Shannon’s back and spoke gently. “You’ve been through a horrible experience. I wish coming back home could magically erase all that hurt, but I know it doesn’t. We’ll work on it, though, and the healing will come, I promise you that. Healing will come.”

* * *

At the close of the day, after draining the last of the coffee into her mug, Bobbi joined Chuck on the love seat in the study. He slipped his arm around her, and she nestled even closer. “Kids asleep?” he asked.

“
I know Shannon is. Jack’s light was still on.”

“
I think you were more beautiful today than I’ve ever seen you. There were times when I had to stop what I was doing and just watch you.”

“
Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you?”

He shook his head. “No. You had your family all around you . . . I don’t know . . . you just glowed.”

“
It was quite a day.”

“
We’ve had a few of those over the years, haven’t we?”

“
Probably have a few more before it’s all said and done.”

He shifted so he could stretch out his legs. “You know, we need a fireplace in here. That would make it perfect,” he said.

“
It’s close enough.”

About The Author

After working several years as research chemist, Paula Wiseman was blessed with the opportunity to stay home with her children and follow the writer’s path.
Contingency: Book One: Covenant of Trust Series
, her bestselling debut novel, won two Indie Excellence Awards and was a Readers Favorite Winner in Christian fiction.
Indemnity
, the follow-up, was also an Amazon bestseller and #1 Hot New Release. When she isn’t working on new projects, Paula blogs on matters of life and faith at www.paulawiseman.com.