“Keep it up, Mr. Daniels, and there won’t be a next time.”
“I better shut up then.” He chuckled.
***
As dusk arrived, Henry pulled the truck up to what looked like an abandoned farmhouse. The formally white, now grimy gray paint needed refreshing, the porch was tilting to one side, and some of the windows had cracks in them.
It was a chilly night. The south had been somewhat warmer than the north, obviously, but it was still pretty damn cold.
“Thomas, come with me. Nick, take care of the women.” Henry and Thomas checked their guns, then headed to the house. I saw the curtain draw back a little bit.
“Nick, there’s someone in there.” I rolled down the window. “Front left window!” The curtain fell back across. “Nick, what if they get hurt?”
Once again, my nerves were taking over. My stomach cramped when I saw Henry knock on the front door. I hid my face. I couldn’t bear to watch him get shot…or worse. Sometimes having faith in Henry just wasn’t good enough. Nick reached up and held my hand.
***
Henry acknowledged the yell from the truck with a wave. He approached the house carefully. He held his arm out, indicating to Thomas to stay behind him, then knocked on the door.
“What do you want?” came a woman’s voice from inside.
“Ma’am, my name is Henry, and this is Thomas. My crew and I don’t want to hurt anyone. We just need a place to stay for the evening.” There was a long silence.
“I don’t have enough food and water for everyone.” He could hear the contemplation in her voice.
“We have food and water. We can give you some of our supply as payment for allowing us to stay.”
There was another long minute before Henry heard the click of the lock. A worn, middle-aged woman stood before him. “Hello, ma’am. Thank you. I appreciate this tremendously.”
“I didn’t say you could stay yet.” She glanced past Henry and looked at the truck. “How many are there?”
“Five in total.”
“I have one spare room. The rest will have to sleep on the sofa or the floor.”
“That’s fine, ma’am. We would be grateful just to have a roof over our heads. It’ll be just for one night. We’re traveling to North Carolina to meet family. Well… hopefully meet family.”
“Your family?”
“Yes. Extended.” She looked at Henry and Thomas, debating on whether or not she should take them in for the evening. “Like I said, we won’t hurt you or use any of your belongings.”
“Can I meet everyone first?”
“Certainly.” Henry jogged back to the truck.
***
“She wants to meet everyone first. Proper behavior please…Elaina.” He raised his eyebrow at me. I snarled. I couldn’t understand why he would say that to innocent little me. The three of us got out and walked up to the front porch. Nick watched our surroundings.
“This is my fiancée, Elaina; her best friend, Claire; and that’s Elaina’s brother and Claire’s boyfriend, Nick.” We all put on our best smiles. She looked all of us up and down several times.
“You’ll be gone around daybreak?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Henry was really working his charm.
“Okay then. But I assure you, I can defend myself.”
“Without a doubt.” Henry smiled again. “Can we bring in all of our belongings? We can’t afford to have any of it stolen.”
“Yes.” She stepped back from the door and waved us in. Claire and I went inside, but Henry, Nick, and Thomas went to unload the truck.
“Thank you for allowing us to stay the night. We are so very grateful.” I looked at Claire, wondering if she was impressed by my wonderful words. She raised an eyebrow at me.
“Yes, thank you. I didn’t catch your name.” Claire was as sweet as pie.
“Addie.” She was curt and all business. I could tell she wasn’t pleased with us being there.
“Well, we should probably help the boys get our things.” Claire turned to head back out the door, and I grabbed her shoulder.
“Why don’t you sit down? I’ll help.”
“I can help.”
“I just…” I noticed Addie was watching us. “Okay.” We both went out to the truck, only for Nick to pull Claire aside and whisper to her.
“Stop treating me like I’m helpless!” she growled.
Nick grabbed her arm before she could turn away from him. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself or the…”
“Let…go…of…me.”
“Just let her help,” I said. “There’s no sense in fighting her and getting her all riled up.”