Darkness Falls(39)

“You’ll come with me?” His voice was husky.
Jordan wasn’t going to cry. She was too terrified. But she jerked a nod. Let out a shuddering breath as she opened her car door and got out.
Had it been this street, or another?
She wasn’t going to ask.
He held her hand as they crossed and started up a long sidewalk, but he let her go a pace from the steps that led to the front door. She wrapped her arms tightly around her chest to stop her galloping heart.
His footsteps were heavy as he climbed.
Jordan hung back, hoping, hoping… If there’s a God in heaven. Please.
Maybe they should’ve called first. Gauged the response before the reunion    , but Malcolm wasn’t one to do things halfway. He’d left home suddenly. Seemed he was coming back in the same brash style.
He knocked on the door with his knuckles. Didn’t use the bell.
Seconds ticked by like eons. Jordan almost hoped no one was home, but then heard the unmistakable sound of a deadbolt turning. A squeak as the door opened.
A woman past middle age, a little heavy, stood in the doorway. “Yes?”
Malcolm said, “Um…” so low and gravelly and full of feeling that Jordan could no longer breathe.
Turned out he didn’t need to say more.
The sound that broke from his mother’s throat as she flung her arms around his shoulders answered everything.
They trembled there while tears burned down Jordan’s cheeks. When finally they broke apart, Malcolm opened an arm toward Jordan.
She gave the shocked and clearly overcome woman in the doorway a watery smile.
“I want you to meet my girl,” Malcolm said. “Mom, this is Jordan.”
The End