The card showed an angel, complete with a golden halo.
He didn’t know if it was a threat, a joke, or sincere.
Considering that guy: probably all three.
He handed Elizabeth the remote control, but she set it down on the coffee table. He had instructed her on how to use it, and she was a quick learner. She was curious about everything in the modern world, and he was glad to teach her.
After leaving the deserts of Egypt, Tommy had ended up in Rome, at an apartment supplied by the Church. He’d had his blood tested several times since he got back, but otherwise everyone left him alone. He was just some orphaned kid now. He had been offered other temporary accommodations, a place to himself until he was returned to the States, but he preferred to stay with Elizabeth.
Bored, he asked, “Want to learn how to use the microwave?”
“Is the microwave not a device for cooking meals?” She tightened her lips. “That is servant’s work.”
Tommy lifted an eyebrow toward her. She clearly needed to learn far more about the modern world than just its technology. “Don’t you think you’ll need to cook for yourself?”
Her eyes darkened. “Why should I waste time on such trivialities?”
He waved his arm around the room. “You can’t live here forever. And when you leave, you’ll have to get a job and earn money and cook for yourself.”
“The Church has no intention of letting me go,” she said.
“Why? They’re letting me go.” He was being sent to his aunt and uncle in Santa Barbara, a couple he barely knew.
“You are but a child. They see you as no threat. So they will send you to this California without fear.”
He sighed, trying not to whine. Elizabeth hated when anyone complained. He finally just blurted it out. “I don’t want to go.”
She turned to him. “You will go.”
“I don’t know those people. At all. I think I met them once.”
“They will care for you, as their familial duty requires.”
But they won’t love me, he thought. Not like Mom and Dad.
“When do you depart?” she asked.
“Tomorrow.” He hung his head.
She tapped his chin. “Sit straight. You’ll crook your back.”
Still, he saw she did that to hide her shock. Apparently no one had told her.
“I just found out this morning myself,” he said. “Merry Christmas to the both of us.”
She frowned at him. “Why should I feel anything other than happiness that you are to be reunited with your family?”
“No reason,” he mumbled.
He stood and walked into the kitchen. He had nothing else to do. He didn’t have anything to pack, just a couple of outfits that Christian had brought him and a handful of books that Erin had given him before she and Jordan left for the States themselves.
“Tommy. ” Elizabeth stood and crossed to him. “You might find it difficult to live with these people, but they are your family. It is better than being trapped here . . . with me.”
He opened and closed a cupboard, not that he needed anything, just to do something. He slammed it a bit too loudly.
She turned him by the shoulders and grabbed his chin. “Why are you so angry? What? You wish me to weep at your farewell? To beg you to remain with me?”
Maybe a little.
“No.”
“Such displays of hysteria did not happen when I was a girl,” she said. “I have seen much such silliness on your television, but I find it crass.”
“It’s fine,” he said.
She touched his arm. “I shall miss your presence. You have taught me much and brought me joy.”
He guessed that her words were like a modern woman falling on the floor weeping.
“I’ll miss you, too,” he said.
She pulled a gray box out of her pocket and placed it in his hand. “For a parting gift, since you do not celebrate Christmas.”
Tommy took off the wrapping carefully. It was a prepaid cell phone.
“If you are ever in need of me,” she promised, “call and I will come.”
“I thought you were a prisoner.”
She scoffed. “Like they can ever keep me caged.”
Tommy felt tears threatening and struggled to hold them back.
She bent to stare him in the face. “There are few in this world who are trustworthy. But I trust you.”
“Same here.”
That was why he had stayed here with her. The others were loyal to their beliefs, but she was loyal to him.
He hugged her, to hide his tears.
“Such foolishness,” she said, but she squeezed him even harder.
10:12 A.M. CST
Des Moines, Iowa
Erin sat on the carpeted stairs of Jordan’s parents’ house. She was hiding out from action in the living room below, taking a moment to brace herself from the Christmas morning chaos. She inhaled the sugar of fresh-baked gingerbread and the burnt allure of freshly brewed coffee. Still, she stayed put.