The Lullaby Sky (7 page)

Liz’s eyes darted around the new room, to the ceiling, to the windows. She wanted to stay, because she wanted to be anywhere but in that house where she had to walk on eggshells every day. But if she did and it made Wyatt angry, she’d suffer the consequences. Hannah knew all too well.

Hannah took a few steps toward her and hugged her. “Go home, darlin’. All we’re going to do is sleep anyway, as tired as we are. We’ll see you in church and spend the afternoon at Aunt Birdie’s.”

Liz hesitated long enough to draw another breath. “I’ll come over Monday morning and we’ll work on making a houseful of pretty valances. I can’t believe you found blue material with white clouds on it for Sophie’s room. When you tuck Sophie in tonight, give her a kiss on the forehead for me.”

“Will do,” Hannah said.

Liz disappeared out into the night. A squeak from the front door, the sound of a car’s engine, and the flash of headlights through the slats in the blinds let them know that Liz had driven away.

“I know she really wanted to stay, and she might have if you hadn’t given her that way out,” Darcy said.

“Think!” Hannah flicked Darcy on the forehead. “If her car was seen here all night then Wyatt would know before breakfast in the morning. And that’s if he doesn’t have her house bugged like mine was. If he hasn’t got the money or the sense to do that, you can bet your sweet ass that he’s got someone spying for him. Abusers are control freaks.”

Darcy’s hands went to her cheeks. “Thank God you know the ropes. I would have felt terrible if we’d gotten her in more trouble. I want to ask her outright about it, Hannah.”

“But you won’t. You’ll give her all the support she needs and when she’s ready to talk, she will. Until then, she’ll only make excuses.”

Darcy turned around and headed out of the room. “The voice of experience.”

“You got it.” Hannah slipped into Sophie’s room, pulled the soft sheet up over her body, and kissed her twice on the forehead. She tiptoed next door and eased the door of her new bedroom shut.

She picked up her phone and hit the speed-dial button for her mother. A sleepy voice answered on the fifth ring.

“You were right, Mama,” she said.

“About?”

“Everything.”

“Is it over? Can I call your phone now?”

“You can call the house phone or my cell phone. The house phone was bugged, but we took my cell phone to the store and they checked it out. It was fine. It was my car that he had the tracker on. Get a pen and paper and I’ll give you my new phone numbers.” Hannah kicked off her shoes and stretched out on the bed. “Thank goodness we got in the habit of talking at Aunt Birdie’s. He had this whole house bugged for sound and video.”

“I’m not a bit surprised. I’ve read everything I could on men like Marty. What now?”

“I’ve offered to run a safe house for abused women when the one in Gainesville gets overloaded,” Hannah spit out quickly.

“Do you think that’s wise? You just came out of a situation like they all are running from,” Patsy said with worry in her tone.

“I want to help other women get away from their abusers, Mama.”

“But will it be safe for Sophie? What if one of those men tracks them to your house and—”

Hannah didn’t let her finish the sentence. “Travis will stay here and be our bodyguard when I have visitors.”

“Did you do all right in the courtroom? Were you awfully nervous?”

“I did fine, though my nerves were shot. Marty glared at me most of the time. But, Mama, I felt so sorry for the woman Marty’ll probably marry next.” She went on to tell her mother every single detail. “So you are welcome to come here to visit anytime you want.”

“I’d like that very much,” her mother said. “Maybe one of my friends could help out with your grandmother and I could fly to Texas for a long weekend real soon.”

“We’ll hope so,” Hannah said. “This is nice, being able to talk to you any time I want.”

“Yes, it is.” Her mother yawned. “I’m sorry, honey, but it is midnight in my world.”

“Good night, Mama,” Hannah said.

“Good night, and Hannah, I wish I hadn’t been right. I wish he’d been a wonderful husband. You didn’t deserve a man like that.”

“Thanks, Mama. You sleep well now.”

Hannah stood up and dropped her cotton housecoat on the floor with a smile and sighed as she slipped between the soft cotton sheets. In seconds she was asleep. No dreams of whether she’d left bread crumbs on the kitchen cabinet. No nightmares about Marty ripping Sophie from her arms. For the first time in six years, Hannah slept the sleep usually reserved for overactive children at the end of a long day.

C
HAPTER
S
IX

A
unt Birdie had claimed the second pew on the left side of Crossing Community Church practically the day the church was built. Travis stood up and allowed the ladies to settle in before he took his seat that Sunday morning. As luck would have it, Darcy went first and sat beside Liz, leaving Hannah to slide in last, which meant that she sat so close to Travis that she could smell his aftershave.
And is that a new shirt he’s wearing this morning?
The baby-blue-and-white pinstripe was the same color as his eyes.

“Well, dammit!” Aunt Birdie’s voice echoed off the walls of the church. “Forgive me, Lord, I dropped my songbook.”

Sophie hopped down off the pew and handed Aunt Birdie the hymnal. Then she wiggled her way in between Liz and Aunt Birdie, set her tote bag down, and brought out a coloring book and crayons. “After we sing, you can pick out the colors for me,” she whispered.

Aunt Birdie hugged her closely and whispered, “Maybe I’ll even color with you.”

Travis leaned close enough to Hannah that she could feel his warm breath on her neck. “I bet she dropped the book on purpose so Sophie would pick it up and sit beside her.”

Something happened right there as the preacher took his place in church that first Sunday in June. Hannah felt a stirring inside her heart that she’d thought was dead and buried. It wasn’t like she wanted to throw Travis down on the pew and make out with him. But there was hope that there were men out there that could be trusted. Maybe one rotten apple in the barrel hadn’t tainted all the men.

“Aunt Birdie will cuss in church for a chance at a box of crayons,” Hannah said softly. “Who knew?”

“I wish I’d have thought of that,” Darcy said. “I’d rather color as listen to a sermon any old day of the week.”

The preacher tapped on the microphone, and the whole sanctuary went quiet. A couple of whining toddlers could be heard in the nursery located at the back of the room, but other than that, the congregation had settled in.

“Good morning. I’m glad to see the pews are filled today. This morning I’m going to talk to you about the spirit of a child. When the disciples wanted to send the children away, Jesus delivered a pretty potent message,” the preacher said.

“Think he knows about what happened this week?” Travis asked out of the side of his mouth.

“Everyone in town knows. There are no secrets in Crossing.”

Hannah tried to listen. She really did, but her mind wandered back to that delicious little stirring in her heart, to the stillness in her soul, to the lack of guilt that she should be feeling for both. Going in circles, dancing from one topic to another, it was hard to control excitement that she hadn’t felt in years.

She was jerked back into reality when the preacher asked Andy Bob Richards to deliver the benediction. She’d tuned the preacher out after his opening statement when he opened the Bible and read, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” His opening statement solidified the whole idea. To see a child with a happy spirit and no fear would make every bit of her service a pure joy.

Her stomach growled loudly, and Travis laid a hand on her shoulder. “Andy Bob’s prayers are short. We’ll get home for dinner before we starve plumb to death.”

Travis moved his hand away only with a great deal of willpower. Knowing now that Marty had actually bruised Hannah made Travis’s gut draw up in knots. He wanted to draw her close and assure her that he’d never ever hurt her like Marty had done. That anyone could ever say a bad word to his Hannah, much less abuse her, put vengeful thoughts in his head.

She looked absolutely stunning that morning in her pink-and-white sundress. Her toenails were polished in a shade darker than her dress, and her hair floated down her back in big waves. He shut his eyes for the benediction, but a picture of her was branded in his mind.

As he’d predicted, the words between Andy Bob’s “Our Father in heaven” and his “Amen” were pretty scarce. Immediately folks began to stand and shuffle their way out to the aisles. Travis had done his duty and been in church. He’d sung songs whose titles he couldn’t even remember, and he’d tried to listen to the sermon, but other than something about children that reminded him of Sophie, it had basically gone in one ear and out the other.

“See you at Aunt Birdie’s for dinner, right?” he asked as he stood to one side of the pew and let the ladies all file out.

“Just have to run by the house and pick up the pudding,” Liz answered.

“And we have to go get the salad and bread at my house. Damn, ‘my house’ sounded good to say,” Hannah said and then clamped a hand over her mouth. “Aunt Birdie, you are a bad influence. I just cussed in church.”

“The devil made you do it.” Aunt Birdie smiled.

“In church?”

“Oh, darlin’, this is his favorite place on Sunday morning. He’s here to steal souls,” Aunt Birdie whispered and changed the subject. “I love it when the pew is full and when Liz is free to join us for our Sunday potluck. Only person missing is Calvin. I keep prayin’ that he’ll come on back to Crossing someday so you kids will all be together again.”

“When angels set up snow-cone stands in hell, he might come home,” Darcy said seriously. “Calvin Winters is too big a name in clothing to be based out of a little backwater town like Crossing.”

Travis’s phone buzzed in his hip pocket. He checked the ID and frowned. “Hello,” he said and nodded several times before he handed the phone to Hannah.

“Hello,” she said cautiously as she made her way slowly toward the church doors.

“This is Gina from the shelter in Gainesville, and I thought if you had time this afternoon I’d come by and bring some papers to get things started.”

“Okay,” Hannah said. “What time?”

“Two o’clock all right with you?”

“Yes, ma’am. I will have the coffee on, unless you’d rather have sweet tea?”

“Coffee is fine,” Gina said. “Filling out the paperwork will take about an hour, and I will have to fingerprint you and check the house to be sure it’s safe. But the house could wait.”

“No secrets hidden in my place. You can check it today if you have time,” Hannah said.

“That would be good. Then I could send in my whole report in a day or so and we’d be ready in a couple of weeks, maybe sooner. See you at two, then. Thanks again for all you did for us, but most of all for what you are offering,” Gina said. “Have a lovely Sunday. ’Bye now.”

If Hannah had had doubts about what she was about to do, they vanished that second. She was standing in church. God had spoken and given her his blessing.

Hannah handed the phone back to Travis. “How did she get your number?”

“I gave it to her when we delivered the stuff, because I knew you were going to change your numbers. Are you absolutely sure about this, Hannah? I’ll worry about you even if I’m in the house.”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything,” she answered.

“You haven’t gotten over the trauma of divorce yet. What if she sends you an abused woman with a teenage son? Will you be comfortable with a boy of that age with abuse issues being around Sophie? There’s a lot to think about.” Travis’s brow furrowed deeply.

“You will be there, and it feels right.” She stuck out her hand to shake with the preacher. “Nice sermon.”

“Thank you, Hannah. If you need to talk, please call me. I know that you are going through a tough time.” He smiled.

“Thank you,” she said.

Travis quickly shook hands with the preacher, and then they were outside in the bright sunshine. Birds chirped in the pecan trees surrounding the little white community church. Kids were still chasing after one another, expending all that pent-up energy from sitting still for half an hour’s preaching. Old folks made their way to their vehicles, stopping along the way to visit with one another or give a few hugs.

Sophie tucked her sweaty hand into her mother’s. “I beat Josh in a race. He’s slower than an old grandpa. I got to the tree and back before he even made it to the tree.”

“Well, I wouldn’t race against someone as fast as you. Who is Josh? Is he like Anna Lou?” Travis asked seriously.

Sophie giggled. “Oh, Uncle Travis. You got long legs and you can run fast. Josh has short legs like me, and he’s in my Sunday school class. Anna Lou don’t go to this church. Neither does Nadine. I’m hungry. Can we go to Aunt Birdie’s now? Is Miss Rosie coming to dinner with us?”

“Yes, she is, and I heard that she might be bringing pink cupcakes,” Travis whispered. “But it could be a surprise, so don’t tell anyone.”

Sophie pulled at Hannah’s arm. “Hurry, Mama. Miss Rosie makes the best pink cupcakes in the whole world and she puts a strawberry right on the top.”

The church was four blocks from her house, and when the weather was pretty, she and Sophie often walked, but that morning they’d been rushed so they’d all ridden together in Darcy’s car. Hannah would have liked a five-minute walk back to her house to clear her mind so she could think about what Gina Lawson had suggested. But that wasn’t happening today, not when there were pink cupcakes and a little dark-haired imp who’d have to be coerced into eating her dinner before she could have one.

“The lady from the shelter called me.” She slid into the seat and went on to tell Darcy what she’d said.

“And can you afford extra mouths to feed?” Darcy asked.

“I own the house free and clear, so I can live on what I make as a teacher’s aide and still help women who weren’t as lucky as I was. Maybe it will even help Liz,” Hannah said.

“You consider yourself lucky?” Darcy frowned.

“I’m alive,” Hannah answered. “I have a home, good friends, and food on the table. I’m really lucky, considering where I could be.”

Darcy backed out of the parking lot and drove right to Aunt Birdie’s. When she saw the extra car in the driveway, she slapped the steering wheel and squealed with excitement. “It’s Calvin’s car. He must have had business in Dallas. Dammit! I should have worn something nicer.”

“You look great. Stop fretting.” Hannah grinned. “You need to tell him how you feel. None of us are getting any younger.”

“Don’t remind me.” Darcy flipped the rearview mirror around so she could see her reflection, fluffed out her hair, and reapplied lipstick. “Oh, God! I see crow’s-feet around my eyes.”

Sophie had been sitting quietly, but now she propped both elbows on the back of the front seat and peered at Darcy. “You’re jokin’ me. There ain’t no bird feet on your eyes. Besides, how would they get there? The windows were all rolled up.”

“It’s just an expression.” Darcy laughed.

“And little girl, you might be big enough to give up your car seat, but you do have to use a seat belt, so scoot on back there and get it fastened,” Hannah said.

“Okay.” Sophie sighed. “Y’all are doing that big-people talk, aren’t you?”

“So?” Darcy parked the car in front of Aunt Birdie’s, dropped the keys in her purse, and opened the door.

“You look beautiful,” Hannah answered. “Dammit! I forgot that we have to get our food from my house. Sophie, do you want to go on inside and see Uncle Cal?”