Page 80 of Sheltering You

“I’m not tired.”

“Even so.” She twisted. “Put it away or I will take it.”

He scowled but shoved the game into his backpack.

After another hour of driving, she turned to find him curled up with the blanket and pillow they’d borrowed from the cabin.

“How’s he doing?” Derrick asked, voice low.

She watched another moment, seeing nothing but the steady movement of his breathing, then faced forward again. “He’s asleep.”

“Poor kid. This has got to be hard for him.”

“I cannot imagine.”

Derrick checked the rearview and lowered his voice even more. “I talked to him about his brother. Rabie likes him. Which is good, I guess. I’m glad Dari treated him better than he treated Basma, but we should be careful what we say about him. My…guy thinks the email address was compromised.”

Michael, he meant. “You called him back?” And then the more important part of what he’d said registered. “Compromised? What do you mean?”

“He thinks that’s how Dari’s men knew we’d be there.”

“How will Basma reach us?”

“He says he’s got it under control.” By the way Derrick’s lips pulled to one side, he had no idea what Michael planned to do. “Apparently, they have ways of finding people.” He seemed to force a smile. “We just have to trust him.”

“This I have done and will keep doing. I only wish we knew more.”

“You and me both.” He filled her in on everything else his brother had told him, including their destination. They were heading toward Chicago for now but might have to change that when Michael called on one of the burner phones and gave them a more specific destination. There were two phones on the console between the seats, one of which was connected to the car’s navigation system.

“So until we hear from him,” she said, “we keep driving?”

“That’s the plan.” Derrick reached toward her as he’d done so many times. She’d loved how he would take her hand and hold it. His touch was always gentle and warm and comforting. But now he pulled back, wiping his palm on his jeans as if he’d meant to do that from the start. He drove a few miles in silence, nothing but unfamiliar music playing in the background.

She hated the tension between them. It was time to tell him everything.

“You would like to know about the father?”

His gaze snapped to hers but didn’t hold. He focused on the road, cleared his throat. “Yeah. Obviously. I mean, if you want to talk about it.”

“I don’t, but I want you to know, so I must.”

He angled up and checked the rearview mirror.

She looked as well. Rabie hadn’t moved.

“I, uh…” Derrick glanced her way. “I was thinking maybe someone… The way you reacted, maybe it wasn’t your choice.” He winced, shook his head. “I don’t know how to ask this without just…asking.”

She guessed at the assumption he’d made, that she’d been assaulted. “It is not what you think.” She almost wished it were. Then she could claim innocence.

“Oh.” Now, he squinted like he was trying to figure that out. “Okay.”

“After Leila left and Mama died, it was only Baba and me. We were in Baghdad. He had worked for the government, but he had been away from work so much because of Mama’s illness that he lost his position. I think perhaps they wanted him to go. It was an excuse, maybe? Money was not a problem—Baba has money. We could have left the city. There was our family compound, but his parents are dead, and other family have moved on or… They no longer associate with Baba. It is Hasan they do not wish to associate with. They knew of Hasan’s connection to Saddam and terrorists.

“Baba and Hasan were close, but Hasan didn’t go to the compound anymore, so it was as empty and as lonely as the house in Baghdad. Mama’s parents, they did not wish to see him and cut him away.”

“Cut him out?”

“Yes, yes. They blamed Baba for her death, I think, and did not approve of him. I don’t know what they knew. Perhaps Mama told them about Hasan? Anyway, we could not go there.”