Page 16 of Reckoning

The carpenters who’d been rebuilding the Holy Waters Church had finally finished the project, and this coming Sunday it was being dedicated. The members who were still in the area were excited to have their church back, and anxious to meet their new pastor. They were celebrating with a covered-dish dinner at the church after the services—all except Abel and Lilith Bandy. They’d been through the wringer with those people and weren’t about to give them another chance to target their son.

Roger and Mariah were hoping that bringing Briar back to church would shift her focus away from the Bandy boy to people more suited to their social status and beliefs. And Mariah had already planned to stand before the congregation and beg forgiveness for the harm she’d caused, rededicate herself to the church, and hope the congregation would absolve her of the guilt of what she’d done.

When Sunday came around, the members of the Holy Water Church went up the mountain, and when they came down hours later, renewed in their faith and their bellies full, Mariah Lowe’s plan had worked.

The Bandy family’s absence was accepted without comment, while Mariah’s invitations to social circles had been renewed and the sympathy they had felt for Lilith Bandy was swiftly fading.

But if asked, Lilith would have assured them all exactly what she’d told Mariah, Delores, and Jeanette. She didn’t feel left out. She wanted nothing to do with any of them. In her opinion, they were full of dark thoughts and hate, and there wasn’t a woman in Star Ridge that she’d ever called friend. And since the assault and her brush with death, her antipathy for the residents in this town was deep and real.

But as Mariah had regained her footing in her social circle, what the Lowes had hoped for most didn’t happen. Passing time had done nothing but strengthen the bond between their daughter and Tate Bandy.

* * *

By the time Tate was eleven years old, he was almost as tall as his mother and turning into a heartbreaker. Girls began noticing how handsome he was becoming, but they were fighting a losing battle trying to drive a wedge between him and Briar, and he no longer made any attempt to hide who he was.

It wasn’t uncommon for people to come knocking at the Bandy house to ask if Tate could help them, and sometimes it was people from school. But with every passing year, he became more aware, instinctively knowing the difference between helping and abetting. In those instances, he just told them straight out that they were asking the wrong questions, and all he had were right answers.

He wasn’t allowed at Briar’s house, but if invited, he would not have set foot in the place where Mariah Lowe lived and breathed.

Briar defied her parents at every turn when it came to Tate. As long as they were in school, they were together every day. Time and their growing maturity had forever solidified their bond.

* * *

The second day of January.

Six years later.

It had been snowing off and on for the last thirty-six hours, and it was still coming down when Abel Bandy’s alarm went off. He woke with a start, then groaned at the thought of leaving Lilith, who was snuggled up against him in their warm bed. But the alarm was still beeping, and he didn’t want to be late for work. His boss didn’t expect much business in this weather, but Abel had a repair job to finish at the garage, so he turned off the alarm.

“Stay in bed until the house warms up. I should be home by noon,” he said, then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “Can you believe it? We became parents seventeen years ago today.”

Lilith groaned, then threw back the covers and got out of bed too. “And that baby is now as tall as you,” she said. “He will also be up before you can get out of the house. I’ll make you both some breakfast.”

* * *

Tate had been awake for hours, waiting for the sound of his dad’s alarm to go off. There were two days left of their Christmas vacation, and then school would resume, but it was also his birthday. He was turning seventeen.

He’d long ago accepted that he would never be the kid invited to parties, and he rejected all mention of having his own because he knew no one but Briar would come, and it would hurt his mama’s heart far more than it bothered him.

He got up quietly and looked out the window. The wind was blowing the snow sideways. Not a good day to be outside. Maybe when it stopped snowing, he would get the scoop shovel out of their shed and get the snow off the sidewalk in front of their house. The hill at the north end of the park was great for sledding, but he’d outgrown his kid-size sled.

Maybe Briar would call and they could go to the park and build a snowman. He ran to the bathroom to wash his face and comb his hair, then went back to his room to get dressed.

His jeans were almost too short again, as were the arms of his sweatshirt, and his toes were already at the end of his boots. He was outgrowing his clothes. Some days he imagined he could actually feel his bones stretching, which was a fanciful thing to imagine, but that’s how his mind worked. Fact and the faith he had in his abilities were one and the same.

When his mama hugged him now, her head was way below his chin, and he was eye to eye with his dad. Abel would forever be Tate’s idol in every way that counted. He wanted to be just like him, but he wasn’t. Would never be. Because Daddy had not been born with “the knowing,” and while Abel accepted it as fact, he would never understand it.

Tate could smell coffee now, and bacon frying, and pancakes! They were having pancakes! Birthday pancakes always came with chocolate chips. He threw on some clothes and bolted out of his room and up the hall like he was trying to outrun the devil, then slid sideways in his sock feet as he reached the kitchen table.

Abel was at the table with his first cup of coffee, and Lilith was taking the first stack of pancakes from the skillet when he arrived.

“Just in time,” she said. “Happy birthday, son.” She gave him the first stack.

Abel grinned. “What’s your hurry?”

“Birthday pancakes!” Tate said.

“Is it your birthday? I guess I forgot,” Abel said.