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She tried to sound normal. To breathe evenly. She didn’t want anyone to know. Especially her mother, whom she loved more than anyone on earth.
“I’m right here, baby.”
The mattress shifted beneath the weight of another body. Familiar arms slid around her.
“I’m right here.”
Ellen shivered, pressed her face against the soft cotton of her mother’s pajama top.
“You cried out, sweetie. Was it a dream?”
She tried to nod.
“You want to tell me about it?”
She couldn’t. She couldn’t bear to take her mother to that place with her. It would change them forever. She wasn’t sure how. She just knew, deep in her heart, that it would.
“I love you, sweetheart.” There were tears in her mother’s voice. “I love you.”
Ellen loved her mother, too. So much.
“I want you to believe in angels, sweetie. I want you to believe that they’ll be here with you, that they’ll help you anytime you ask. I want you to know that you’re safe, and protected.”
Her mother was talking about hope and believing in things unseen. She was describing faith.
And that was when Ellen opened her eyes.
CHAPTER NINE
“YOU WANTED TO SEE ME?” the girl asked.
Finishing the notes he’d been jotting down at his desk in the church office the following Sunday, David nodded, indicating a chair. He rarely played the authority figure—particularly with the kids—but today he was making an exception. He’d known that if he sought her out, Shelley Moore would have a hard time avoiding him.
He’d also hoped that a little dose of Pastor Edwards’s austere office might help his cause.
Personally, David hated the room. But he couldn’t justify spending the money to change it when everything was in perfect condition.
When he’d let her sit there for several minutes, holding her denim skirt pulled as far down her thighs as the fabric would allow, he dropped his pen and looked up. He’d promised himself a week ago that he’d talk to her.
She was chewing gum. Her eyes, under half-closed lids, moved randomly around the room.
David adjusted his tie, sat back in his chair and watched her.
“How’s it going?” he asked when she finally glanced his way.
She shrugged, which lifted the cropped T-shirt she was wearing, exposing a thin strip of bare skin. “Fine.”
“Any problems at school?”
“Nope.” Her attention seemed to be caught by something outside the window.
“How about at home?”
“Nope.”
“I know things have been kind of tough for you all lately, and I want you to know I’m here if you ever need to talk.”
“I’m fine.” Her glance that time was very pointed when it settled on him. For a sixteen-year-old girl, she was very good at putting someone in his place.
