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Chapter 11
When Brady and Emma returned home, Maggie had still not messaged or called him. He was preoccupied, thinking about all the horrible things this could mean, until he reminded himself about the delay in the flight making it so Maggie couldn’t call him until she landed. At a distance, he heard Emma squealing, laughing, and playing with the baby chicks, who seemed to take to her quickly. Tate had performed the perimeter search on the outside of the property and barked at the back door, begging to be let in.
“That was fast, Tate,” he said to the dog. “Are you sure you’re ready to come in, because I may not be getting up again?”
Tate sat in front of him. His sleek black coat reflected light and almost made him appear wet. He angled his head to the right, his ears erect, and then positioned himself his head the other way while Brady stared him down.
Brady knew the dog was trying to figure out what Brady was saying. He had a vocabulary of probably two hundred words and learned more every day, Brady thought. He walked to the door again and opened it, instructing Tate to go outside for a second time. But Tate stayed in the seated position, watching Brady as if he had a screw loose.
“Okay, okay. Seems like everybody around me is stubborn. There’s no getting up in the middle of the night. I want to sleep through if I can. I’m bringing my phone to bed, which is not a rule, but I got to talk to Maggie tonight if she calls.”
He closed the back door, locked it, then checked the front door and made sure the deadbolt was engaged on that as well. Tate followed behind him, the tap-tap-tap of his paws on the wooden floor one of the most familiar sounds of Brady’s house.
Emma was fully consumed with playing with the baby chicks. Brady knew that, if he let her, she’d climb in the bathtub and let them crawl all over her. He had to admit, though, they were damn cute. And he was glad he’d picked them up for her. She would mother those babies until they didn’t look anything like babies any longer. He hoped to God over half of them were hens. He knew Emma would have separation anxiety when he disposed of the males.
“Emma, it’s time to put on your nightie and get to bed. I got some things I have to do, and then I’m going to turn in. But you need to get to bed. It’s late.”
Emma objected, whining as she crossed the bathroom, shuffling slowly into her bedroom, and plopping herself on the bed with a huff.
“Can’t I just stay up a little bit longer?”
“Honey, you can play with them tomorrow. They’ll still be right here, and they’ll probably keep you up half the night. They all look fine, right?”
“I think so.” She stared down at her lap and then looked up at her father. “They pooped in their water, Daddy. How do I train them not to do that?”
Brady chuckled. “Well, I can fix that real fast tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll have to get some fresh nesting material in there, some pine shavings, and take out some of the old stuff. If you do it every day, they won’t smell. If you let it go for two or three days, then you’ve got a big problem. Now, in case I’m not here when we do this, you don’t ever run the water and let those pine shavings go down the drain, because it will clog us up for sure.”
Emma nodded. She walked around the bed and pulled her nightgown out of the pillowcase at the headboard. Brady turned his back to her, went into the bathroom, and collected the tray of water.
“I’ll be right back after dumping this,” he said over his shoulder.
Tate followed behind him and watched as he tossed the water off the deck into Maggie’s flower garden. He filled up the little pie tin with fresh water and brought it back into the bathroom, setting it down. Several of the baby chicks raced to take sips of water, their feet standing in the water dish itself. He was beginning to see their personalities, and he’d overheard Emma telling Riley’s kids she had started to name them.
Emma was tucked in, and he left her moon light on for her, set to the dimmest setting, until she fell asleep. He closed the door to the bathroom and instructed Tate to join Emma on the bed, which he dutifully obeyed. Brady pulled the door to, but left a six-inch crack so he could hear if Emma needed something in the night. It also gave Tate a way to run out into the living room in case he was detecting something that needed his attention.
The dog was always on guard, just like Brady.
Brady was furious that it was past ten o’clock and Maggie still hadn’t called him. He dialed her number and listened as the distant sounding ring went through ten cadences before finally disconnecting. He tried dialing it again and again, but the same thing happened. He hated to do it, but he opted to call Sergio and see if he could task him with doing a welfare check in the morning.
“Sergio, it’s Brady. I haven’t heard from Maggie. I know she landed, and I talked to her then. That was around four o’clock. But I have not heard anything since, and we agreed she was to call me once she got to her quarters. I wanted to make sure she met up with the priest.”
“I’m so sorry, Brady. I’ve been so busy today. I really wasn’t able to visit the church compound, and so I don’t have any news. But I’ll make sure to go there first thing in the morning before my shop opens. And I’ll give you a call then. Will you be up early?”
“I will. You call me whenever, no matter how early it is. I just need to know where she is. I tried calling her, and it rings and rings and rings and then disconnects.”
“That’s what the international call does sometimes when they have no message service. But if she was expecting to talk to you, it’s odd that she wouldn’t pick up. Perhaps something is incompatible with her phone? Are you sure you have international service?”
“Yes, we checked that out before she left. She’s supposed to have unlimited international calling. And yes, she’s supposed to receive unlimited calls as well.”
“Well, let’s not worry about it this evening. It would be unwise for me to travel there at this hour, but soon as it’s light outside, I’ll make sure to make an appearance out at the church, and I’ll see if I can find Father Salvador. Brady, I know it’s difficult for you, but please try not to worry. I’m hoping it’s just some minor technical issue,” Sergio added.
Brady signed off and sat for several minutes in the dark. His better judgment poked its head around the corner and waved.
“Yes, yes, I know,” he whispered to his imaginary self. “I shouldn’t have let her go.”
If he could have figured out a way to stop her, he would have. But there had been no way that was going to happen. He’d pushed it as far as he could. Now, it was a waiting game.
But Brady didn’t do wait very well at all. In fact, it was the one thing in his life he sucked at the most.
