“Don’t mind him. He slept in his tie,” Trainer rolled his eyes, while inwardly thankful for his friend’s mastery of discretion. Trainer redirected the conversation. “We have both flight and security clearance. Your friends from Homeland Security sure can make things happen.”
Evan and Sloan exchanged meaningful glances, remembering the interrogations clearly.
“Our gate is over here. We’re ready when you are.” Jacobi pointed to an exit leading outside to the tarmac.
Creed had been scanning the room warily. Margo hesitated long enough to lock eyes with him. From the start, Creed had acted as the family’s sentinel. His guard never let up. In Meg’s absence, he had stepped up as the closest thing they could get to safeguarding the family. She trusted his opinion completely.
Creed nodded once. The room was clear.
“We’ll follow you, Captain,” she motioned toward the door.
Once outside, Danny shifted his weight in Margo’s arms to reach for Alik. Margo smiled as she passed the little guy to his brother. They had just reached the ramp stairs that led up to the doorway of the plane. “Hold onto the railing, son,” she mothered.
Alik exchanged looks with Danny. “Was she talking to you or me?”
Danny just grinned and hugged his brother as they ascended the stairway. Maze maneuvered the steps easily, carefully passing Margo, and reached the top in seconds.
“Why does mom worry so much?” Danny asked in Alik’s ear.
“That’s a really smart question, kid,” Alik smiled as he held Danny in one arm and the rail with his other hand. “I asked her the same thing when I was about your age.”
Alik had reached the top of the stairs and looked back to see Creed and Evan walking around the underbelly of the plane, checking for anything amiss. Farrow grinned up at him from the stairs. Cole, Sloan, Kylie and Theo were close behind.
He ducked into the jet and put Danny down so he could manage the low ceiling. The little boy darted down the center aisle to find Maze. Alik followed, deep in thought.
“Well?” Danny prodded. Alik was fastening his little brother’s seat belt and getting licked in the face by Maze.
He gently pushed the coydog away. “What’s gotten into you, buddy?” Alik teased the devoted canine.
Danny flopped his legs impatiently against the too big seat. “Well? What did she say?”
“Oh,” Alik smiled. “She said she worried about us because a piece of her heart was in each of us and she hurt when we hurt.”
Danny’s large blue eyes blinked in wonder. “A piece of her heart is in me?” His little mouth hung open. “Doesn’t she need her heart?”
“Of course she does. That’s why she worries over us.”
Danny slowly shook his head before looking around. “Where’s Farrow? She makes more sense than you.”
37 Welcome Home
The familiar gravel road crunched under her shoes as she walked the last hundred yards to her family’s Texas ranch.
After saying goodbye to the old man in the Cadillac back in Oklahoma, she had finished her journey to Texas traveling with a young, single mother whose moving trailer rattled behind her almost as noisily as her twin sons in the back seat.
During their time together, Meg gently worked on easing the self-doubt and pain from the woman’s recent divorce while calming the children’s worries. The evidence of Meg’s efforts was obvious by the time the woman pulled to a stop at the end of the Winter family’s driveway.
Meg smiled to herself as the minivan pulled away. The formerly troubled family was grinning and waving as the children’s Veggie Tales music poured from the open windows.
With a happy sigh, she had turned her attention back to the abandoned house and tuned into the psychic vibrations, checking for an ambush.
She sensed no one, but she was still cautious. Either Williams or Arkdone would have thought ahead to the possibility of the family returning. Either or both would have left surveillance to monitor the grounds.
The first thing Meg did was to head to the back of the house where Evan had located the control box for the solar panels he installed on the roof. He had designed and built the off-grid, renewable resource system himself during the first week they’d lived in their custom-made home. Meg smiled and shook her head at the memory of him going on and on about all the mechanics of the intricate system he’d created—conductors, batteries, charge controllers and converters—in painful detail.
“All I need to know, Ev is how to turn the blasted thing off and on. That’s it!” She remembered blurting then regretting her impatience after seeing the disappointment in her little brother’s face. He had pointed to the yellow knob her hand now touched.
Fine. Just remember: Righty, tight-y; Lefty, loose-y, he said. Right is on. Left is off. He’d shoved his hands in his pockets and started to walk away from her.
Hey Ev! she heard the echo of her voice in her memory. You know I think you’re the smartest, coolest kid ever, right? Just ‘cause I can’t understand a single word you just said doesn’t mean I’m not impressed.