Page 107 of Sheltering You

The image made her smile. “You are a silly man.”

“Hmm. Just how I always wanted to be described.” He was joking, but by the way his amusement faded, he wasn’t only joking.

Perhaps men preferred not to be referred to as silly.

His voice was serious when he continued. “I just want to get Rabie back to his sister and get you home before anything else goes wrong. This whole thing has been…bizarre.”

“I’m sorry I got you into it.”

“I could’ve said no.” He squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk you out of it. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep you two safe.”

“How could you have seen any of this coming?”

“Michael would have.” The way he grumbled the words made her smile. Then he muttered, “I doubt he’s ever been described as silly.”

That was probably true. Michael was intense. She loved her future brother-in-law, but she could never be with a man like him, a man who took the world so seriously. She much preferred the one who sat beside her, who appreciated good things, who focused on joy, not darkness. Who laughed and wanted others to laugh with him. Derrick valued peace over conflict and war. Derrick was simply…happy. She’d known so few truly happy people in her life. To her, his happiness, his joy, was magnetic.

She’d spent enough of her life with hate- and anger-filled men, whose laughter was cruel and whose smiles were sinister.

Not that Michael was like that. But he wasn’t light or joyful like Derrick was.

And also… “Your brother is not perfect. Even with all his training, he makes mistakes.” Jasmine and Leila had nearly been returned to Iraq because Michael had let his guard down. “You should be less hard on yourself. To spend time with, I prefer you. Even now, with all this happening, I prefer you.”

That brightened Derrick’s expression.

She shouldn’t have said that.

Even if it was true, she shouldn’t have said it. She added, “He will be my brother, but you are my friend.”

“Right.” Derrick’s smile faded, and he slid his hand away. “I’m glad.”

She wasn’t sure what to say, and silence stretched between them. Before, back in Maine, their friendship had been easy and comfortable, never tense as it was now.

Would they be able to return to the way it had been, or was it ruined forever?

“So, um…” Derrick sounded as tentative as she felt. “You seem to know a lot about the Bible. You had one, I guess? In Iraq?”

“Oh, yes.” This was a safe subject and one of her favorites. “When Leila and I gave our lives to Christ, the father in the family that led us to Him gave us each Arabic Bibles.”

“You must’ve kept it hidden.”

“I did, for all those years. It was easy in Baghdad. Baba never came into my room. After Khalid, it was more difficult, but I hid it at the very bottom of a chest, and he never suspected me of anything. He never found it. I don’t think…I don’t think he ever considered that I had thoughts, like a human being, you see? It would never have occurred to him that I would have something that would matter, something worth keeping secret.”

“Sounds like a keeper, that one.”

“Oh, yes. He was like Don Joo-an.”

Derrick laughed. “Don Juan.”

“That’s not how it’s spelled.”

“Spanish name.”

“I see. But it was the correct usage, yes? I read it somewhere, a man was described like this, a charmer, no? A ladies’ man?”

“You got the name. You even nailed the sarcastic tone. Nicely done.”

His compliment brought a flush of pleasure. Not that she should aspire to sarcasm, but it was hard enough to be amusing in Arabic, much less in an unfamiliar language. She used to be funny, when she was a child. Back when life was easy. She was always the shy twin, and perhaps for that reason, people were even more surprised when she would say something to make them laugh.