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“Yeah. I’ll follow you.”
He smiled; sometimes being the man wasn’t any fun.
But he didn’t want anything to happen to Kristin, so whatever was causing her bad feeling, he would face it first.
“Do you have your phone?” he asked, realizing he hadn’t put his in his pocket.
“I do.”
“All right, if anything happens, you run, then call 911, okay?” He didn’t want her trying to fight anything and get hurt.
“Okay.”
Thankful she didn’t argue with him, he didn’t want to waste any more time convincing her to do what he wanted her to. After all, she woke him up to do his job, it would be kind of silly for her to have him doing his job and then argue with him about how he should do it.
He appreciated that she didn’t.
“I’m gonna check the girls first.”
“All right.”
She kept a hand on his back, and he appreciated that, then he knew where she was as they walked out of the room and down the hall.
Kristin’s house was huge, and with all the ladies and two children, they weren’t even using all the bedrooms.
It was the perfect house to have as an assisted living center, or if they ever wanted to be foster parents for more children, it would work for that as well.
Luke wasn’t sure how Kristin felt about it, but as much of a trial as Becky and Rita could be at times, especially when they were fighting and unreasonable, and even worse when they didn’t respond to his logic, he loved them. His life was better because of them, and the idea that there were more children out there who didn’t have families who loved them tugged at his heartstrings. He’d adopt more in a heartbeat, and he’d foster them even faster.
Maybe he should talk to Kristin about that.
A board creaked under his foot as he crept down the hall. He wasn’t exactly trying to be sneaky, but he didn’t want to wake the entire house. It wasn’t that he didn’t think that Kristin’s feeling was legitimate. But it just might be something that they didn’t need to check on until morning. Or definitely might not be something that needed to wake the entire house.
With a hand on Rita’s door, he twisted the knob slowly and pushed in.
Bruno lay in bed beside the little hump that was Rita’s body. She was curled all around him. He lifted his head as Luke opened the door.
“It’s okay, buddy,” Luke said softly, not wanting the dog to bark.
The almost full moon shone in through the windows, illuminating the room and making it easy to see Rita’s hair sprayed out on the pillow.
She was such a sweetheart, and Luke felt his heart swell. He wanted to protect her, give her everything he could, and help her become a productive adult.
“She’s too sweet,” Kristin said from behind his shoulder.
“She looks like a little angel lying there,” he said, looking for just another minute before he closed the door without a sound and slowly released the doorknob so it hooked in the slot.
Becky wasn’t quite as much of an angel. She was a little bit more headstrong, a lot more independent, and hadn’t submitted to their authority quite as easily.
But he could tell she was trying. She wanted to be a good daughter, wanted to be a help, wanted to actually have a family, especially for Rita’s sake. She’d just been on her own for so long, had trusted and been betrayed, had loved and not been loved in return. It had scarred her.
They reached her door, and Luke twisted the knob.
This time, with the moonlight streaming in, it was obvious there was no child in the bed.
“I think this is the problem,” he said, and his voice didn’t give any indication of the fear that had rooted in his stomach and spilled up through his chest.
He’d caught her walking outside after midnight once already, and she promised him that she wouldn’t leave again.
