Ah, normalcy returns.” Claire sipped her first cup of coffee, seated at the island counter.
Skylar eyed her over her own mug. The movie-star image had returned, smile and sparkly eyes intact, outfit unwrinkled. She said, “Normalcy, except that Danny’s still here and Max and Ben aren’t and we don’t have enough brownies for lunch.”
“True. But you look better today, honey.”
She waited a beat for the yank on her heart to subside. “Thanks. So do you.”
“It’s been difficult with Max and Ben gone this week. Not even talking to him since they got there has been harder than I imagined. And you and I did a lot of extra work. You’re even helping Lexi with the horses.”
“No problem.”
“I talked to Jenna. I don’t think she’s going to make it up this weekend. She wants to spend time with that group of Marine wives in hopes of moving beyond the ‘misery loves company’ phase.”
“I can bake cookies,” Skylar said.
“No. Danny ate the brownies, Danny can run into Santa Reina and buy all those special ingredients, and Danny can mix them up.”
“Then he can get out of our way and I will bake them.”
Claire smiled.
Skylar felt like crawling under the table. “Claire, I’m sorry.” The words tumbled from her without thought. “For not being up front with you.” She caught herself in time before saying enough to get her booted down the road.
Booted down the road?
More like locked in a room until the sheriff got there.
“Skylar.” Claire’s face softened to an expression of pure compassion. “Indio and I both realized that you were in trouble the moment you showed up. Generally speaking, people do not appear on our doorstep in the middle of the boondocks without a car, no cell phone in their pocket, carrying all their earthly goods on their back. Yes, we believe that God brought you to us, but not just because we were desperate for a cook.”
“Why . . . why else?”
“Because you needed us, too, for food and shelter, for a safe harbor.”
“I don’t deserve it.”
“None of us deserves such good things. We totally ignore our Creator. That’s why He sent Jesus, to be our intermediary. The more we accept how we are continually being reconciled to God—in our past, in our everyday ways of ignoring Him—the more real His love and acceptance becomes. And the more we live in the reality of being His precious child.”
Precious child? Precious? Child? The words spun in Skylar’s head, sounds from some dead language she’d never learned.
Claire got off her stool and stepped over to Skylar. She wrapped her in a big hug. “It can be a difficult concept to grasp. Just know that Indio and I love you. We love you unconditionally, as if you were our own precious child.”
Skylar’s defenses all but vanished. Danny’s expression of care, Claire and Indio’s tenderness, the security of the Hideaway, the beauty of the land, the comfort of her own room . . .
The threat that emanated from Rosie’s report dissipated, a river of doubt and fear spreading across a floodplain.