Some time, well after midnight, Boo started barking from somewhere else in the house. I sat up and tried to look around in the darkness. At my movement, Dana woke up.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice rasping from sleep.
“I left Boo outside the door when we came to bed. She’s kicking up a fuss in the kitchen, it sounds like.”
I got out of bed and, thinking there might be someone or something outside that had her riled, I quickly threw on sweats and a t-shirt.
It wasn’t until I got half way to the kitchen, and Boo charged to meet up with me, that I heard a knock on the door. As I drew closer, I heard a female voice say, “I don’t think they’re here.” Then it was quiet.
Boo was right at my feet as I reached for the deadbolt. Just as a clicked it backwards, a wail cracked through the stillness of the night beyond the door. A baby began to cry.
I yanked the door open but looked over my shoulder first when I heard a noise beyond the entry arch into the kitchen. Dana was up too.
Turning back, I realized it was Hannah Yoder on our doorstep with her girlfriend Jamie right behind her. In my shock to see them there at such a late hour, I almost forgot to let them in until Dana asked who it was.
“Hannah and Jamie,” I said and, as I looked beyond them, “and another woman with a baby.”
“Are you going to let them in? It’s cold.”
I opened the screen and stepped aside, motioning for them to enter.
“Hannah, what’s wrong?” Dana asked her.
“I’m so sorry for waking you but we didn’t know where else to go and I knew Mel would know what to do.”
“What’s going on?” I asked her.
“This is Katie, a friend of ours.” Hannah nodded toward the third young woman. “She’s in trouble and her and her baby have no place else that’s safe to go.”