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Dane sat in a corner booth of Lizzie’s Diner. The breakfast crowd was long gone, and the lunch crowd had yet to descend. The enticing smell of this morning’s bacon hung in the air and mingled with the aroma of yesterday’s burgers. The scent drove a spear of hunger into Dane’s belly and reminded him that he’d skipped breakfast. He fiddled with the menu while the women settled in, Jesse beside him and Mac across from them.
Riley Soeurs, the reason for their impromptu mid-morning meeting, currently occupied one of the tiny interview rooms at the Garfield Police Department. He wasn’t under arrest...yet. That was one of the benefits of living in a small town. Dane knew everyone on the force. He hadn’t had to ask more than once for a place for the kid to cool his heels while he decided what came next. Dane laid the menu aside. Next after a bacon cheeseburger and fries.
He glanced across the booth. Mac’s face had lost its color except for the red that stained her downcast eyes. Her hands rested on the tabletop, clasped tight, knuckles white. He should have been indifferent under the circumstances, but the sight twisted something other than hunger in his gut.
This is for you.
Dane shifted in the seat and lifted his eyes. Surely that voice was his own insanity. But he’d heard from the Lord enough to know to keep listening.
For you. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.
He stared out the window and ran a hand through his hair, contemplating the silent words.
Lizzie, the restaurant’s owner and a Garfield dweller of indeterminate age, headed toward their table. She had a face like a road map, lips painted bright red, and hair dyed blue-gray-silver.
“Well, if it isn’t the Cooper kids.”
Dane cringed at the description. Kid? He was feeling pretty ancient just about now.
“What can I get ya?”
He ordered a burger, Jesse wanted a soda, and Mac settled for black coffee. Once Lizzie shuffled away Mac glanced up.
“So, what are you going to do?”
Dane studied her. “That depends.”
“On...”
He crossed his arms. “A lot of things I guess. Tell me the story.”
Mac tilted her head. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Riley’s story. What’s up with him? Is he a good student? Is he hanging out with the wrong crowd? Was stealing from me a stupid dare gone wrong? Did he need money?”
“He gets an allowance,” Mac whispered.
“Maybe you could tell me why you’re sitting here instead of his father.”
“Dane.” Jesse shoved an elbow into his ribs.
“Hey!” He scooted out of Jesse’s reach. “And why on earth you’d allow your kid to talk to you the way he did.”
Lizzy returned with their order, and the conversation paused while food and drinks were distributed. When they had the space to themselves again, Dane looked at his sister.
“Keep those bony elbows to yourself.”
“You were being rude.” Jesse peeled paper from her straw.
“I’m the victim,” he reminded her. “But I’m not an ogre. I’m well acquainted with the stupid things young boys can do and the serious reasons behind them.” His gaze went back to Mac. “Help me understand.”
“It’s...complicated.”
Dane leaned forward and frowned when Mac shifted further into her corner of the booth. Her skittishness puzzled him and only made him more determined to get answers. He squirted ketchup on his plate and swirled a fry through it. “Mac, you don’t know me, you’ve got no reason to trust me with the details of Riley’s life. If I were in your shoes, I’d probably tell me to take a hike.”
This is for you.
He swallowed. Yeah, I got that. “But for some reason, I’m being told to help you—”
“Told...?” Mac crossed her arms, and suspicion replaced a bit of the reticence. “By whom?”
“God.”
Dane’s bafflement grew as what little color Mac had left in her face drained until she was white as a sheet.
Her coffee sloshed as she pushed her cup aside. “I have to go.”
He sat back and raised his hands. “If you want to leave, I can’t stop you, but I will remind you that if this goes on Riley’s record, with the things he’s already got stacked on there, he’s headed for juvie.”
Mac’s shoulders stiffened. “How do you know...?”
“Friends in high places. I know he’s on probation. Two counts of shoplifting and truancy, I believe.”
Jesse reached across the table and laid a hand on Mac’s arm. “Please don’t run off. You really should let him help.” She grinned at her brother. “He’s uniquely qualified to deal with stupid.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Dane said. “I need you to tell me what’s up with Riley, and while you’re at it, you can explain why you look like you’re standing next to week-old road kill every time I mention God.”
* * *
IT’S ALL THE SAME STORY. Mac’s hands shook as she lifted her coffee and took a small sip. The mug clattered on the table top when she sat it down. “We’ve known each other, what?” She pushed a button and illuminated the time display on her phone. “Two hours. Do you really expect me to tell you my life’s story?”
“Maybe not, but I’d hope that you’d recognize sincerity when you hear it. Your kid’s in trouble, I’m willing to help. You’re the one who has to decide what to do with that.”
When she looked across the booth, a long ingrained instinct brought her gaze to Jesse instead of Dane. Old habits, she chided herself. Bad habits. Stupid habits. Never again. She forced herself to meet Dane’s eyes. The intensity of the blue stole her breath. She averted her gaze and took another unsteady swallow of her coffee, let the warm liquid soothe her throat. Stop it! He has no authority over you. Look the man in the eye!
Mac drew herself up. “It sounds like your friends in high places have already answered a lot of your questions. You know this isn’t Riley’s first time in trouble. We moved here late last spring. To say it’s been a challenging season in our lives is an understatement. But it isn’t his fault. He’s been...” She searched for a word. Trapped...deprived...brainwashed. “Sheltered. A lot of his behavior is an effort to find his place in a world he has little experience with. His lack of respect for women in general and me in particular...it isn’t meant as an insult. It’s all he knows.”
Dane squinted at her. “Come again?”
Mac stared out the window. Despite the rocky start, this day had held so much promise. How did I lose that so quickly? “As far as Riley is concerned, women are property. Where we come from, boys are taught this from the day they’re born. When he speaks harshly to me, it isn’t intentional disrespect. He can’t help it.”
“Taught where?” Jesse’s voice was sharp with indignation and sarcasm. “In the first century?”
Heat worked its way up Mac’s neck. “In the religious community where we lived. I left it three years ago, but Riley has only been away from the teachings for a year.”
Brother and sister looked at each other.
Dane faced her again. “You lived in a cult?” He pulled his hands down his face. “I’m sorry. That probably sounded insulting.”
“No offense taken.” Mac stirred her coffee. “The members call it The Body. They have very strict beliefs where men and women are concerned. Men are second only to God. Women, because we brought sin into the world, are things to be owned. We serve a necessary purpose, but beyond the duties of raising a family and caring for our homes, we are nothing.”
Jesse sat back in the booth, hard. “I never...”
Mac swallowed back embarrassment. “I know this is difficult for you to believe, but there are thousands of these small communities peppered across the United States. I bet if you looked hard enough you’d even find one or two in Oklahoma.”
“How did you...? I mean...” Jesse shook her head, confusion plain on her face. “Is escape the right word?”
Mac stared back out the window. I don’t want to get into this today. I don’t want their pity or their sympathy. I just want to raise my son. I want Riley to know that there’s more to life than narrow-minded oppression.
“Mac?”
She blinked back to the conversation when Dane spoke her name, returning her attention to the brother and sister seated across the table.
“I want to help Riley,” he said. “I can’t do that if I don’t know what I’m up against.”
Mac closed her eyes. Maybe it’s time to let someone else try. I’ve certainly done everything I know to do over the last few months.
“The Body is a strict fellowship almost two hundred years old,” she began, her voice a low whisper. “They believe men are superior and responsible for the saving of their families. Because Eve enticed her husband and brought sin on the world, only once a woman is married—and under the protection of a husband—is she worthy of Heaven.”
“Whaaat?” Jesse drew the word out in obvious confusion.
Mac opened her eyes and found Jesse looking at her with an incredulous frown. Dane sat back, his arms crossed, his eyes hard with an emotion she couldn’t put a name to.
Mac continued. “Marriages are arranged by the father of the bride and generally take place on the girl’s eighteenth birthday. Women address their husbands as Lord and are not allowed to leave the community without the company of a husband or father. Our job is to care for the home and children. Entertainment, such as TV and books, is forbidden, as well as jobs and socializing.”
“Let me take a stab at this,” Jesse snarled. “Drab clothes, no makeup, and long hair.”
Mac stared at her. “How did you know that?”
“Lucky guess.” Jesse dropped her head into her hands. “Dane...”
“Let her finish,” Dane said.
“But it’s barbaric. We live in the twenty-first century, for Pete’s sake,” Jesse muttered.
“Yes, it is,” Mac agreed. “All the children are schooled within the community, and then the boys are provided two years at the local junior college if they wish.”
Dane’s gaze was intense, and she wanted to look away. But there was something kind there, an emotion she’d never seen in the eyes of any man. “And you found your way to Garfield, how?”
“I tossed a dart.” Her voice was a whisper.
“What?” Dane asked.
She shook her head and continued. “Widows are allowed to leave the community if they choose, since they’re considered damaged goods. Most are left without resources with no choice but to stay where they are, doomed to a solitary life and what charity their families or the community provide. I was lucky. My husband was less severe than most.” She stared into two sets of questioning eyes.
“Kevin was thirty years older than I was. That was unusual, but not unheard of.” Mac twisted a napkin to shreds on top of the table. “He had a more progressive outlook on some of the stricter aspects of what The Body taught. He was using his voice as a leader in our community to encourage change. He treated me well and taught Riley to respect me even though that wasn’t the norm.” She stared out the window. “Sometimes I think that’s part of the problem.”
“Why would you say that?” Dane asked.
Mac picked up her spoon and turned it between her fingers. “Because now Riley is confused. The insurance money was nice, but it wasn’t a fortune. I had to live frugally. I used part of it to enroll in school. It took me two years to get an associate degree in business and another six months to get my ACE certification. The best apartment I could afford was a third story walk-up. My mother had a stroke the year before Kevin died, and she was living with us and still recovering when I started school. That third floor apartment would have killed her. The only choice I had was to leave Riley to care for her while I attended school two hours away.”
Mac shook her head. “It wasn’t ideal, but it was all I could do. I paid her bills and spent every weekend with them, cooking and freezing meals for the week ahead and listening to my mother tell me how I was going to hell by turning my back on God. As soon as I had my degree I yanked Riley out of the community, but by then, everything Kevin had tried to instill had been undone.” She slumped in the booth. “He just isn’t adjusting.”
Jesse reached across the table a second time. She didn’t say a word, simply laid her hand on Mac’s arm. The compassion shining in her eyes put a lump in Mac’s throat. She forced it down.
“Maybe Mom’s right. Maybe my son will pay the price for my freedom.”
Jesse shook her head. “Mac, that’s not the way God works.”
Mac pursed her lips and looked away.
* * *
DANE WORKED TO PROCESS all she’d said. It wasn’t easy. How could rational people believe the stuff she’d shared with them? This is just messed up! Now he understood the dead skunk response, but he wasn’t sure what he needed to do.
This is for you.
He kept his expression neutral. That’s what You keep saying, and I’m willing to help, but... Dane stared out the window. The last thing he needed in his life right now was a beautiful damsel in distress. Scaled that castle, have the T-shirt, don’t need to do it again.
A plan took shape in his mind. Dane gave a mental snort. You’re kidding, right?
A picture of Riley confined to the interview room formed in his head.
You sat there once. I sent someone to help. What if he hadn’t listened?
He gulped back his objections and turned to Mac before he could change his mind.
“I want you to give Riley to me.”
Mac frowned across the table. “Excuse me?”
Jesse seemed equally confused. “Dane...what are you talking about?”
“Hear me out.” He leaned forward, trying to fit the bits and pieces of a very cloudy plan together. He nodded at Jesse. “My sister could tell you stories about my teenage years that would curdle your blood. If it hadn’t been for a guy here in town who saw some potential in me and helped me see it as well...” Dane lifted his hands. “I probably wouldn’t be sitting here right now. I think it’s time for me to pay that back.”
Mac’s eyes filled with suspicion. “And you want to do that how?”
“It’s the first week in April. School lasts about”—he glanced at Jesse—“six...seven more weeks?”
“Something like that,” Jesse answered.
“I’ve got a small guest room, nothing fancy, but it’s comfortable. I want you to pack up Riley’s stuff and send him to live with me until school starts again in August.”
Mac crossed her arms. “To do what?”
Dane grinned at her narrowed eyes. “Easy there, mother bear. I’m still pulling it together in my own head.” He paused and took a deep breath. Are you sure about this, Father?
The murky shape of a man, arms folded, foot tapping formed in his mind. Alrighty then.
“Mac, the things your husband taught Riley aren’t gone, but they need to be uncovered and reinforced. He needs to see how a real man, a Christian man, functions in the world.”
Mac’s eyebrows rose.
“I’m not going to cut you off from your son. You’ll have plenty of contact with him.”
Mac’s expression didn’t change.
He continued when Mac remained silent. “Riley needs a guy in his life, but he needs his mom too. Fix us dinner two or three nights during the week. It’ll be a good visit for you and a chance for him to practice his newly recovered manners. I can help him with his school work as well. I’m not a genius, but I can get him caught up and prepared for next year.” He clasped his hands on the table. “I know that’s sketchy, but we can work out the rest of the details as we go.”
“And once school is out?”
“That’s the best part. I’m going to work him so hard this summer, he won’t have the time or energy to get into trouble.”
Mac shook her head. “Even on the off chance that I’d consider such a ludicrous plan, I don’t know you. By what stretch of the imagination would you think that I’d pack up my child and entrust him to your care?”
“Do you know Judge Hanson?”
“Better than I’d like to,” Mac answered.
Dane sat back, crossed his arms. “What if the judge vouched for me? Put his seal of approval on my idea?”
A weary sigh escaped Mac’s lips. “I don’t know. I—”
“I’ve lived in Garfield all my life. I know people. I have favors I can call in and I can use those favors to keep your son out of juvie if you’ll let me.” Dane laid his final card on the table. “Four or five months with me or six to nine months in juvie. Take your pick.”