Bolton sat in the waiting area at the medical center early Sunday morning. Legs outstretched and ankles crossed, he had his arms folded and his eyes closed. A strip of morning light cut across the tile floor and half of Bolton’s dark features.
Matthias approached. Was his boss asleep? What kind of a guard—
“Don’t even think about it.” Bolton opened his eyes.
“You realize anyone could walk in the back door while you’re sitting there, right?”
“And anyone could walk in the front while I’m checking the back.” Bolton uncrossed his legs and stood. “That’s why Xavier is at the other entrance, and you’re going to quit questioning me.”
Matthias took a breath, ready to fire back about sleeping on the job.
“Used to be no one questioned my methods and lived.” Bolton sighed. “Now I have to deal with people who don’t even know how good I am.”
“Sorry you’re stuck with us.” Matthias held back his reaction. This was about the most personal thing Bolton had ever said about his past. “John seems to think when you’re here no one is going to dare try and get by you.”
Bolton said, “Any time you want the killer to show, I’ll be happy to take the night off.”
“No, thanks.”
“I get you’re just worried about your girl. She’s fine. There was some laughing and singing around eleven, but after that all quiet.” Bolton motioned to the right with his chin. “How’s the ranch?”
“House, check. Cows, check. Barn, check.”
“Which means you spent an hour before breakfast mucking out all the horses, or you wouldn’t have an attitude.”
Matthias smiled. “At least the cows just stand there, making steak.”
“And sometimes baby cows.”
He shuddered. “Don’t remind me.”
Bolton laughed. “For a rancher, you’re pretty squeamish.”
Matthias waved him off. “Looks like my near future involves being more of a baker than a cowman.”
“Happy for you.” Bolton nodded. “She’s a good kid.”
Matthias supposed, compared to Bolton who had to be forty or thereabouts, Frannie being mid-twenties did mean she was a “kid”. He knew his boss didn’t think of him that way so much.
“Unlike Diego, who is not so good.” Matthias filled his boss in on his brother’s latest activities and what Izzy had said.
Bolton tipped his head to the side. “Frannie may not be like them, but still. You’re sure you want to get involved with that family?”
“I’m sure.”
“I’ll talk to Diego.” He shook Matthias’s hand and then gathered up four empty paper cups, tossing them in the nearest trash can.
“Thanks.”
“Later.”
Frannie was sitting up in bed fully dressed, on top of the covers, with a tray in front of her. The plate was empty and she was spooning tiny chunks of fruit into her mouth. She tossed the plastic cup and spoon on her tray and waved him over.
“How are you?”
One finger pressed to her mouth, she shushed him and motioned to a still sleeping Stella. Matthias nodded as he made his way to her bedside, where he whispered, “How are you?”
“You heard about Susan and the president?”
Matthias nodded. Tears sparked in her eyes, and he gathered her in his arms and held her for a minute.
Frannie shoved her hands between them and pushed him back, wiping her eyes. “You’re never going to guess what happened last night.” Her whisper was laced with a joy that didn’t have anything to do with Beth’s family. “Dan came by. You know that.” Her eyes were sparkling for a different reason now. She looked…at peace.
“What did he say?” Dan had told her about Beth, but what else could he have said that made Frannie almost joyful even in her grief?
“He told me all about what Jesus did, and I couldn’t really believe it. But it made so much sense. It was like, all of a sudden, it just…clicked.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him down to sit on the edge of the bed. “I prayed with Dan, and I became a Christian.”
Despite his worry, Matthias couldn’t help smiling. “That’s awesome.”
“Now I need to go to church for a whole different reason. But I want to check on Beth, too.” She sobered. “I can’t believe Susan is gone.”
Matthias tried to keep things light. “I knew you had an ulterior motive than just realizing life was too short to keep putting it off.”
“I can’t wait to tell Nadia Marie. And Andra.” Frannie took a sip of orange juice. “I just feel so…like I belong now, you know? I’m going to pray for Beth.”
Matthias nodded, but he wasn’t sure what she meant. He’d been a Christian so long he could barely remember praying that first prayer as a kid. His first communion had been lost in the confusion of his father’s antics and WITSEC.
Since then church had become something he just did because that’s what their family believed. Lately he’d been feeling the nudge to seek. It was entirely possible God would use Frannie’s new relationship with Him to spur Matthias to find out if his own faith could be more than it was.
Their relationship had to be based on more than just attraction—which was there in spades. It had to have a solid foundation of shared interests. Not just favorite music, or movies, but shared beliefs, too.
Matthias leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips. “Congratulations.” He smiled, though his heart was still heavy with the news about Susan and the president. “Maybe that’s not what you’re supposed to say for something like this.”
She shushed him again. “It works. Thank you.”
“So you’re ready for church, then?”
He’d never considered she might be opposed to coming with him to church. It was a gift, not only the fact she was willing to consider it, but she’d made the decision independently of his wanting her to share his faith.
“I guess.” Frannie looked around, her gaze roaming all around the room. “The guys aren’t coming?”
Matthias shook his head. “I gave them the morning off if that’s okay with you.”
Frannie swallowed. She looked around the room again.
“You don’t have to be nervous. God doesn’t throw you in the fire on the first day.”
“I’m good.” She pushed the tray aside, moving the rolling table out of the way, and then shifted to get off the bed.
Matthias found her shoes under a chair and brought them to her. He wrapped her arm in his and walked her to the ranch truck. The inside was free of food wrappers and the sweaters and jackets he discarded when it got too hot. But it was dusty. Not just dust, but the dust of walking around on dry dirt all day and then kicking it off his boots when he climbed in the truck. Why hadn’t he cleaned the truck out?
“This is weird.”
He glanced at her, sitting beside him on the bench seat. “It is?”
“Aside from the ride in the sheriff’s Jeep the other day, I haven’t been in a vehicle in nearly eight years.”
“You should have asked. I would have taken you for a drive before now.”
Frannie said, “There are probably a lot of people in town who miss it. Maybe you should start charging for rides. You’d probably make a decent chunk of change.”
“With a side business as a taxi?”
“Or a scenic tour guide.”
Matthias morphed his voice to sound like an announcer. “On your left, you’ll notice the Laundromat. Louis isn’t usually there, but if you’re lucky his wife will scold you for whatever you’ve been up to that got your clothes those stains. And beware bringing in anything that has blood on it. She’ll look appropriately disapproving, but she won’t ask where you hid the body.”
Frannie groaned. “Maybe not.”
“There you go, being the entrepreneur again.” He grinned at her. “I would never have thought of that.”
“It’s not like I sit around thinking up new ways to make money.”
“I know.” He glanced at her.
“But you aren’t interested?” Frannie frowned at him like she wasn’t sure if what she’d said was okay. “It’s not like I’m only concerned with making money.”
“I just don’t really think about it. I get paid, and there’s stuff I need. Mostly I break even after I stash part of it in two funds. One’s for retirement and one is for someday. They aren’t all that small since I don’t have much to spend. I order supplies for the ranch, but that comes out of a separate account of both mine and Bolton’s money which we cycle back into the ranch. When we sell beef to the diner or the grocery store, that’s when we get paid. Trickles in, trickles out. That’s about all there is to it other than the fact I sunk some money into the nursery so Sofia and Antonia could be comfortable.” He grinned at her. “There you go. My financial status in two minutes.”
She smiled back, but it was subdued. “So how does the cow get from your field to a steak on a plate at Sam’s diner?”
“Your buddy Michael, actually.”
Frannie gaped. “Seriously?”
He nodded. “The man might only have one arm, but he’s the best butcher I’ve ever seen. It takes someone to help him, but it’s worth it.”
“Is it awful, watching them die?”
Matthias much preferred the end to the birthing process, though it was equally as messy. “It’s never pleasant, but we make it as quick and painless for the cow as possible. That’s all we can do.”
Matthias pulled up outside the Meeting House. Frannie put one hand on the door handle and turned to him. “At least I don’t have to murder anything to make a cupcake.” She grinned, swung the door open and crumpled onto the ground.
Matthias jumped out and rounded the door to find her sitting on the pavement. “Need some help?”
“I can’t believe I just collapsed.” Frannie curled her lip, looking miffed. “If you carry me in there I’m going to be mad at you for eternity. I have one of those now.”
“Eternity?” He reached down and hauled her to her feet. She nodded, so Matthias said, “All the more time for you to be ticked off with me.”
“I figured it was going to happen every now and then, so I might as well get used to the feeling.”
Still, he tucked her arm in his elbow, and they walked slowly. “Occasionally mad at me is okay.” Just so long as those occasions spanned the next seventy years of their lives, Matthias was more than fine with it.
**
The minute they stepped inside, Andy and Shelby rushed over. Frannie had her arm wrapped in Matthias’s so it didn’t look too much like he was holding her up.
Frannie locked her knees and held onto him. “Andy. Shelby. I’m so sorry I missed practice.”
Andy looked like he might actually be mad about that, but Shelby gushed. “Oh, dear. Don’t worry about the play. Your understudy is fully prepared to step in if it becomes necessary. All you need to worry about is getting better.”
“My understudy?”
Shelby smiled. “Your mother graciously offered to take your place.”
Matthias’s body went as hard as granite against her arm. “My mother, huh.” She tamped down the rage at a woman who didn’t even come and see her in the hospital, but made sure to fill Frannie’s spot in the play.
Frannie glanced at Matthias. “We should get a seat before they’re all taken.”
His smile was brittle. “Good to see you, Andy. Shelby.”
Frannie’s steps snagged against Shelby’s ankle-length floral skirt as they passed, but she managed to get untangled even though the couple just stood watching them walk to their seats.
When they were out of earshot, Frannie said, “I really do need to sit.” He took a step, and she stumbled. Nadia Marie jumped in on her other side, whispering, “Hey, girl,” as she took Frannie’s other arm and helped her to a chair.
Frannie slumped in the seat, drained. She blew out a breath as Nadia Marie sat by her. “I talked with Dan last night.”
Nadia Marie grinned. “I’m glad he convinced you to come.”
Matthias leaned forward and said to Nadia, “It was Frannie’s idea. She became a believer last night.”
Nadia Marie screamed. Every person in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to look. Across the room, Andra laughed. She walked over while Nadia asked a million questions and Frannie mostly just smiled so much her face hurt, and said, “Yes.”
Nadia Marie wrapped her arm around Frannie’s shoulder and squeezed, telling Andra what happened.
The former assassin frowned. “I thought she screamed because you told her you were kicking out your mom and sister.”
Frannie cocked her head to the side. “Really?”
“This was better,” Andra said. “But you should still do that as well.”
Frannie wasn’t sure. “Are Christians supposed to evict their family?”
Andra muttered, “If they’re big leeches who deserve it.”
Nadia shot her a look before turning to Frannie. “You can have boundaries, and you’re allowed to be firm on them. This has been a long time coming.”
Matthias told Nadia Marie and Andra about Mimi being Frannie’s understudy for the play. He looked a little pale—at least as pale as someone with his coloring could look.
That was when Frannie remembered he’d have to kiss her mom in the play.
She gasped. “Uh…”
“Exactly.” Matthias shook his head. “I’m not doing it if you aren’t.”
“Shelby and Aaron aren’t going to like it if we’re both out. They’ll have to get two understudies.”
Dan stepped toward the microphone up front and began to strum his guitar. He looked around, and Frannie saw the moment he spotted her because he winked.
Nadia Marie leaned closer. “Maybe Matthias could trade with Terrence. I’ll play your part instead and your mom can kiss him.”
Frannie nearly agreed…but that would mean Nadia Marie would kiss Matthias. Frannie glanced at her friend. Did she want to?
Dan started the song, an upbeat tune everyone seemed to know. Frannie looked at the words projected onto the screen at the front and decided she agreed with the sentiment. She closed her eyes and allowed the singing to resonate in her.
Was she sure what Nadia meant? Did her friend intend to kiss Matthias, assuming it was no big deal just because it wasn’t Mimi doing it?
Gradually the tension bled from her, and Frannie simply enjoyed what Dan had called “worship.” After he prayed, they all sat. Father Wilson came to the front. He read from the Bible, and Matthias tilted the copy in his hands so Frannie could see it. She leaned against his arm as she read, listening to the father talk about a king called Hezekiah.
Matthias touched the page with one finger, skimming down the text faster than Frannie could read. He stilled. His attention was on one verse and the words of Hezekiah’s prayer. Matthias made a “huh” noise in his throat. Frannie straightened to see his face. His eyebrows were pinched together as his eyes scanned the passage.
He looked up at her. Frannie smiled and put her head back against the outside of his upper arm. Matthias shifted, and she felt the warmth of his lips against her forehead for just a second as she listened to Father Wilson talking about the purpose of prayer.
The father had them all stand, and Matthias held Frannie’s hand as they bowed their heads with everyone else.
She needed to talk to Andra and Nadia Marie about what happened next. Dan had told her about reading her Bible every day, and praying as much as she could so her decision really sank in. Maybe the girls could show her how to do that.
As soon as they said, “Amen,” Matthias squeezed her hand. “I’m going to go talk with Dan for a second. Will you be okay?”
Frannie nodded and watched him make a bee-line for the farmer while Nadia Marie spoke from behind her. “Well, well, well. You two looked pretty cozy.”
Frannie turned, using all her strength to stay standing. She put her hands on her hips. “What’s it to you?”
Nadia Marie’s eyebrows rose. “Is something wrong?” She glanced at Matthias for a second. “It didn’t look like there was.”
“There isn’t, thank you. That’s why I don’t appreciate you offering to kiss Matthias in the play instead of my mom.”
Nadia Marie frowned for a split-second, and then burst out laughing. “You think…” She cackled. “You’re mad…because you think I’m going to…”
Frannie glared at her. Then she had to sit down. Then she glared some more.
Nadia Marie pointed at her, even though it was rude. “You’re jealous.”
“I am not.”
Nadia Marie wiped a tear from under her eye. “You so are. It’s the cutest thing.”
“And if Bolton agreed to kiss someone else, you wouldn’t have something to say about that?”
Nadia Marie sobered. “I wasn’t going to kiss Matthias. We could have worked it out and avoided that. Why would you assume I wanted to?”
Now she felt foolish. “I—”
Nadia Marie moved closer and whispered, “I don’t want to kiss Matthias. Trust me. He’s like my brother.” She touched the sides of Frannie’s face for a second before she let her hands drop back to her sides. “Understanding what God has done for you and being so thankful you can barely breathe because He saved you is an amazing thing. I’m so happy you made that decision.”
“Me too.”
“But you’re still you. God isn’t surprised when your fears surface. He wants to make you more like Him, but you start from here. From who you are now. We become Christians because we aren’t content with this, with who we are. We want more, and God is the only one who can do that. But even more, He wants to give us even greater things than we can imagine. Not just victory over the sins we don’t even think about committing because we’re so used to them being part of our lives. But amazing gifts only He can give.”
“How do I not mess that up?”
Nadia Marie smiled. “Pray. Read your Bible every day. Church. Andra and I are going to start a Bible study. Come with us.”
“What about my mom? I don’t know if I want to totally sever the tie, but what choice do I have? She doesn’t care about me at all. She only cares about herself.”
“It’ll be messy, that’s for sure.” Nadia Marie worked her jaw from one side to the other. “Have you talked to Stan? If you sold the house and moved in with me, they’d have to either buy it or go find somewhere else to live.”
Frannie had to sit. “I can move some of my furniture into the apartment above the bakery, but they would be homeless.”
“Serves them right.”
“Aren’t Christians supposed to be compassionate?”
Nadia Marie said, “Not to the point we get walked all over. Jesus wasn’t a doormat when He allowed them to crucify Him. And your family isn’t allowed to treat you like one, either.”
Frannie looked at Matthias, who stood across the room with Dan. The farmer had his hand on Tias’s shoulder, talking low, and they both had their eyes shut.
She looked back at Nadia Marie. “I can’t move any furniture right now.”
“That’s what your friends are for. You want to move into the bakery, give me your keys. I’ll get your stuff over there, so when you’re released from the medical center after tomorrow’s medicine delivery you can go straight there.”
“You would really do that for me?”
“Just don’t ask me to make you any meals. You wouldn’t need poison at that point.”
Frannie laughed. “Good to know.”
“I’ll talk to Olympia about getting you set up for meals.” Nadia Marie sat and squeezed Frannie’s hand. “Don’t worry about your mom. She’s going to make it difficult, but at least it’ll be done. Worse would be having her in your home for decades.”
“Maybe I should just give her my part in the play.” Frannie shrugged. “It’s not like I can stand long enough to say all my lines. I can barely manage ten minutes right now.”
“So you missed a couple of rehearsals.” Nadia Marie waved away her concern. “We worked around that. After tomorrow, when you get the antidote, you’ll be good as new.”
“Francine.” She turned and found Father Wilson beside her. He held out his hand. “So glad you decided to join us this morning.”
“Thanks, Father.” She squeezed his cold hand and let go. The question in the back of her mind slid up to the forefront. “I know this probably isn’t a normal sort of question, and maybe there’s some kind of privacy thing, but… The man I saw about to kill Stella has been sending me letters.” He nodded, though he looked confused, so she continued, “I was just wondering if he’s approached you at all?”
“Right,” Nadia Marie said. “Like maybe to talk about what he’s doing, or something he did in the past?”
Frannie said, “He indicated he has faith and that’s why he’s doing this. I just wondered if you had any clues as to who it was.”
Father Wilson coughed, his hand to the front of his shirt. “Well, it is true that a great many people come to me to confess, or simply to talk. But I can’t say this killer person has revealed himself to me. How very distasteful.”
Frannie frowned. Didn’t this man understand the worst things in people? They came to share their sins with him?
“I’d rather like to know if you have any questions about my sermon. Anything you’d like to know, or ask me about?”
“Uh…not that I can think of.” He wanted to talk about that? “Beth might need to talk with you, though. She’s still in the medical center.”
Father Wilson continued like she hadn’t even said anything. “It is crucially important that each person submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives before it’s too late.”
“I’m getting medicine tomorrow, I’ll be fine after that. Beth needs more than I do right now, but she’s not sick or anything.”
“Not to mention Frannie became a Christian last night.”
Father Wilson looked from Frannie to Nadia Marie, and back. “How wonderful.” He smiled, but it was more like a grimace. Was his craggy face even capable of looking happy?
“Thank you.” She didn’t mean it to come out as a question, but the inflection was there. “I should find Tias and head back to the medical center now.”
“Of course.” Father Wilson laid his hand on her shoulder. “You feel better soon, Francine.”