Forbidden Falls (Virgin River #9)(29)

It wasn’t. He worried briefly that she hadn’t taken them back to her ex-husband’s house at all. Frankly, if he were Ellie, he might not have. The temptation to flee must be overwhelming. He went back to his RV, knowing he wouldn’t sleep all night without knowing.

At nine, he walked down the street again, but this time he left Lucy behind. The summer sun had set and people turned in early in this little town, but her car was not yet parked in front of the Fitch house. There was a single light on inside the big house and an outside light at the top of the garage stairs, but her room was dark. Noah sat on the stairs that led to her rented room and waited.

About thirty minutes later, he heard the engine of her PT Cruiser as she came into town. She pulled up in front of the house and parked. He heard the car door slam; her feet were quiet and slow on the driveway that led to the garage.

Deep in thought, she didn’t see him until she was about twenty feet away. She stopped. He stood. The light from the top of the stairs illuminated him. Still sheathed in semidarkness, she approached another ten feet and stopped again. Finally, in a very soft voice that didn’t sound like Ellie, she asked, “What are you doing here?” She took a couple more steps toward him. She looked different. Oh, the clothes were Ellie—tight jeans, snug top. But her makeup was gone, her big hair pulled back severely into a ponytail. She looked so young. Sweet. And so vulnerable.

“I was waiting for you,” he said. He came down the steps and stood in front of her. “I wondered how it went. If everything was okay.”

“It’s okay,” she said in a voice that sounded weak and beaten. “They’ll be all right.”

“Was it terrible? Were they very upset?”

He saw her shake her head and there was only silence for a moment.

“Ellie,” Noah said, “did you get them back on time?”

She nodded. She bit her lower lip, looked down and didn’t say anything more.

“Did he give you any trouble?”

She shook her head. Then she said, “Well, there was the usual. He told them to go to their rooms, get ready for bed and stay there. Ready for bed, at four o’clock. But I made sure they had eaten before I took them back, so if he doesn’t give them dinner, they won’t be hungry. Then again, if he does give them dinner and they can’t eat it, there could be a different kind of problem. I couldn’t tell him, though…that they’d eaten.” She sniffed and wiped at her nose with the back of her hand. “He seems to be always looking for ways to get to them and it would be just like him to give them a big dinner and insist they eat every bite, even though they can’t. But there’s not much I can do to control that. He’ll do what he’ll do.”

“You’ve been crying.”

“Some,” she admitted.

“Since four o’clock?” he asked, an ache creeping into his chest. When she didn’t answer him, he said, “I was worried about you. About you and your kids.”

“I never thought about that,” she said. “That you’d worry. I went to my friend’s house. Phyllis—the lady who owns the duplex. I just wanted to talk to someone who understood the whole mess.”

He gave her a moment. Where there is despair, let me offer hope…“That probably helped.” He saw her nod. “Would you like to talk about it now?”

“I’m pretty worn out.”

“Would it help to pray about it?” he asked. “I could—”

And she laughed a little, shaking her head. “If it’s all the same to you—”

“Sometimes it really does help,” he said.

“Not today,” she said. Then she sniffed. “Look, I’ll be fine in the morning. I just need some rest. I’m sorry if you were worried.”

“I didn’t mean to put that on you—I have no business waiting for you to get home. You’re an adult. I can’t explain—it’s just that I felt for them. The kids. And you—I just wanted to know you were okay.”

“Well, I’m okay, Noah. And the kids will get by. We talked about how we had to accept the way things are for a little while longer. We sang songs all the way to Redway in the car, just to keep their minds off things. I only had to put up with Arnie for three or four minutes, just long enough for him to tell me I’d better remember who’s calling the shots here.” She groaned in the back of her throat. “Maybe I should go back to him. Could I do that? Stay with him for the ninety days so I could watch over the kids? Then leave with them after the time’s up? Legally? Could that work?”

Noah felt a surge of anger rise up in him at the very thought of Arnie touching her, putting his hands on her, telling her what to do. In that instant he knew he’d lose his mind if she did that. “You can’t do that,” he said, and then he asked himself who he thought he was to tell her what she could do. “Arnie might trip you up somehow, make it worse. You’re doing what the court asked. Um, listen, I did some checking this afternoon—there’s a woman lawyer in town. Jack—the guy who owns the bar—his sister is a lawyer and she lives here.”

She sighed heavily. “I can’t afford a lawyer.”

“She might be willing to talk to you for free. If you explained. If you told her the cheapskate preacher doesn’t pay worth a damn. I mean, maybe she can’t build a case or go to court on your behalf without a fee, but—”