Hold (Gentry Boys, #5)(33)

Mia didn’t say much, merely watching me through watery blue eyes as Truly explained what her sister had told her. First, the kid was hers. Second, his father was killed in a tractor accident two months before he was born. Also, the farming commune she was living on had been raided by ATF because apparently a few of the things they were cultivating there were illegal. Mia took off with the kid before she could get swept up in the trouble. And finally, there was a vague possibility that members of law enforcement might yet be interested in finding her.

I absorbed all this information standing in the middle of my living room with the sleazy smell of the club still clinging to me in a bitter haze. After setting my guitar against the end table I moved over to the couch and sat beside Truly.

My wife watched me like she was worried about what I would say.

Her sister watched me like she was afraid about what I would do.

The kid watched me like he was hopeful I would produce something for him to eat.

I held out a finger and the baby grabbed at it eagerly.

“What’s his name?” I asked, expecting some wacky answer like Moonbat or Hazelnut.

“Jacob,” answered Mia, still sitting on the floor, drawing her knees up and resting her chin atop the wrinkled paisley material that covered them.

“Jacob,” I repeated and the baby flashed a toothless grin just before he tried to chew my finger off.

I did not object when Truly assured her sister that she and Jacob were welcome to stay with us as long as they wanted to.

Or until federal agents knocked on the door.

Whichever came first.

Our guests had arrived woefully ill-equipped for a long term stay so Truly had taken a few days off to go on a shopping spree and get acquainted with her nephew. Even though we’d babysat for Cord and Say’s girls often enough when they were tiny, I’d forgotten how much freaking stuff was involved in baby care. Bottles and diapers and onesies and car seats. Apparently the smaller the person the more stuff they needed in order to exist.

But still, Jacob was a cheerful baby and Truly doted on him. I didn’t mind him being around either.

His mother was a different story. I didn’t know what the hell to make of her. Meridian Lee spoke little, ate less and skulked around like a ghost. She’d gladly allowed Truly to take over caring for Jacob. At first I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, figuring she’d had a rough time and might be set right after a few days of rest. But now I was growing uneasy. Last night I’d wandered into the kitchen to get a drink of water and the bedroom across the hall where Mia and Jacob had been sleeping was brightly lit, the door flung wide open. I poked my head in there and saw the baby was alone, sound asleep in the portable crib that had been set up in the corner of the room. He’d rolled over on his belly so I set him on his back since Truly was adamant that was what you were supposed to do with babies. I covered him gently with the blue receiving blanket he’d kicked off. Then I shut the bedside lamp off and backed out of there.

The living room was dark, empty. I heard the creak of bedsprings from the master bedroom and recognized the sound of Truly rolling over. She was always a fitful sleeper.

“Shit,” I muttered because the condo wasn’t a huge place and there weren’t a ton of places Mia could be hanging out. What the hell was I supposed to do if she’d taken off? Should I run out after her? I wouldn’t even know where to look.

Then a flicker of movement from beyond the glass patio door caught my eye. A hot wind was blowing, an early prequel of summer storms to come. Mia was out there alone, standing rigidly in the dark as the fabric of her long white shirt billowed and her wispy blonde hair whipped around from the whims of the wind. She faced away, arms crossed, unmoving, and it didn’t seem like she was looking at anything in particular. Just then a wind gust knocked into her thin frame and she swayed slightly, reaching out a hand to grab a stucco patio pillar. For a second my eyes did a funny thing and saw right through her, like she was fading away into nothing.

I made a lot of noise as I opened the patio door, trying not to startle her. But either because of the wind or because she was lost in her own head, she didn’t so much as flinch until I cleared my throat.

“Mia?”

The face she turned to me was worse than horrible. It was a face of misery, despair. It pulled at her skin and left ugly hollows in her cheeks and under her eyes. Then she shook herself, shivered and looked normal again.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude,” she said in an accent so similar to Truly’s but lacking all of Truly’s vitality.

“Why don’t you come inside?” I said, opening the door wide and hoping she’d listen because something about the whole scene was creeping me the f*ck out.

But Mia just shook her head and turned away again. “Like to hang out here a bit if you don’t mind.”

“No, not at all.” I hesitated, feeling slightly uneasy. “Good night then.” I started to close the door and then thought of something. I wasn’t good at this shit. I really wasn’t. But there was something I hadn’t said yet and if there was one thing my wife had taught me it was that sometimes words mattered.

“Hey Mia?”

She turned around and cocked her head, waiting for me to continue.

“Uh, you’re not intruding. You and Jacob. You guys are family and you’re both welcome here as long as you need to stay, as long as you want to stay.”