Vain (The Seven Deadly, #1)(30)

“What are you doing?”

“These men, if they’re still here, could be armed, Sophie. I can’t take any chances.” He checked to see if the gun was loaded and an audible clicking sound resounded around my head when it clicked back into place.

I gulped and got out, not too subtly siding closely to Dingane as we started to examine the outer perimeter.

“There,” he said quietly five minutes later. Adrenaline shot through me at an astronomical rate and I grabbed his arm, pressing myself into his side.

“Wh-where?”

He pointed to a small cluster of plant life near the ground and a mud outline of a large boot print shone between.

“Jesus! What does this mean?” I asked him, my nails accidentally digging into his arm. He looked down at my hand but didn’t say a word. I lightened my hold.

“It means they were most likely LRA.” He sighed. “The men will have to take shifts over the next few days to watch for them. Hopefully they were just passing through and have no business with us.”

“And what if they do?”

“Pray they don’t,” was all he replied.





CHAPTER TEN





“Did you see anything?” Charles asked as we exited the jeep.

Karina came to my side smiling and opened the door for me.

“Yeah, boot prints,” Dingane explained.

Karina’s smile fell but quickly picked back up.

“We’ll have to set watch times then,” Charles said, walking off with Dingane toward his house.

Karina slid her arm through mine.

“Kate and the others will be watching the children at dinner tonight. I thought we’d do something special for your arrival. I’ve made dinner for you myself.”

“Thank you, Karina,” I said, but kept an eye on Charles and Dingane talking animatedly on the front porch. “I look forward to it.”

Karina brought me up her little porch and the men stopped talking. The tension was palpable but Karina forced me through it and we entered the door.

Karina’s little house was beyond charming. It was fairly bare, but the few things she did have, you could tell, meant a lot to her. Lots of old quilts, an entire living room set that looked like it came out of the fifties but was in good shape, well maintained. She had at least a million pictures of beautiful, smiling faces. I studied them one by one.

“Who is this?” I asked her when I came upon one of a small boy with Charles and Karina who looked to be in their twenties. I was right, of course, she was unbelievably gorgeous.

“Oh, that’s Isaac. He was our first boy here.” She started laughing and shook her head. “He was so mischievous and we had absolutely no idea what we were doing.” She picked the frame up and studied it. “He’s like a son to me.”

“Where is he now?” I asked quietly.

“America. We helped him, or rather Harrison helped him, get there. He educated himself and now he sends us a monthly stipend that helps feeds the children here.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered more to myself than to Karina.

“He is a very good boy. Married now, though I’ve never met his wife. They have a little girl themselves. It’s all very lovely.”

“It sounds it,” I told her honestly. I thought on something. “Does Pembrook often help you get children over there?”

“I cannot count the number of times Harrison has either helped adopt them out or helped them emigrate.”

I wondered why Pembrook had never talked about that before. I wondered if he thought me too selfish to bring the subject up at all. That thought sent me down a shame spiral I needed to sit from so I plopped myself on one of Karina’s chairs.

Charles and Karina’s house was essentially one giant room. The living area was at the door. The little dining area and kitchen were at the back and shared a space with the living. The only rooms I could see not part of the main room were the bedroom and bathroom and I assumed those were off to the side through the only doors I could recognize besides the front door. All in all, the entire house looked to be a thousand square feet, about the size of my parent’s pantry back home and yet they were the most happy people I’d ever had the pleasure of meeting.

I watched Karina, Charles and Dingane spill into the tiny dining area set next to the miniscule kitchen, smelled the wonderful aroma of whatever garlic-infused dish Karina was cooking and pondered over their simple yet incredibly complicated lives. One thing I could say for certain was they were infinitely more content than I’d ever felt my entire life.

Dingane, laughing boisterously, broke me from my revelry.

“Come join us, Sophie,” Karina said, patting the chair beside her and opposite Dingane.

I hoisted myself up and stumbled to the chair feeling the day’s work in my back and legs. I smiled at them as I sat.

“We were laughing at a very old story,” Charles offered to bring me into the conversation.

“Yes, old but very sweet,” Karina chimed in.

“It’s the story of how they met,” Dingane said, surprising me. My head whipped his direction and I watched his eyes light up as he looked on the two of them.

“What is it?” I asked.

Charles smiled at his wife. “Karina was desperately in love with me...”