A Soldier's Devotion

“If I show up without warning he’ll know he’s been set up.”

“So be it. But you have no less than seven third-degree black-belted bodyguards, guaranteed.”

She laughed. “That should make me feel better.”

His grin faded and his face turned serious. “He might scare the daylights out of you. But he’d never in a million years hurt you. At least not physically.”

What did that mean? Vince was a heartbreaker?

“Well, I have no intention of getting close to him that way.” He’d never let her, for one thing. For another, he far from acted like a Christian.

Petrowski studied her so carefully that the urge to win the case of convincing him overpowered her.

“Trust me. You don’t have to worry about me falling for the guy or him falling for me. He strikes me as the type who goes from zero to mad in three-point-five seconds. And I’m so laid-back I’m horizontal.”

She shook her head and started her car. “The Mississippi would move backward before the two of us would fall for one another.”

Petrowski laughed. “It’s happened before, you know.”

“What? A woman like me falling for a man like Vince? Or a man like Vince falling for a woman like me?”

“I meant the Mississippi running backward.”

“Really, now?”

“Yup. During an earthquake along the New Madrid fault.”

Even so, it was going to take something stronger than her to run the river of this man’s rage away from her rather than toward. After arriving home, Val set down her briefcase, called to check on Elsie, left Sarah a voice mail then climbed into bed.

Creator of heaven and earth, move the mountain of this man’s anger.

The next day at the hospital, violent shaking rattled Val’s water glass off the table beside Elsie’s bed. She shot up, eyeing Val with fear from her transfer chair.

“It’s okay, Elsie.” At least Val hoped so. The floor swayed several inches left and right and left and right. She pushed Elsie toward the doorway barely comprehending what this was.

Earthquakes in southern Illinois? She’d experienced—even expected them—in California. Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought they’d have them here.

The early-morning shimmy concluded by the time she crouched in the doorway beside Elsie’s chair and knelt with her Bible to her chest. She hadn’t even realized she’d grabbed it. The pendulum-swinging floor paused. Elsie drew a relieved breath and relaxed her grip from the chair.

Val exited Elsie’s room to find people in the hall looking bedraggled and confused. “Earthquake?” Val asked.

A family member to Elsie’s hospital neighbor to the left approached. “Yeah. Worst one I recall in years.”

“So this isn’t normal?”

“Not really. Quakes that size are extremely rare.”

Val recalled her conversation with Aaron.

And burst out laughing.

A single mom Val recognized from her neighborhood and who had a teen named Logan approached. “You probably think we’re amateurs because you’re from California, huh?”

Val wondered what the woman was doing at the hospital. “No, that’s not it. I just found it ironic that I had a conversation mere hours ago about earthquakes.”

Earthquakes…a woman like her falling for a man like Vince.

Never happen. Not in a million years.

Petrowski’s and her words wafted back into her mind. Val eyed the sky through the window back inside Elsie’s room. I hope this isn’t a foreshadowing of things to come. But I’ll consider myself sufficiently warned. Elsie eyed her curiously but didn’t ask.

After waking before her alarm clock in the morning, Val flung the covers off and prepared to go visit Aunt Elsie again.

Her phone rang. A number she didn’t recognize popped up. “Hello,” she answered, not giving her name. Since she was a prosecutor, she kept her name, numbers and addresses unlisted.

“Yes, I’m Sarah Graham and I’m returning Val Russo’s call.”

“Sarah! Hey, this is Val.”

“I wanted to catch you before you rushed off to work. I hope it’s not too early.”

“No, today is Wednesday so I work through client files from home.” Val caught sight of her hair in the mirror on the way to get her clothes. “Ew! What a fright.”

“The files?”

Val laughed. “No, I know better than to go to bed with wet hair. But frankly, yesterday left me mentally and physically exhausted.”

“Aaron told me.”

Val developed an instant liking to Sarah and was determined to build a friendship. She got ready as they chattered on and on.

“Hopefully today will be a better day for Elsie,” Val said into her cell to Sarah on her way out the door.

“And for you,” Sarah said with a chuckle.

Val adjusted her rearview mirror. “As long as I don’t have another run-in with a certain tall, dark and dangerous special operative who’s homicidally livid over losing his bike, I think I’ll be okay.”

Sarah laughed. “I better let you go since you’re heading to the hospital. And we know what happened the last time you drove while talking on a phone.”

Val sighed. “Yes, but thankfully I have a hands-free now. Still, I better sign off. Promise to call you later.”

“Especially since I have a feeling you will see Tall, Dark and Dangerous again.” Sarah made an exaggerated throat-clearing noise.

“Is that a drastic hint that you know something I don’t?” Val pulled out of her driveway.

“Yes, but this time, you don’t need to be afraid. You’ll want to hear what he’s coming to say.”

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