by Mary May
Gideon paced, worried, and paced some more. Sabrina and Edgar had been gone for over an hour with Eric down the tunnel that was in Cleo’s prayer closet. He couldn’t follow because he couldn’t risk being that far from Charlie anymore. He knew that Charlotte was with Sabrina and would fill him in on everything when she got back, but that didn’t do a thing for his nerves now. He used to never be nervous -- he had nerves of steel! This was definitely a new development, and it wasn’t one he liked. He was also getting really tired of Edgar’s little surprises. Tunnels? Secret rooms? Could the old guy give an angel a break and clue him in on some need-to-know information? He would have stripped the feathers off of both wings if one of his men had ever kept something like this from him! There is nothing worse or more degrading for an angel than to go around looking like a turkey that is being prepared for the Thanksgiving table.
Cleo walked into her closet, poking her head in the tunnel before having a full body shiver. “There ain’t a thing in this world that could make Ol’ Cleo go down that tunnel! I don’t even like knowing about it, and it’s in our closet, too!”
Gideon grabbed the nearest board. “That makes two of us…however, I do wish Edgar would have informed me of this…It’s a way into the house, and I need to know every possible entrance in order to be able to protect the family.”
Cleo read what he wrote and gave the area she thought he was in a sympathetic look. “I used to think that one guardian angel per person was plenty, but now I’m thinking some families may need a whole lot more.”
Gideon cocked his head and listened. He could hear voices coming from the tunnel. In a couple more minutes Edgar’s flashlight could be seen, and then the group walked back into the closet.
“Thank the Lord you are all back safe! Where does that lead to anyway?” Cleo asked.
“It goes to the shed, and I found out so much about the house and the former owners! I’ll tell you all about it,” Sabrina exclaimed.
Edgar closed the door but he avoided looking at Gideon.
Sabrina was running her fingers through her hair getting the dust and debris out of it. Spiders were her main worry. She turned to Eric. “Do you see any spiders or any other creepy crawlies in my hair? Look very carefully!” He looked her over for any unwelcomed guests then declared her free of hitchhikers.
Edgar looked around and asked if Sabrina was going to need anything else; if not, he would like to retire. Sabrina said she was going to take a bath and that, no, she didn’t need him any more tonight, but she would have a lot more questions in the morning. Edgar nodded then told everyone goodnight and headed wearily for his room with Gideon right on his heels.
When Edgar got to his room, he put the flashlight back in the drawer and then turned to Gideon. “Ask me whatever it is you want to ask, angel. Let’s get this over with.”
Gideon sat down at the table, tapping his fingers on the top. “Let’s start with when are you ever going to trust me enough to give me information like this without being forced into it? Have I not proven myself to you, that I have this family’s best interest at heart?”
Edgar stared at him with hard eyes. “When are you going to understand that this has nothing to do with trusting you? This is about keeping a promise that I made a very long time ago.”
Gideon stood up so suddenly the chair went flying backwards. “So promises to people who are gone are more important than giving me useful information to help keep the living safe? I can’t fight both you and the minions, Edgar! We are supposed to be on the same side here!” Gideon stood staring down at the man he had come to call friend like he didn’t know who he was anymore.
Edgar continued to look at Gideon with a stubborn tilt to his jaw. “I made a promise.”
Gideon gripped the sides of his head in pure frustration. Breathing deeply, he tried to calm the rage that was threating to overflow. “Edgar, I understand that; I really do. I’m an angel. We are seriously proactive when it comes to keeping promises ourselves. I need to know that you will tell me anything that will help me keep this family safe…keep Charlie safe. Didn’t you make a promise to them, too?”
He watched as Edgar fought an internal battle with himself. He knew that the old guy took his promises very seriously. Finally Edgar looked up and said he would tell Gideon everything.
Over the course of the next several weeks Eric made many trips to the estate checking out the tunnels and making inquiries into getting the needed permits for Lost Haven. He finally moved into one of the suites to make things easier and had even started going to Sabrina’s church. He really enjoyed the services and afterwards meeting Catherine and Evan, along with Keelie and Carl. He had truly been made to feel like a member of the family, but he would be lying if he didn’t say that the main reason he was staying was Sabrina herself. She was smart, funny and pretty much everything he ever wanted in a woman. He had hoped she would maybe come to feel the same way about him. He had heard that she was recently hurt in a relationship, so he was being patient. He was keeping things strictly business… for now.
They had mapped every tunnel and hidden room, discovering numerous documents that had revealed just how many people the Laskers had assisted. “This is incredible! Have you really read the names that are on these lists? Some of them have made huge contributions to the world, as we know it. Look…Dolak, Fait, Gabris.” Sabrina read off a few of the names on the list.
“Do these names mean something to you?” Eric asked.
“Yes! Now of course I can’t be positive that these are the same men that I have heard of, but it makes you wonder.” She tapped the paper on the table and pointed. “Gabris was known in the engineering world as the father of propulsion rockets, and he started the study for heat-seeking missiles.”
Both Eric and Gideon looked at Sabrina in surprise. “Okay, I have to ask: How do you know that?” Eric laughed.
Gideon was so glad that Eric had asked because he was really curious himself. Sabrina smiled and started twisting her wedding band. “Luke was a bio-fuel engineer. He studied many of Gabris’s theories and wrote his college thesis on one of Gabris’s so called ‘impossible dreams,’ which we now know as ethanol. The man was brilliant.”
Eric smiled. “Who Luke or Gabris?”
Sabrina gave him a smirky grin. “Both, actually, but I was speaking about Gabris.”
They continued to look through more folders and Sabrina grabbed one. Opening the file, she gasped. “Oh, no! Oh, how horrible…”
Eric reached for the file and he saw photos of what had been known as death pits in the concentration camps during the Holocaust. He flipped through more photos and saw several that had pictures of Hitler with a young man that looked to be a doctor. “I bet Edgar would know something about these pictures.”
A few minutes later they found Edgar in the sunroom and showed him the pictures. Gideon felt sorry for the old guy. These pictures had to be bringing back some really bad memories. Edgar looked at each picture carefully, his face a mask of control. In typical Edgar fashion he volunteered no information without being asked a direct question. “What would you like to know about them?”
Sabrina pointed to the one that showed Hitler with a young doctor. “Do you know who this man is standing with Hitler?”
Edgar nodded. “Yes, that would be Mr. Lasker. He actually treated Adolf Hitler for liver disease.”
Sabrina looked closer at the picture. “Wait, Edgar, is that the same nasty stuff you gave to Sherrilyn and to Devon?”
Gideon looked closer at the picture and he saw what looked like a mason jar filled with a dark liquid. “Yes, this was the medication that Mr. Lasker gave to him for his liver. It has many different medical uses.”
Eric reached for the photo. “Was this Lasker a follower of Hitler? Why would he treat him?”
Gideon watched something happen he had never thought to see…
Edgar lost his cool. Edgar snatched the picture from Eric’s grasped with a hard yank. “No, he most certainly was
not! He despised the very air that man would breathe! He built this house just to help people escape from the men who would continue to do his bidding even after death. Just because he was treating the man did not make him a follower! He had no choice. What so many people don’t understand is that we had very little choice about anything. It was follow orders or be shot! Follow orders or your family would be thrown into a gas chamber! Mr. Lasker was the finest human being I have ever known, and I will not allow you stand there and say he was a disciple of that…that… devil!” Everyone watched with mouths hanging open as Edgar turned and marched out of the room without another word.
Chapter 20
Eric and Sabrina stood staring at each other in silence after Edgar had stormed out when she heard the doorbell chime. “Good grief -- what now?” she muttered as she went to answer the door. Eric followed along behind and ventured off into the kitchen with Cleo and Charlie while Sabrina got the door.
Charlie smiled as he came in. “Hey, pretty girl…whatcha doing?” Charlie had on one of Sabrina’s old t-shirts and was finger painting. She wiggled all of her fingers at Eric. “I’m painting a picture for Mama. Do you want me to paint you one, too?”
Eric slid into the chair next to her. “I sure do. I want you to sign your name on it, so everyone who sees it will know that I got a Charlie Blakely original print.”
Charlie smiled and nodded. “Ok, but can you help me with my B’s? I get them backwards!”
Eric folded up his sleeves to try to avoid as much paint as he could. “Mr. Knight, you may want to change shirts. I would sure hate for you to get your pretty dress shirt messed up,” Cleo advised.
Eric just kept rolling up his sleeve. “It’s okay, Cleo; it’s just a shirt.” He then started dabbing his fingers in the paint with Charlie.
The bell chimed again just as Sabrina reached the door. She grabbed the handle then swung it open and looked up into the face she had seen only in her sweetest dreams. “Hey, Darlin.” Devon stood there smiling down at her with his twin dimples.
Sabrina stood in shock for a long moment, feeling her heart pound out of rhythm, then crossed her arms over her chest. “Devon, how… nice to see you again,” she replied stiffly.
Devon’s smile faded from his face at Sabrina’s less than warm reception. But he couldn’t really blame her. “How are you? How is Charlie?” he asked.
“I’m fine and she is fine. Did you forget something?” Sabrina asked. The ice in her voice could freeze the sun.
“Kinda, can I come in?” Sabrina didn’t budge. “I need to know what you want, Devon. I would rather Charlie not see you. She has just recently stopped asking for you, and seeing you again would confuse her.”
Devon wasn’t sure what to say; this wasn’t the reunion he had pictured in his mind at all. “Sabrina, I’m sorry. I know I hurt you…both of you. But, please, I would like a chance to speak with you.”
Sabrina tilted her chin up at him. “Devon, if there is something that you left here, I would be happy to go get it for you, but there isn’t anything that you and I need to discuss. You made yourself perfectly clear when you left.”
Devon tried to reach for her hand but she balled them up and placed them behind her. “Darlin, that’s what I want to talk to you about…I’ve changed.”
Sabrina shook her head. “You lost the right to call me anything but Sabrina when you left, Devon.”
Devon could feel himself losing her forever if she wouldn’t at least give him a chance. “Sabrina, I promise if you would give me five minutes I will explain everything!”
Tears welled up in her eyes and she swatted at his chest. “I would have given you the rest of my LIFE! I would have given you everything I was, but YOU walked out! You were too scared to let me love you!”
Hearing Sabrina’s raised voice, the three in the kitchen all looked at one another; then Eric picked up Charlie and Cleo followed him to the front door. As they approached the door, Eric heard Cleo mutter, “Oh, no, he didn’t!”
He wondered just who she was referring to, but in a few seconds the answer was screamed into his left ear. Charlie looked around the door. “Devon!” she screamed then started squirming to get down.
Eric held her firmly as the blonde giant at the door looked over Sabrina’s head and smiled. “Charlie girl!”
Eric walked up behind Sabrina and took in her upset tearful expression and surmised that this was who had hurt her. He frowned and stepped between them, slightly putting his body between her and the man at the door.
Devon saw the man holding Charlie and they were both covered in paint. Cleo was behind him and shaking her head sadly at him. The only one who looked glad to see him was Charlie, and the man kept a firm hold on her when she clearly wanted to come to him. Sabrina turned her eyes to her daughter who looked overjoyed to see her Devon again.
“Dang it all!” she muttered. She reached and grabbed Charlie, who was trying her best to get to Devon. “Sweetheart, let mama get that paint off of you before you hug Devon, okay?” She looked at Cleo helplessly. “Cleo, I’m going to clean up Charlie. Would you mind making the introductions and seeing if Devon would like anything to eat, please?”
Cleo smiled. “Of course, Sabrina. Mr. Devon, come on in and I’ll get you fixed up. Why don’t you go clean up yourself, and I’ll fix all of us a little something to eat. Mr. Eric, you come with me.” Eric followed Cleo back into the kitchen and he heard her say to herself, “Oh, Lord Jesus, help us all!”
Sabrina walked into her bathroom and started washing the finger paint off of Charlie. Why did he have to come back? Was her heart ever going to get a break? She finally, FINALLY stopped aching for him, and she was sure that in time she could come to care for Eric. He was exactly what she needed and wanted in a man. He was kind and funny and, most importantly, he was a man of God. She knew her heart just needed a little time to get over Devon. Charlie liked Eric a lot, too, and he was spoiling her rotten. But nooo…Devon had to come back and just like that her stupid heart was thumping all over her chest like an unbalanced washing machine!
“Mommy, you’re rubbing too hard!”
Sabrina looked down at Charlie’s arm, which was now bright red from her washing. “Oh, baby, I’m sorry! Here, let me kiss it better for you.”
Charlie smiled. “Mommy, hurry, I want to see Devon before he leaves!”
Sabrina felt her heart go from being mushy to being angry all in a matter of seconds. Even Charlie knew how quickly he could come and go.
“Baby, I am almost done…there, all clean. Go see Devon and I will be in there in a few minutes, okay?” She watched as Charlie tore out of the bathroom like she had rockets strapped to her feet. Then she turned and looked in the mirror. Her face was pale and her eyes looked huge and little glassy. She splashed water on her face once and then twice more. After she patted her face dry, she applied some makeup. She swished a little peach blush across her cheekbones so she wouldn’t look like a frightened ghost. Then she smudged some dark blue liner under her lower lashes and at the outer corners of her eyes. After she applied two coats of mascara and some sheer pink lip gloss, she looked in the mirror again…and sighed. Now she looked like a frightened ghost with makeup on.
Gideon followed Devon into the guest bathroom. What was HE doing back here? He thought he had shooed him away for the last time! He was going to ruin everything! Sabrina had finally started smiling again and in time he was sure she would fall in love with Eric. Gideon had been pleasantly surprise when Eric had showed a few weeks ago. He was everything that he would want for Sabrina. He was so easy to read, and Gideon didn’t detect any deceptions in him at all. He was an open book, unlike Devon, whom Gideon couldn’t get a read on for anything. This was bad! Very, very bad!
Devon washed his hands and face then brushed his hair, which was quite a bit shorter, barely brushing his shoulders now. He then braced his hands on the counter and bowed his head. “Lord, I hope I read your signals right about me coming back here. She sure wasn�
�t too happy to see me, and if I read the look in the other man’s eyes right…I may be too late.” He stayed like that for a minute or two then nodded his head and left the bathroom with a very surprised Gideon standing with his mouth agape.
“I’m going to guess that was the man that broke Sabrina’s heart?” Eric asked Cleo.
She was bustling around throwing a light snack together and alternately praying and chatting with Eric. “Yes, sir, that would be correct. I sure am surprised to see him back here. That’s for certain sure.”
Eric reached for a chip out of the bowl. “So, if I may ask…what’s this guy like?”
Cleo stopped and thought for a second. “Oh, Mr. Devon isn’t a bad sort, not at all, he is just a little…lost… I guess would be the best way to describe him. He is lost and hasn’t found his way back home. But I believe he is looking, and that is the second step.” She finished putting the tuna salad together, throwing in some apples for crunch because Charlie hated onions.
“What is the first step?”
Cleo looked at him confused. “I’m sorry -- the first step to what?”
Eric laughed. “You said that looking was the second step; I just wondered what the first step was.”
Cleo nodded her head in understanding. “Oh, well now, the first step would be realizing you’re lost. You can’t fix a problem until you understand that you have a problem. Devon didn’t have clue he was lost as a goose until he came here and spent some time with Miss Sabrina and her family. You see, Devon is Sherrilyn’s baby brother, and when he showed up at her funeral, they just accepted him as family.” Cleo smiled at him. “Like how they did you. Like they do just about anybody that the good Lord puts in their path.”
