Raising Faith

by Melody Carlson

  “No way, Mr. Greeley. You were my hero!” Then she ran over and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. And to her surprise he hugged her back.

  “I’m just glad you’re okay,” he said as they both stepped back.

  Morgan’s heart was still thudding like a marching band drum. She wasn’t sure if it would ever stop pounding like that. “Thank you for rescuing me,” she told him.

  Mr. Greeley looked down at his feet. “Oh, it wasn’t such a big deal. Just making sure you were safe.”

  “Morgan!” cried a frantic voice that sounded just like Mom.

  “I’m in here,” yelled Morgan, running straight for her Mom, grabbing onto her and holding tight.

  “I was so worried!” cried Mom as she ran her hands over Morgan’s hair then looked down and studied her face. “Are you really okay, Sweetie?”

  “I’m fine, Mom. Everything’s okay now.”

  “Grandma called me on my cell phone and told me what was happening. I was on my way home from work and driving as fast as I could, and then I got here and saw the police cars, and I was just so worried that —”

  “Really, Mom,” Morgan assured her. “I’m okay. Mr. Greeley came over here and saved me.”

  “Thank you so much, Mr. Greeley.” Mom turned to him with tears in her eyes as she grasped his hand between both of hers. “I am so grateful that you were here. Thank you so much!”

  He nodded shyly. “Just doing what needed to be done. That’s all.”

  “But you should’ve seen him, Mom,” said Morgan proudly. “He was just like some hero in a movie.”

  Mr. Greeley just waved his hand and said, “Nah, wasn’t nothin’ like that.”

  “Is that really Emily’s dad in there?” asked Mom.

  “I reckon so,” said Mr. Greeley.

  “It sure is,” said Morgan with conviction. “I heard him talking and everything. He’s a totally wicked man, Mom.”

  “The police said they’ll be wanting to take our statements,” Mr. Greeley told Morgan. “Are you up to talking to them now?”

  “Sure am,” said Morgan, standing straighter.

  Morgan was relieved that Emily’s dad had been removed from the house. Hopefully locked up for a long, long time.

  “I’m Sergeant Moreno,” said a policeman from the hallway. “I’d like to ask you some questions.”

  So the three of them sat on the couch while Sergeant Moreno began to ask Morgan and Mr. Greeley some basic things like their full names, addresses, and phone numbers. Morgan wished he’d hurry up to the important part. She was eager to tell her side of the story. But then he started with Mr. Greeley, asking what had made him come over to the Adams’ house armed with a baseball bat.

  “Well, I knew that Morgan was over here by herself,” began Mr. Greeley. “But then I saw that strange car in the driveway. I knew that Lisa had run with the kids, and that she was in fear for her safety, saying that her ex-husband was dangerous. So I suspected it might be him over here, and I figured I might need a weapon with me. I didn’t have time to call the cops.”

  “My grandma did,” offered Morgan. “I called her when I thought something was up.”

  “That’s right,” said Mom. “My mother called me right after she called the police.” Mom got a worried look. “In fact, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll give her a quick call to let her know all is well. She just had heart surgery.”

  Mr. Greeley answered a few more questions, and then Morgan got to tell the sergeant her side of the story, carefully giving him all the details.

  “You have a good memory,” Sergeant Moreno told Morgan. He turned to her mom. “Is your daughter always this descriptive?”

  Mom smiled. “And you can trust her for giving it to you straight.” She patted Morgan’s hand. “I’m proud to say she is a very honest person.”

  “So, the intruder really said all those things?” the sergeant asked Morgan. “Made all those threats just like you said?”

  Morgan nodded. “Except that I didn’t use the swear words he used. I don’t like to talk like that.”

  “Good for you.”

  “Mr. Adams is a very evil man,” Morgan said finally.

  The sergeant frowned. “Mr. Adams?”

  “You know … Emily’s dad, the guy who broke in here.”

  “Oh …” He jotted something down in his notebook. “His name’s not Adams. It’s Chambers. Ken Chambers.”

  “That’s right,” said Mr. Greeley. “Lisa told me when they first moved here that she had to use a new name to protect herself and her family.”

  “So she and her children go by Adams now?”

  “That’s right,” said Morgan.

  “And where are they now?” asked the sergeant.

  “We don’t know for sure,” said Morgan.

  “Yes, we do,” Mom said. “Or at least we know which way they’re heading. My mother just told me that Emily called our house earlier. It must’ve been while Morgan was over here. It seems that she and her family were in West Port at the time. Emily called from a pay phone at the McDonald’s there.”

  “So Grandma was right, they were going south,” said Morgan.

  “They’re probably still on the road,” Mom told them. “The plan, it seems, was to make it to the California border and spend the night in a motel before they headed on in the morning.”

  “I don’t suppose you know the car’s license number?” asked Sergeant Moreno.

  “I can describe the car,” offered Morgan.

  “You know, I think I’ve got the license number over there in my office,” said Mr. Greeley quickly. “I didn’t even think about that earlier.”

  “That’s great,” said the sergeant. “We can put out an APB, and hopefully get that family back here so that Mrs. Chambers can press charges.”

  “And we have a lawyer all set to help her,” said Morgan.

  “You do?” Mom gave her a surprised look.

  “Yeah, a friend of Chelsea’s dad wants to help her.”

  “You girls didn’t waste any time, did you?” Mom winked at Morgan.

  “We had to work fast,” said Morgan. “Emily’s part of our club. She’s like a sister. We need to keep her here so we can stick together.”

  Sergeant Moreno smiled. “Well, you people are fortunate to live in a neighborhood where folks keep an eye out for each other. This whole thing could’ve turned out so much worse.”

  Morgan and Mom described Emily’s family and the car to him now, right down to the dent in the right front fender.

  “That’s great,” said the sergeant as they were leaving. He paused by the broken-down door. “But what about this?” He said to Mr. Greeley. “Should I send someone over to put a —”

  “It’s under control,” Mr. Greeley told him. “Got a brand new door out in my shop right now. I’ll have it back up even before the Adams — I mean the Chambers — get back here.”

  “Because they are coming back here,” said Morgan. “Right?”

  “Don’t see why not,” said the sergeant as he closed hisnotebook. Then he thanked them and they went their separate ways.

  chapter seven

  The car was quiet now. There was just the sound of the tires hissing down the wet road, the thump-thump of the windshield wipers going back and forth, and the grainy hum of the car’s radio. Kyle had tuned to a popular coastal station, which was slowly fading out as they continued driving south. Emily was about to try talking some sense to Mom again when she suddenly became aware of a different sound. Kind of a whining sound, like a mosquito, but not on a wet rainy night like this. She turned around in the backseat and peered back behind them to see flashing blue lights slowly getting closer.

  “Hey, Mom,” she said quickly. “There’s a cop car behind us. With its lights on.”

  Kyle turned around in the front seat and looked back too. “Yeah, Mom, it looks like they’re chasing someone. You better pull over and let them pass.”

  “I haven’t seen anyone else on the
road,” said Mom as she turned on her signal and slowed down and pulled over.

  Emily continued watching the cop car and its flashing blue lights. She expected it to zip right past them but, like them, it too slowed down and stopped directly behind their car.

  “What?!” said Mom with an alarmed voice.

  “Were you speeding?” asked Kyle.

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “You were driving a little fast,” pointed out Emily.

  “But not enough —”

  “The policeman is coming to the car,” said Kyle.

  “I know,” growled Mom. “You guys better have your seatbelts on.”

  “We do,” said Emily.

  “It’s probably nothing,” said Kyle. “Maybe you have a taillight out.”

  Mom rolled down her window. “Is something wrong?” she asked the policeman who leaned down with a flashlight, pointing it into the interior of the car and shining it all around as if he expected to find something illegal going on.

  “Are you Lisa Chambers?” he asked.

  “Well, I … uh … I am Lisa Adams,” Mom stammered.

  “May I please see your license and registration, ma’am?”

  Mom fumbled to find her purse, searching for her wallet. “I don’t understand,” she was saying. “I wasn’t speeding, was I?”

  The policeman just waited until she finally handed him the items he wanted. Then he stepped away from their car and returned to his own car.

  “He called you Lisa Chambers,” said Kyle in a voice that sounded as scared as Emily was starting to feel.

  “That means he’s talked to Dad,” said Emily. Her stomach got a hard knot in it.

  “Do you think Dad’s with him?” asked Kyle.

  Emily turned around to peer into the police car, but thanks to the bright flashing lights she couldn’t see if anyone else was inside.

  “I don’t know,” said Mom.

  “What are we going to do?” asked Emily, truly frightened now.

  “I don’t know …” Mom turned and looked back. “I could try to make a run for it.”

  “No,” said Kyle. “That would be stupid.”

  Now Mom was starting to cry. “I am stupid,” she said.

  “No,” said Emily in her firmest voice. “You’re not stupid, Mom. Dad always tried to make you think that you were, but you are not stupid.”

  “Yeah, but leaving Boscoe Bay like this wasn’t too smart,” said Kyle.

  “Kyle,” said Emily in a warning voice. “That’s not helping.”

  “He’s coming back,” said Kyle.

  Mom rolled down her window again.

  “Can you please step out of the car, ma’am?”

  “But why?”

  “I just need to talk to you,” he said. “In private.”

  “Oh … okay.” Mom turned and looked helplessly at Emily and Kyle.

  “We’ll be fine,” said Emily.

  Then Mom got out, and she and the policeman went behind the car to speak. Emily wished she could read lips. But it was obvious when he used the name Chambers, that the policeman knew something about their family.

  “I know that’s Dad behind this,” said Kyle in an angry voice. “He’s probably in that cop car right now, just waiting to haul us back to Idaho.”

  A cold chill ran through her. “What will we do?”

  “I’m not going with him.”

  “But what if the law’s on his side, Kyle? What if he forces us to go home with him?”

  “I’m gonna make a run for it, Emily.”

  “No, Kyle, don’t do that. That’s crazy. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.”

  “I’ll just head due west,” said Kyle. “Straight for the beach. I’ll find a place to spend —”

  “No, Kyle! You can’t do that.”

  “I can’t go back with him.”

  “But it’s cold out there, Kyle. And wet. And the police would be looking for you.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “Kyle, please,” she pleaded. “It’d just make things worse if you did that … for you and everyone.”

  “Fine. You win. I’ll stay.” Then he swore.

  “Kyle!”

  “Sorry, Emily, but this just totally stinks. And I’ll tell you what! I might go with Dad now, just cuz the cops are here. But I swear, the first chance I get, I’m gonna run for it. And I won’t ever come back.”

  “Oh, Kyle!” Now Emily was crying again.

  “Sorry, but I can’t go back and live like that, Emily. Maybe it wasn’t as bad for you. Dad always seemed to go a little easier on his Baby Doll.”

  “It was hard on me too, Kyle,” sobbed Emily. “I don’t want to go back either.”

  “Maybe you could run away with me.”

  “But how would we live? We’re just kids, Kyle.”

  “Kids with parents who are totally nuts.”

  “At least one of them. You can’t really blame Mom, Kyle. At least she was trying to get us away from him.”

  “Yeah, I guess she was right after all.”

  “Maybe so.” Emily just shook her head.

  “Dad’s even got the law in Oregon in his back pocket. We don’t have a chance against him.”

  “Yes, we do,” said Emily suddenly.

  “How’s that?”

  That’s when Emily began to pray. Out loud this time. “Dear God,” she prayed out loud, “Please, help us. We don’t want to go back to live with Dad. He’s a mean and wicked man. Please, please, help us out of this mess. I know you’re my heavenly Father and that you love me more than any earthly father ever could. And I need you more than ever right now. We all do. Please, please, help us, dear God. Thank you. Amen.”

  “Like that’s gonna change anything,” said Kyle in a sarcastic tone.

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  They sat silently in the car now. Emily turned around in the seat again, watching as the two figures stood in the drizzling rain, still talking.

  “What can they possibly be saying for all this time?” demanded Emily impatiently.

  “He’s probably telling her that we have to go back with him.” Kyle’s voice was flat now, like he didn’t care anymore, although Emily knew that he did. “The cop probably has some kind of court order from Dad. Maybe he’s got a warrant for Mom’s arrest. Dad probably accused her of kidnapping — that’s a serious crime.”

  “Just like Mom said he would do.” Emily kept watching. Now it seemed like Mom was the one asking the cop questions. And it almost looked like she was getting mad as she shook a fist at him.

  “You better look, Kyle,” she said quickly to her brother.

  He turned around in his seat to watch. “Wow, Mom looks ticked.”

  “I’ll say.” Emily felt even more worried. “I hope she doesn’t smack that cop.”

  “That would not be good.”

  “Hang on, Mom. Don’t do anything stupid,” Emily pleaded.

  Despite Mom venting at the cop, she did not strike him, and he remained calm. Then, after she quit raging, his expression grew almost compassionate, and he actually placed a hand on Mom’s shoulder, nodding and saying something that Emily assumed was supposed to be reassuring.

  “Maybe he’s telling her that their jail cells are clean,” said Kyle in a cynical tone. “Saying that the beds aren’t too uncomfortable, and that prison food is pretty good.”

  “Yeah, sure,” said Emily, joining his pathetic game. “And he’s probably telling her that her children will be perfectly safe in the custody of their father, and that as long as she cooperates, she has nothing to worry about.”

  “I just thought of something.” Kyle’s voice got serious now. “If we thought it was bad being with Dad before, can you imagine how bad it’ll be if she’s locked up and we’re stuck with him without her?”

  Emily could not imagine. And she almost wanted to tell Kyle that she’d changed her mind just now, and that making a run for it might b
e their best bet after all. Sleeping on the beach in the rain might be tough, but not as tough as going back to Dad without Mom.

  Even so, she had a feeling that running away would be a mistake in the end … and that it would backfire and they’d be in more trouble than ever. But she also had a strong feeling that this was the end of their little road trip. And suddenly she wasn’t too sure she was ready for it to be over with now. She watched her mom’s troubled face and felt guilty for the way she’d disagreed with Mom’s escape plan right from the start. And she felt guilty for the way she’d slowed things down with phony bathroom breaks, which probably made it easier for the cops to find them. She also felt guilty for phoning her friends. For all Emily knew, that was how her dad had tracked them down. Emily felt worse than ever now.

  If Mom went to jail, it would be partially due to Emily’s interference. Perhaps Emily deserved getting stuck back with her dad. But her mom did not deserve getting stuck in jail. That was totally unfair!

  chapter eight

  “What a day you’ve had,” said Mom as they walked away from Emily’s house and back toward home.

  “I’ll say,” said Morgan with a happy sigh. The rain had finally stopped and the Christmas lights on various houses in Harbor View made interesting reflections on the dark wet pavement. Morgan thought she’d like to paint something like this. It reminded her of a colorful beaded necklace against a piece of black velvet.

  Mom ran her fingers through Morgan’s curls as they crossed the street. “You still like your new hairdo?”

  Morgan didn’t answer. She didn’t want to make Mom feel bad. She knew it had been expensive to have all her beaded braids removed a few weeks ago. But the truth was she really wished she’d never done it.

  Mom paused on the porch. “You don’t like it, do you?”

  She looked up at Mom’s bronze face, illuminated by the colorful Christmas lights on their house. Morgan kind of shrugged. “It’s okay, I guess.”

  Mom started to smile. “Tell me the truth, Morgan.”

  “Okay, the truth is I did like the beaded braids better. I just didn’t know it. I’m sorry, Mom. I know it was stupid to want to change my hair. I guess I thought it would make me more like my friends … and then, after it was too late, I realized that I’d rather be more like me.”