Part 8 (1/2)

Marcus thought it was realrad thatStevie got to be home-schooled. Your folksare really neat, Marcus said.Only they weren't really his folks, and if anyoneever found out, they'd take him away.

Whenever he thought about that, his heart felt like it was going to poundright through his chest and he couldn't breathe. He would never tell.

Never, never, never.

The stupid lady who asked him piles of questions in a little room in the jailkept asking him hard stuff, like where he was born and did he havegrandparents. He knew he messed up on his answers, but he'd been so scaredhe'd gotten all the things Moira had told him to say scrambled up in his head.

The lady got a funny look on her face, and then she took him to his housewhere another lady fussed over him. Stuff got all messed up after that. Allkinds of people came to the house, asking where he went to school and what wasthe name of his doctor and did he ever go to church.

No one was going to make him say nothing he didn't want to.Stevie Wilsonwasn't no dumb dweeb. He knew how to hang tough. No one was gonna make him donothing he didn't want to. Following the rules was for suckers, Lance said.Guys like you and me, kid, we're cool, he said.

A strange, scary feeling started in the back of his head, and his heartstarted pounding real bad. What if he never saw Moira and Lance again? What ifthe big blond guy reallywas.h.i.+s father?

Trudy, the lady at the house where they stuck him, said this guy Grady was acop.Stevie had seen his gun at the airport when they'd gone to a special roomto get permission to get on the plane.

Steviehad seen guys like him in the movies. Like Clint Eastwood in”DirtyHarry”which was his favorite cop show or maybe Mel Gibson in those movies,only Mel was a lot shorter and maybe not even as tough. The look aroundtheeyes was the same, though. Like he could look right through you and know stuffyou were trying to hide.

Steviewas pretty sure he didn't like Grady much. He had big hands,Stevieknew. He'd felt the calluses when the guy was was.h.i.+ng his back. Had he reallymeant to kill him when he shoved him under the water?

His stomach pinched hard, and he scrambled to his knees. Holding tight to thepillow, he scooted backward until he was smashed against the curvy railings.

He didn't want to get beaten.

He didn't want to die.

He wanted to go home.

He wanted to be in his own bed with his own stuff. He didn't want to be in a strange place with people he didn't know. No matter what they said, he knew better than to trust them.

He wasn't exactly sure why, but he knew that guy, Grady, had something to dowith Moira and Lance being in jail.Stevie had seen how everyone looked at him,like he was some important dude.

He said dumb stuff, too. Like how he lovedStevie and all.

OnlyStevie knew better. He'd seen a lot of cop shows on the tube. Grady justwantedStevie to say bad stuff about Moira and Lance so he could keep them injail.

And that stuff about being his son, well, that madeStevie really nervous. But... maybe Grady and the pretty lady with green eyes and a soft voice onlythought he was their son. Maybe, if he threw them an att.i.tude, they wouldn'twant him and they'd take him back to California.

He knew all about att.i.tude. Talking back and using bad words. Moira hadthreatened to throw him off Sunset Cliffs if he didn't stop mouthing off.

Yeah, that was it. Att.i.tude. n.o.body wanted a smart-a.s.s.

Stevieclosed his eyes and hugged the pillow tighter. Thetears that had shamedhim earlier started all over again, and he clamped his mouth shut real hard tokeep from makingthose dumb s...o...b..ry noises.

He saw the light slice across the floor a split secondbefore he saw Gradystanding in the doorway. He wa.s.stripped down to his jeans, and his bare chestseemed almost as wide as the door.Stevie froze, his stomach making like aroller coaster.

Lance worked out a lot, and he had big muscles. But Grady's were bigger, andhe walked like the tigersStevie loved to watch in the San Diego Zoo.Kindaproud, like. And sort of dangerous.

”Thought you might want a gla.s.s of water or maybe some milk before turningin,” Grady said as he came forward. ”Me, I'd rather coffee but you have a fewyears to go for that.”

”I have coffee all the time in California,”Stevie blurted out. It wasn'tquite a lie. Moira sometimes let him finish hers.

”Yeah?” Grady sat down on the bed, making the mattress sag a lot.

”All the time,”Stevie repeated, hugging the pillow a little tighter.

”Guess that makes you tougher than me, because I threw up the first time Ifilched some of my dad's java.”

”I never-”Stevie stopped just in time to keep from making a dumb fool ofhimself. Even so, he felt his face getting hot as fire. ”It was your fault Igot sick. You made me come here!”

He held his breath, waiting for Grady to raise that big hand. Instead, Gradyjust tugged a little on the sheet, straightening it.

”You ever been fis.h.i.+ng, son?”

Stevieblinked. What kind of a scam was the guy pulling, anyway?

”My dad-your grandpa-gave me my first pole when I was about your age.Ihatedjust sitting there, staring atthe water, doing nothing, which is just aboutthe hardest thing in the world for me. Thought I should be able to just tossin my line and come up with a big fat catfish. But it didn't work that way...Took meone solid year of trying before I caught anything bigger than aminnow.”Gradylaughed then, crinkling up his eyes.Stevie felt a little dizzy,like the world had just tilted.

”I threatened to quit a dozen times. Broke my pole clean in two once, andthen had to do ch.o.r.es for a month soIcould buy another one.”

Steviewaited, but Grady just looked at him, his mouth curved a little. ”Sodid you ever catch anything?” he asked when he couldn't stand it any longer.

”Yep. A whole stringer of big suckers.” His grin flashed, stirring upStevie'shead again. ”Your dad holds the Hardin family record for the biggest catfishpulled out of Lake Freeman.”

”I've never seen a catfish,”Stevie admitted, intrigued in spite of himself.”Does it really look like a cat?”

”Yep. The face part, anyway. Has this big old whiskers. I'll show you one ofthese days.”

Steviefelt a rush of panic and pulled back. ”I hate fis.h.i.+ng. Fis.h.i.+ng's forlosers.”

Grady did raise his hand then, but only to put it onStevie's knee. ”One morething I learned from my dad besides how to bait a hook,” he said in a voicethat was real soft and maybe a little rough. ”It's called patience, son. Lotsand lots of patience.”

He squeezedStevie's knee, then stood. BeforeStevie could move, Grady reacheddown and roughed up his hair a little. The dizzy feeling flared again,andStevie blinked.

”Good night, son,” Grady said, his voice even rougher. ”I love you, and I'mglad you're home. One of these days I think you will be, too.”

Steviesat for a long time staring at the crack in the door. And then finally,he closed his eyes. The last thing he remembered was the feeling of Grady'sbig hand on his knee. Strange as it seemed, it made him feel ... safe.

Chapter 6.

Itwasn't quite six, but it was already light. Afraid thatshe'd only dreamedthe miracle of Jimmy's return,Ria had leaped out of bed as soon as she'dopened her eyes.

Jimmy was still asleep, sprawled on his tummy at a rebellious angle. He hadkicked off the covers, and his pajamas were twisted around his skinny body asthough he'd spent the night wrestling with the covers. Though her eyes feltgritty from lack of sleep and the tears she'd shed, she suspected they weres.h.i.+ning like bright stars. And inside, she felt little bubbles of happinessbursting in her chest. She loved him so much it was sometimes a physical achein the vicinity of her heart. Her precious miracle.

She smiled as she caught sight of his bare feet. They seemed huge, comparedto the rest of his body. Like a puppy's outsize paws. According to Sarah,Grady had been wearing size thirteen since the age of eleven, which was one ofthe reasons he'd been so clumsy and uncoordinated as a teenager.