The Fall and Rise of Kade Hart: A Hart Brothers Novel (8 page)

We order our food and talk about various
things. I’ve noticed something about her, though. She’s extremely
reticent about discussing anything about her past, even the little
things. I won’t push her, because I know how uncomfortable that
makes someone feel, but it does add to her mystery and make me all
the more curious about her. There is something’s she’s hiding and I
hope someday she’ll open up to me.

“Lunch was delicious. Thank you so much for
inviting me. This was a nice surprise.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it. I can drop you off
at the shelter if you’d like.”

“Oh, I don’t want to bother you. And
besides, it’s so nice, I think I’ll enjoy the walk.”

~~~~~

Two weeks later, Emmalia is set to meet me at
my place for her lesson. She’s had several music sessions on
Saturdays with the girls and she is quickly picking up reading
sheet music. If I can get her to play a song or two, it will show
her she’s moving in the right direction.

I’m running late because one of the
residents in Living Free had a setback and had to return to rehab.
The weather has also turned nasty and the blizzard they predicted
is hitting us hard. I hope Emmalia hasn’t been waiting long. I can
barely see to drive, so it takes me longer than usual to get
home.

When I finally arrive, I spy a huddled form
on my front porch.

“Christ,” I yell over the howling wind from
the truck as I get out. “How long have you been here?”

“About twenty minutes,” she calls back to
me.

I slam the truck door shut and sprint to the
house. “Shit. And you walked too, didn’t you?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Jesus, I’m sorry. I would’ve called but I
knew it wouldn’t do you any good. You really need to get a cell
phone. The roads are barely passable already.”

“I know. It was awful walking here.”

I unlock the door and we move into the warm
foyer. She’s shivering.

“Where’s Ethel?”

“Here.” She unbuttons her coat and a furry
head pops out.

“Give her to me and I’ll walk her.”

“No need. I walked her on the way so she
should be good. But she’ll need her dinner soon.”

I noticed she’s shaking like a leaf.

“Let me put on a fire.” In no time, I have a
good one started and she stands in front of it trying to warm
up.

“Emmalia, can I get you a coffee or hot
cocoa?”

“Hot cocoa would be great.”

“Have you eaten?”

“No, but I don’t want to be a bother.”

“You’re not a bother and I have to eat
anyway. I was going to grill a burger, but I don’t want to in this
weather. I’ll cook it inside instead. Does that sound okay to
you?”

“Yeah, that sounds perfect.”

She still has her coat on, but it’s damp
from the snow.

“Let me take your coat and I’ll hang it over
the chair so it can dry.”

“No, I’m too cold and my sweater isn’t heavy
enough.”

“I can lend you a sweatshirt.”

“Oh. Okay.”

I run up to my room and grab a hoodie for
her. When she puts it on we both laugh. It looks like a dress.

“Sorry. I don’t have anything smaller.
You’re a tiny thing, you know.”

“Yeah, but this is nice and cozy. Thank you.
I need to call Sister Helena.”

She heads over to the phone in the kitchen
and makes the call. I head there as well, in order to get dinner
started. I can’t help but over hear her conversation. It seems as
though Sister Helena wants Emmalia to come home immediately. It’s
not safe for her to do so and Emmalia is very agitated. I gently
remove the phone from her hand and speak to Sister Helena.

“Sister, this is Kade Hart. Emmalia can’t
possibly come home. The streets are not drivable. I barely made it
home in my truck and it would be highly dangerous for Emmalia to
walk back to the convent in this blizzard. She’s safe here tonight
and I can see that she gets home in the morning.”

“Mr. Hart, it is most improper that she stay
the night with you.”

“What are you implying, Sister?”

She sputters before answering. “You know
perfectly well what I’m implying.”

“I can assure you there is nothing to worry
about. What you can worry about though, is if I send Emmalia out in
this weather, there will be consequences. Should I call Father
Anthony regarding this issue, because I know what he would say
about this?”

“No. She stays, but is to be brought home at
first light.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I am not a ma’am. I am a nun.”

“Yes, sister.”

She hangs up on me and I’m left staring at
the phone. I hear Emmalia say, “I’m sorry you had to deal with her.
She can be difficult at times.

“I’m not sure what crawled up her ass, but
it wasn’t very friendly.”

Emmalia laughs and says, “She’s like that a
lot. I don’t think she’s very happy, to be honest.”

“I’m incredulous that she wanted you to walk
home in this weather. You could die out there.”

“I hardly think…”

“I do think. It’s dangerous. I drove home in
a white out. We are in the midst of a blizzard. You’ll be lucky to
get home tomorrow.”

She runs to the front window and looks
outside. “Oh, dear. This is a bad one, isn’t it?”

“You haven’t listened to the news?”

“No. I never listen to the news.”

“Yeah, so they’re saying this one is the
storm of the century. The airport is closed and all flights have
been cancelled for tomorrow. Airlines are scrambling because of the
holidays next week. It’s going to be a mess.”

She looks at me for a second before
answering. “I guess I had my head in the sand.” She doesn’t
elaborate.

“I don’t suppose the nuns have any holiday
plans?” I haven’t a clue what made me ask that.

“Some of them will visit their families
after all the masses are over. You know we have an early mass on
Christmas Eve, and then the big midnight Mass celebration. On
Christmas Day we have two morning services, too. When we finish
with all of that, most of them will go visit their families for a
few days. Sister Helena will hold down the fort, as you can
imagine.” She laughs a little. “What about you?”

“I’m off to see my brothers for a short
visit. We wanted to do something different this year. Last
Christmas was … well, my mother was killed during dinner at my
brother Kestrel’s house. It was a damn mess. There was a drive-by
shooting. My two sisters-in-law were shot, too. Kestrel wasn’t
married yet, but they got married in the spring. His wife is
pregnant now and can’t travel because her due date is the third of
January. So we’re going to his place in Charleston.”

“Good lord! That’s so awful about your
mother! You’ve had so much tragedy in your family.”

I’m sure I look pretty bereft, because
that’s precisely how I feel—like I’ve lost about everything
meaningful in my life. And I don’t know why it hits me like this,
all of a sudden.

She walks up to me and wraps her arms around
me. “I’m so sorry. A blow like that is the worst kind to bear.” Her
arms offer comfort, something I haven’t had in the longest time. I
soak it in, not wanting her to let me go. But she does, looking at
me with the saddest of expressions.

I laugh. Not a jovial one. “You know the
saying about if there weren’t bad luck, you wouldn’t have any at
all? That pretty much applies to my family.”

Her head drops and she knots her fingers.
When she raises her gaze, I notice her eyes have taken on a bruised
look and are filled with agony and ruin. Shadows flit across her
features momentarily, and then they are gone, replaced by the look
she usually wears. It’s a mask, I’ve now discovered. She’s hiding
behind a veil and it doesn’t have a thing to do with her being a
nun. There’s something else—a deep-rooted loss. She understands
what I feel. It’s so potent I can almost taste the sting of her
suffering.

“Tell me, Emmalia. Maybe I can help.”

Her head jerks up as our gazes lock. Then
her lids squeeze shut, as though she wants to block me out. Maybe
I’ve pushed her too hard. So I say, “I know you don’t want to talk
about it. So if you ever do, I want you to know you can trust me. I
promise I’ll do all I can to help you. And I’ll never breathe a
word to anyone.”

Dark brown eyes bore into mine, assessing,
judging, weighing my words, and then she gives me a slight nod. Her
hesitancy tells me I’m going to have to do a lot more than tell
her. I’m going to have to win her trust somehow. I don’t know how,
but I’ll come up with something.

“So, how about that burger?”

“Only if you let me help.”

I agree and we team up in the kitchen to
produce our dinner of hamburgers, oven fries, and salad. She helps
clean up and when we’re finished, she offers to take Ethel out.

“I’ll do it. You finally got warm from
walking here.”

“I wonder how much snow we have.”

“Let’s check.”

We walk to the back and look out the French
doors. The back yard is lit up and the covered terrace is free of
snow. I have an outside fireplace there, but right off the stone
terrace, the snow is piling high.

“That snow is taller than Ethel. She won’t
be able to go there,” Emmalia says.

“It’s okay. The eaves overhang the house a
good bit so there should be a place for her to go under there.” I
throw on a coat and put Ethel’s leash on and out the door we go.
Emmalia watches us from inside. It doesn’t take Ethel long to do
her business. She must not like the inclement weather.

Emmalia laughs when we get back inside. “She
sure was in a hurry.”

“I’ll say so. But it was good for me that I
didn’t have to stand out in that wind too long. It’s blowing like
crazy out there.”

I find an old towel so we can dry Ethel off,
but she’s really not very wet at all since I took her in a dry
spot. When we’re done, she crawls in her crate and curls up in a
tiny ball.

“She’s the cutest little fluff ball I’ve
ever seen. I’m so thankful you’re doing this, Kade. I couldn’t bear
it if they put her to sleep. It’s bad enough we can’t find homes
for all the animals that come in, but this one is extra special to
me.”

“Yeah, I have to admit, she’s grown on me.
How big do you think she’ll get?”

“They say about fifteen pounds.”

“Hmm. Good size for a pocket fluff ball,
huh?”

She laughs. “You should let her sleep with
you when she’s house trained.”

“Oh no! Not gonna happen. She has her bed
and I’ll have mine.”

“Well, if she were mine, she’d be my bed
partner every night. I bet she loves to cuddle.”

“I’d rather cuddle with something else.”

I laugh at my comment, but when I glance at
Emmalia, spots of crimson stain her cheeks. I didn’t think about
what I said and now I’ve embarrassed the poor girl.

“Emmalia, I apologize. That was thoughtless
of me. Forgive me.”

“No, it’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. That was quite tasteless of
me.”

She clears her throat and asks, “So, are we
going to have a singing lesson tonight?”

“Oh, right! I nearly forgot.”

After I put her through the usual steps and
we practice, I tell her I see an improvement. She claps her hands
in excitement.

Then she stops and eyes me suspiciously.
“You’re not just saying that, are you?”

“No.”

“That’s one thing Sister Helena will be
happy about. She doesn’t find much use for me, so maybe if I can
sing, she will see me in a different light.”

“Why doesn’t she find much use for you?”

“I don’t have what you’d call ‘good nun
skills’.”

I can’t help but laugh. “And can you
describe what good nun skills are?”

“You know, teaching, singing, art, religion,
those kinds of things. I can’t even cook properly, and I apparently
don’t do a very good job of cleaning either.”

“It sounds like Sister Helena only wants to
find the negative in you and not the positive. What about your
gardening skills?”

“Oh, that. I don’t really garden. The
sisters have me clear out the old garden at the end of each season.
You know, dig out the old dead stuff.”

I scratch my head. “They give you the dirty
work.”

She laughs. “Kade, isn’t all gardening dirty
work?”

“True, but you are delegated the shit
stuff.”

“But I kill everything that’s green. I’m no
good at growing stuff. It’s better this way.”

“You seem pretty good in the kitchen.”

She laughs again. “That’s because we were
only cooking for two and I am a good cleaner upper. Cooking for a
crowd is another story. That’s an epic fail.”

“But you can follow a recipe.”

“I’ve tried that. It really isn’t Sister
Helena’s fault. I’m just a loser for the most part.”

“Emmalia, don’t say that. What about your
computer skills?”

“There is that, but totally useless in the
convent. We don’t even have a computer. They have them at the
school and Father Anthony has one, but his secretary handles
everything. However, I use my skills at the Animal Shelter. And
then I volunteer at the Children’s Home and I put them to good use
there. So they’re not completely wasted. But I have to be careful
that I don’t let my volunteering get in the way of Sister Helena’s
requirements.”

“I think I’m frustrated for you. And what’s
this bit about no cell phone?”

“I don’t have the money for one.”

“Don’t you earn any money at all?”

“Yes, a little bit, but it goes back to the
convent for my room and board.”

I notice how she fidgets so I press on.

“I can help if you’re short on money. At
least it would give me peace of mind.”

“No! I won’t take your money. And please
don’t worry. I’m fine.”

It’s so odd that she’s this resistant to a
damn phone. It’s not like I’m asking her to put a tracking device
on. Then an idea, bright as a light bulb, pops up in my head.