Page 102 of Malachi
“That would have required foresight. I don’t know about Kai, but that isnotOllie’s forte. Not by a long short,” Delilah chortled.
“I don’t know. Malachi can be quite the planner when he wants to be. Then again, most of his plans end up completely messed up, and he just ends up going with the flow,” I explained.
“Ah, yes. The stereotypicalI’m a man, so I think I know what to plan for, but in reality I know nothingtype of man. How I know it well!” Delilah was easily the funniest of my new sisters. My ribs were nearly cramping after several bouts of laughter this morning, and she had only been here a short while.
“So, you guys are all packed up and ready to go?” I asked her, eyeing the bag in the entryway.
“Yeah, we packed up last night. Ollie teased me for bringing the bag with me, but unless we are physically in Zion proper, you won’t see me without it,” Delilah swore, her hands on her hips. The woman was full of sass and I was here for every second of it. Each of my new sisters brought something different to the table. It gave me pause, wondering what it was that I brought to the table for each of them.
“You look like you’re a million miles away,” Delilah commented, catching me in the middle of my musings.
“I was just thinking about how different we all are, us wives. Each of you brings something special and important to my life and —”
“Aw, Eden!” Delilah exclaimed. “That’s so sweet.”
“Yes, I can be, but it leaves me wondering what I bring to the table for each of you,” I admitted honestly.
“Are you kidding? You bring so much,” she reassured me, pulling me over to her with a hand on my arm. The side hug was slightly awkward, but sweet and heart-felt.
“Knock, knock!” Ruth’s voice sounded from the door.
“Did you invite her?” I asked Delilah, my eyes widening in pleasant surprise.
“No, I figured you did. Youwerejust talking about it,” she answered. “We’re in here!”
“Well, perhaps I should pray a little harder if my prayers come truethatfast,” I laughed, smiling as Ruth, Naomi, and Talia walked into the dining room. Talia looked a little worse for the wear, panting and out of breath.
“Are you okay, Talia?” I asked, concern furrowing my brows.
“Yeah, it’s just not as easy as it used to be,” she laughed in a short, panted huff of breath.
“What isn’t?” Delilah questioned.
“Walking,” Talia laughed.
“Wait a second. Did you all walk here?” I asked, peering around them through the front door. There were no cars in the driveway, proving they had, indeed, done just that.
“The exercise is good for us,” Ruth shrugged.
“Speak for yourself,” Talia wheezed. We all laughed, though I quickly pulled up a chair for Talia.
“You need to be careful. Too much exertion can’t be good for you or for the baby,” I countered, helping her into the chair.
“No, what’s not good for the little nugget is all the stress we’ve been under,” she sighed heavily.
“Hear, hear,” Naomi grumbled.
“How are you and Gideon doing?” I asked gently. I hadn’t heard much from them, or seen them in the past few days, and my worry about my new family was getting the better of me.
“I don’t even know how to answer that, at this point,” Naomi sighed with exasperation, slumping down into the seat beside Talia. “I’m doing okay, I guess. The fact that this is almost over has me on a hairpin trigger, emotionally. And I’m the more stable of the two of us, Gideon and I.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s been beside himself with worry. If I had a dollar for every time he has tried to pack up and get the hell out of here with me in tow, I would have enough to fly each of us across the continent by now,” she huffed out a humorless laugh.
“I can’t even imagine how he feels after they — well, you know,” Talia whispered.
“After they burned down the Ataraxia? You can say it. I won’t break. But it feels like Gideon might. He’s not been sleeping. He just stalks the house like a paranoid maniac all night long, worried they’ll come back and do something worse.”
