At that, the neighbors all nodded and offered all kinds of help. Help with rides, help with money, help with anything she needed.
Izzy stared at them in surprise. “I don’t even know who you are,” she murmured.
“But they know your son,” Doreen said quietly. “And that’s a good thing. Isaac has made himself quite a popular young man here.”
Izzy laughed and, smiling, reached out and ruffled his hair. Isaac wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close.
Doreen smiled at the two of them. “You know something? Today’s a pretty good day after all.”
Izzy looked at her, shot her a bright smile, and said, “It is a good day.”
Isaac looked up and asked, “Can I have Thaddeus?”
Doreen laughed and said, “No, you sure can’t, but that doesn’t mean that maybe you can’t have a pet once you get settled somewhere.”
He looked at his mom with pleading eyes.
She shrugged and said, “I don’t know where we’ll end up, but maybe we can get you something.” She looked over at Doreen and whispered, “Thank you.”
Doreen immediately wrapped an arm around her shoulders and whispered, “You’re welcome.” She turned to look back at Mack, who was with Chester and Arnold, all in a heavy discussion. Before Mack walked back to them, he looked at the crowd and addressed them all. “I’ll take Izzy and Isaac to the hospital to get checked over,” he said. “We’ll be back to talk to all of you later on.”
The neighbors all nodded. “But, like Randy said, we just didn’t know.”
Mack nodded. “And I understand that. Unfortunately it’s much easier to not see something, than to see it for what it really is.” He looked at Doreen, smiled, and said, “Well, are you happy now?”
“Absolutely,” she said, beaming at him. “This is the best day ever.”
“Really?” he said. “I’m pretty darn sure your gunman escaped yesterday.”
She glared at him. “You didn’t have to bring that up.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” he said. “I think I did.”
Just then came a shout from the sidewalk.
She looked over to see her attacker, Snoz, standing there, but he wore a black hoodie. “Mack!” she cried out. “Look out!” The gunman raised his weapon, as if to fire, but Chester, who had been standing at the side, watching the goings-on, saw what was happening and pulled out his weapon.
Mack lunged to protect the women and the child.
“Police! Stop or I’ll shoot!” The gunman laughed and shot anyway, and so did Chester. The gunman collapsed to the sidewalk, even as Mack, his arms now wrapped around all three of them, blocking Isaac’s and Izzy’s view of the violence, stood quiet.
Doreen looked up at him. “Are you hit?”
He shook his head. “No,” he said in surprise. “I’m not.” He turned to find the gunman on the ground, and Chester stood there in shock, then faced Mack. “Honestly, I didn’t think I would hit him.”
Mack raced to Snoz, checked him over, looked up at her, and shook his head.
She hated to say that it was a good thing, but it was a darn good thing. She stood in front of Izzy and Isaac to block them from what was going on. “Come on, you two. Let’s get you back into the truck.”
“Who was that man?” Izzy asked.
“Another one of the bad guys,” she said, “but, like I said, Mack is one of the good ones.”
Izzy smiled and said, “I think I believe you.” And, with that, everybody got up into the truck. Mack was now unable to leave because of all the chaos going on.
She looked out from the truck and asked Mack, “Do you trust me to drive this to the hospital?”
He looked at her and snorted. “Hell no.”
She glared at him, then hopped into the driver’s seat and turned it on. “Too bad,” she said. “You’re busy, and I want to get them checked out.” He glared at her, and she said, “Give the hospital a call, would you?”
“I will,” he said, shaking his head. “But if you damage it—”
“Oh, please,” she said. “If I damage it, well too bad.” She shook her head. “I don’t have any money to pay for it.” She gave him a cheeky smirk and slowly backed it up. As she drove, Mugs started to bark and bark and bark. Izzy was laughing, and Isaac was cheerful and screaming goodbye and waving from the window to the crowd standing there. Doreen grinned as she managed to get the huge truck out onto the road and headed to the hospital.
She looked over at Izzy and Isaac. “Like I said, it’s a brand-new day.” And she herself hadn’t felt quite so good in such a very long time.
Epilogue
Saturday Morning …
Three days later Izzy and Isaac, after promises were made to stay in touch, had been dispatched to Vancouver and a family who awaited their joyous reunion. Martin would be in jail for a very long time. He had finally confessed that he couldn’t take his eyes off Izzy, when he was down on the coast for a trip stocking up, and had managed to snatch the girl from her parents and had kept her with him ever since. Nobody had been any the wiser, and, when Isaac had been born, Martin just made up lies about how he’d arrived, and everybody had basically accepted it.
If Izzy hadn’t caught Thaddeus and hadn’t put that message on his leg, she might still have been a captive there. It just didn’t bear thinking about.
As soon as she got dressed and made her way downstairs, Doreen made coffee. Three days had passed since all that. Three days and her shoulder was finally nowhere near as sore. It still hurt to lift her arm above her head, but at least the oozing of blood had stopped, and it wasn’t the gut-wrenching agony that she’d been dealing with. The pain was much lighter now, much softer, more distant. As she sat outside on the deck, she heard a vehicle drive up. Mugs immediately woofed a welcome. She looked down at him and laughed. “It’s Mack, isn’t it?”
Mack, instead of coming through the house, walked around the back, then smiled at seeing her. He had something large in his hand. She looked at it and asked, “What the devil is that?”
He lifted it up, and she saw that it was a table—he’d been carrying it sideways. He plunked it down on the deck beside her, and she cried out, “Where did you get that from?”
“One of the guys at work was getting rid of it,” he said. “I said that you needed it, and he immediately offered it up. I’ve got the chairs in the back of the truck too.” He disappeared and made two trips, carrying two chairs at a time. She just froze. Finally she had a table with four chairs sitting on her deck. She stared in amazed delight.
“It’s just beautiful,” she said. It was glass and acrylic, and it looked lovely. It was also the nicest outdoor set she’d ever had, since living here. She immediately moved to sit down at the table with her coffee and grinned up at him. “Now, if only there was something to eat.”
He sagged into the chair beside her and stared at her. “If only,” he said. But something was strange about his voice.
“I’m really happy you came,” she said, “and thank you so much for the table and chairs.”