A voice, as melodic as angels on High spoke, making Raphael look up into the rearview mirror. He blinked several times to make sure he wasn’t seeing or hearing things. The lips were moving and the sound was coming from Willow. The other mother, wasn’t a mother at all, but a teenage girl with reddish hair.
“I have a great number of questions, but I assume now is not the time,” she said.
“No, it is not,” he replied, “but we have the entire day and an eight-hour drive ahead of us. I’m taking you to my home in South Carolina until the dust settles and we can get you situated in your own home, get the girls in school and so forth.”
“Forgive me for biting the hand which has to feed me, but it is the so forth which concerns me, that and my daughter calling you Daddy,” she said, buckling the seat belt.
“Mommy, Dusty Rose needs to call him Daddy too, and you have to pretend he is your husband and that we are a family,” Karli interjected, holding onto the unicorn.
“Karli, no they do not,” Raphael corrected.
“People are going to see us in your house and start asking questions,” Karli said. “It’s easier to pretend we are your family. I’m your daughter with Willow and Dusty is you daughter from a previous marriage.”
Raphael looked in the rear-view mirror at Willow whose deep brown cheeks were glowing in embarrassment. He couldn’t help himself and teased at the lady a bit to break the tension.
“I tell you, Willow, I’m deeply shocked at the things you’ve been teaching our daughter. Is there anything else I need to know?”
It was then that Willow smiled at him, nearly making Raphael lose control of the vehicle. He swore he heard singing when she smiled, but when he looked in the rearview mirror again, he wasn’t mistaken. Karli was humming an aria that sounded as if it were straight from a Disney movie.
“Oh, good grief,” Raphael said, chuckling at the ridiculousness of it all.
“Yes, our Karli is a handful and smart as a whip,” Willow commented, looking away from the mirror. Her hands went to her hair, which she knew was a fright. She patted Dusty Rose who sat in the seat staring at the man driving. In her heart, Dusty Rose prayed he wasn’t a bad man.
Willow said the same prayer.
Karli must have read their minds and spoke up. “He is a good man. I looked into his eyes and saw his heart. He has taken care of me and rescued me from Theodore and no harm has come to me. I saw an opportunity for us to get free. We are free of that place and those terrible people.”
Dusty Rose spoke softly, “But what is he going to charge us for this freedom?”
Karli snapped at her, “Don’t be that way. He lets me call him Daddy and has been very good to me. He even gave me the cute nickname of Pooh Bear! I think we can be a family if we’re good to him and show him how wonderful it can be to come home every day to us. Don’t ruin this for us, Dusty.”
Willow knew that having a family with a home and her own bedroom was a dream of the child’s, but as a mother, she didn’t know if they had been taken from the chicken coop to lay more eggs or to be fricasseed for dinner.
“Karli, we can’t assume this man wants us in his life. He has been gracious to help us and we will be in his debt. We will care for his home and see to him until the time comes for us to depart his care. It is not fair for us to ask anything more of this gentleman,” Willow said.
“Raphael Hoyt,” he found himself saying. For the damnedest reason, he wanted to hear the lady say his name.
“We are in your debt, Raphael Hoyt, and will endeavor to not be a burden on you during our stay,” Willow replied.
He growled a response, seeing the exit he wanted and pulled into the Cozy Corner Café in Oneida. “I’m hungry and need some food.”
Raphael located a parking space and eased his truck into a spot away from the door. “Let’s get some food.”
“Dusty and I have had our breakfast,” Willow said.
“Well, come keep me and Karli company, order a coffee, get a biscuit, shit I don’t care,” Raphael said, throwing the gearshift into park and cutting the engine. He stepped out of the truck, ready to assess the damage from the back-country ride through the woods and immediately got angered by a deep scratch that would need to be buffed out. Willow eased out of the truck and the white dress she wore covered absolutely nothing and was sheer to her skin. He could see everything the good Lord had blessed the woman with and he held up his hand for Dusty to remain inside the truck. He all but lifted Willow into his arms and shoved her back inside as well.
“This will never fricking do,” he said, going around the back of the truck. He pulled out the case which held an extra set of his clothing. Two button-down dress shirts, neatly folded were removed and thrown over the seat. “Put these on over those flimsy night gowns. Button them up as well. Good grief. We’d be arrested for indecent exposure if you walked around like that. Shit, you’re going to need some other clothes and fast. What in the entire path of Satan is this shit? What have I gotten myself into? I could just leave them here and call the cops. I could be free. On my way home.”
He paced back and forth at the back of the truck until Willow walked around it, wearing his shirt.
“These scratches can be buffed out with a bit of toothpaste and a damp rag. I’m willing to help take care of your truck when we get to your house,” she said softly, staring directly into his eyes. “This is a lot. I know it is. This is a lot for me, but you saved Karli and you have rescued us. All of this will be just fine. I shall take care of you just as you shall take care of us until it is time for us to part ways.”
“Huh?” Raphael said, unable to find anything else to say as the angelic-voiced woman talked. In his head, he scolded himself as he and his newly acquired family made their way into the diner. Karli took the inside seat on the bench and Willow mimicked his action, pushing Dusty Rose to the inside seat as well.
For good measure, she patted her hair again, knowing she looked like a bad character from a 70’s Blaxploitation flick. It had been years since she had a cup of coffee but a hot tea was more to her liking. The waitress brought over menus as Willow sat assessing the man her daughter called Daddy and their rescuer.
Raphael Hoyt had an aristocratic bearing which spoke volumes on the type of man Willow saw him to be. After six years living in a compound with men who turned nouns into action verbs, she looked forward to long discussions after dinner on books, possibly movies, and all of the wonders of the world she’d been denied for so long. More than anything she looked forward to teaching the ways of the world to her daughters, not by birth, but by love and her heart. For whatever reason, this man was sent to them, it was her responsibility to be in charge of his care. It didn’t hurt her feelings in the least that he had a whole set of clean teeth and a full head of thick black hair, and her daughter had fallen in love with him in less than 48 hours.
Willow watched Karli lean into Raphael, and without thinking, he placed his arm around her, holding her close in a protective way. He valued the child’s opinion when he spoke to her and the young girl responded in kind.
“How about a waffle with some sugar free syrup?” Raphael asked.
“That sounds good,” she said, “and maybe some cheesy eggs too, if we can afford it.”