Dirty Faces- Book 1

Chapter 27: Changed

Chapter 27: Changed

Susan stumbled backward, barely able to stay upright on her trembling legs. She hadn't expected the gun to kick back; she hadn't expected it to go off at all when she knocked the intruder upside the head with the butt of that shotgun. It was all such a blur; she wasn't sure if she'd taken the safety off or not before deciding to use the firearm as a club. Steadying herself, she laid it on the foot of the bed, stepped over the unconscious man in the floor, and rushed to Addie's side.

She untied the bandanna and immediately Addie wailed and sobbed uncontrollably. Susan sat down and wrapped her tightly in her arms, rocking side to side. "Shhh. It's alright, now. Sissy's here. Ain't nobody going to hurt my Addie. Shhh. It's all going to be OK," she soothed as best she could, in between her own sobs. At the back of her mind was always the thought of the Stranger coming to, and she kept the shotgun in arm's reach for when that time came.

As she rocked Addie and stroked her messy hair, she looked down at the figure in the floor. There was nothing uncommon about the way he looked, and he was neither a small man nor was he particularly large. She couldn't place the face at all and was quite sure she'd never seen him before.

Suddenly, Susan heard the back door fly open. Letting go of Addie, she leaped to her feet and grabbed  the gun. She threw it up to her shoulder just as the Priest appeared in the doorway. His hands shot out in front of him defensively. "It's me! It's just me," he said, panting. Susan breathed a sigh of relief and lowered the gun.

"I've heard shots all night, but when I heard one come from over here...I knew it was just you two girls here, so I..." his voice trailed off as he surveyed the room, his eyes coming to rest on Susan's. They didn't exchange any words, but she felt as though he understood everything that had happened in the brief seconds their eyes were locked.

He swallowed hard, then said calmly, "Go tend to your baby. I'll stay with Mary Adele."

It wasn't until that moment that Susan realized Kody was screaming and crying alone upstairs, and had surely been doing so since the gun went off. In the haze that was the past few minutes she'd completely forgotten about him; she was a terrible mother. Though she wasn't comfortable leaving Addie alone with a man at this of all times, intuition told her she would be leaving her in safe hands. She nodded to the Priest, laid the gun back down, and hurried to get upstairs.

Susan flew back to Addie's room and when she got there, thanked the Lord that her baby was fine, aside from being frightened by the loud gunshot. He was beet red and already his cry was growing hoarse. Susan felt like she  couldn't get him in her arms fast enough, and when she did, set right to humming and speaking with the same reassuring tone she'd used with Addie a few minutes earlier.

She didn't dare go back downstairs with a squalling baby for fear it would scare Addie even more, so she sat down on the bed and rocked him. As she hummed the tune to some little jingle David had been singing lately, she counted her baby's fingers and toes, and her lips curved up into a smile when she concluded there were still ten of each. It didn't take long to quiet him, and within a few minutes she was making her way back downstairs.

Susan continued humming the odd little melody as she walked back through the house, more to calm her own mind than to soothe Kody. She was really only beginning to wrap her mind around what had come to pass, and now she wasn't really sure if she was thinking with her head, or her heart, or her gut. The thought of getting the law involved finally crossed her mind, but she doubted it was in her or Addie's best interest. 

The Stranger would get away with everything. A statement from Addie was highly unlikely, and he could easily just say she let him in the house - because she probably did- and that Susan knocked him out cold for no apparent reason. And then he could press charges against Susan. The very thought turned her stomach.