Haven Whitmore's Arc

Chapter 8 of 13

By morning the lantern story had spread, but Haven knew the women would not stay quiet long. She had one day to fix the loose boards, the broken gate, the empty pantry shelves before the next move came. She rolled up her sleeves on the porch and started counting what she still had time to do. She was lifting a crate when a small car stopped at the gate. A red-haired man stepped out, then a red-haired woman, then two red-haired children with green eyes. Haven knew the faces before they spoke. She had been staring at them on her kitchen table for two days. "That photo," the woman said softly, holding out a hand. "It was ours. Someone took it from our old house before we lost it." The little girl clutched a blonde pigtailed doll. The boy held the leash of a silver dachshund puppy that sniffed at Haven's boots. "We were told it was buried here. We came to ask for it back." Haven brought them inside. Her father set out water. She placed the framed photo on the table and pushed it across. The woman touched the glass and cried without sound. "We thought someone buried it to threaten you," Haven said. The man shook his head. "They buried it to scare us into staying away. We owed the same people you did." Haven looked at the long table, the empty chairs, the work still waiting outside. She heard a child laughing in the yard and saw Charlie out the window throwing a tennis ball for a white terrier, while a golden puppy bounced after them. Her sanctuary was already full of people the debt collectors wanted to scare. She made a choice. "Stay," she said. "All of you. Tonight. We'll figure the rest tomorrow." The family stayed. The photo went up on the kitchen wall where anyone walking in could see it, no longer hidden, no longer a weapon. Haven did not finish her repair list. The gate was still broken when the sun went down. But the buried thing was answered, and the people who buried it had just lost their leverage twice in two days. Haven knew the next strike would come harder. She locked the door anyway and sat down at her long table, surrounded.