Thanksgiving Night (Angel Paws Holiday) by Taylor Jordan

Author:Taylor, Jordan [Taylor, Jordan]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Short Stuff Press
Published: 2013-09-10T05:00:00+00:00

~ ~ ~

No brass bands or TV crews. No crowds lining the streets or speech from the mayor. Yet Michelle felt that the whole world held its breath with her as she waited, watching the stream of people coming past security toward them. The boys’ hands were clammy in hers, clutching her just as hard as she squeezed them. Her tongue seemed glued to the roof of her mouth and she wished she could shed her winter coat.

Two days before Christmas: a civilian airport for his last leg of the journey. A journey ending not a moment too soon.

And there he was, dusty uniform and bulging kit bag, moving with the fast, purposeful step she knew so well. Always in a hurry—the better to reach home.

He saw them almost as soon as they saw him, brown eyes dancing, mouth wide in a grin. He dropped the bag, arms going around her. She heard the brass bands and cheering crowds as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Time became strange after that: fast and slow, then fast again. One moment, they where in the airport, then in the car, then waiting to get out of the lot and pay, then halfway home.

It was then that, among the other stories, they came back to the story Jacob already knew of the attempted robbery on Thanksgiving night.

“How’s Night doing?” he asked, looking across to Michelle in the driver’s seat.

“Good as new. He just had bad bruising. You wouldn’t think anything had happened.”

She had to ask now, while they were on the subject. She hadn’t brought it up in the rushed and infrequent Skype conversations, but she couldn’t wait another second.

“Jacob, are you sure Night didn’t have protection training before he came to us? He knew about that gun. Even though it didn’t hit him. He knew he had to get rid of it.”

“Instinct,” Jacob said. “He never had any training like that with us. And he was too young to have done it before he came here.”

Michelle shook her head. “I can’t get over what he did, especially without being trained for it.”

“It’s lucky for the robbers he wasn’t trained,” Jacob said, chuckling.

“Why’s that?”

“We work on all kinds of obstacles. If he’d had the training, Night would have jumped onto the counter and followed that man onto the refrigerator.”

Shrieks of laughter burst from the backseats.

Michelle smiled weakly. She was glad the boys could laugh about it. She couldn’t. Not yet. Although, with both men caught and facing convictions for armed robbery, a new security system, new banister, and new locks installed, Night safe and just as loving as ever, and Jacob here beside her, the whole holiday season, indeed, the whole world, seemed brighter today. Yes, there was plenty to laugh about. Plenty of blessings showering her. Not least of which, one big, black dog—waiting for them all by the front door with his tail swinging.

Michelle pulled into the driveway and grinned at Jacob. “One more boy needs to say hi.”

Lucas and Elijah ran to open the door.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.