Michelle and Sean exchanged a quick glance. “Yeah, he did,” he said. “But I believe your dad’s right. You probably shouldn’t think about it too much.”
Tuck eyed Gabriel. It was obvious that the man was not entirely comfortable with anyone associated with Sam Quarry being in his home and around Willa, even an innocent little boy. “So he’s staying with you guys. How’s that working?” His tone clearly implied that it would not work at all.
“It’s working just great ,” said Michelle firmly. “We’ve enrolled him in school up here for the new year. He graded into algebra even though he’s only going into seventh grade, and his foreign language skills are off the chart,” she said proudly.
“Spanish and Native American,” added Sean.
“Well that’s great,” Tuck said insincerely.
“It is great,” Willa said, eying Gabriel. “You must be really smart.”
Gabriel shrugged. “I’m okay. Got a lot to learn, and everything up here is…”
“Different?” said Willa. “I can help with stuff like that.”
Tuck gave a hollow laugh. “Wait a minute, honey, you’ll be plenty busy yourself. I’m sure Mr. King here can take care of the boy.”
Michelle looked at Willa. “But thank you for asking, Willa. That was very sweet.” Now she looked directly at her dad. “And who knows, you two might become really great friends.”
Later, Tuck drew Sean and Michelle aside while Willa showed Gabriel her room. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you did. The things that Willa told me happened. God. It’s a miracle she survived. That any of you did.”
“You probably don’t want to hear this, but it was Sam Quarry who went back in that mine and really saved Willa. If he hadn’t done that, she wouldn’t be here.”
Tuck’s face reddened. “Yeah, well, if the asshole hadn’t done any of this, Willa would never have been in that mine and Pam would still be here too.”
“You’re right. Have you talked to your sister much?”
Tuck scowled. “Not too much. Dan wanted to take Willa on a little tour with him on the campaign. But—”
“But you thought it seemed a little too exploitative?” said Michelle.
“Something like that, yeah.”
“The kids really need you now, Tuck. So you might want to let your partner David Hilal run the show for a while.” He paused. “Just stay away from his wife.”
Before a surprised Tuck could say anything, Sean put a hand on the man’s shoulder and added, “And if you go anywhere near Cassandra Mallory, I’ll cut it right out of your pants, you son of a bitch.”
Tuck chuckled briefly before realizing that Sean was deadly serious.
As they were walking to their car later, Willa rushed outside and ran up to them. She handed them three envelopes.
“What’s this for?” asked Michelle.
“Thank-you letters, for all you did for me.”
“Honey, you didn’t have to do that.”
“My mom said you always write thank-you letters, and besides, I wanted to.”
Gabriel held on to his envelope like it was the most precious thing he’d ever been given. “That was really nice, Willa. Thank you.”
She looked up at them, her eyes so large they seemed to envelop her entire face. “I hate Mr. Sam for what he did to my mom.”
Gabriel immediately looked down and stepped back.
Michelle said, “I know, sweetie. I don’t think he meant for her to get hurt, but it was still his fault.”
“But right before he let me go he told me that if you ever love you have to be prepared to hate too. I guess he meant if someone hurts somebody you love you’re going to hate them. It’s just natural.”