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He laughed "You’re offering to do o of the hamper so Haven could pull it to the laundry roo in the doorway "Look, Twinkle Toes, I don’t knoho you are"

She chimed in "I’m Haven"

"Haven The point is I ives oing on with this"--he waved his hands all around the here, it’s only right for et you a sandwich, don’t feel like you have to , but he rong It wasn’t just a sandwich It was more than that to her

"And I appreciate the offer to help with my laundry Thanks, Haven"

He walked away as she whispered, "No, thank you"

Dinner was ready again at a quarter to seven, and Haven kept it warm as she folded Dominic’s clothes The front door opened while she was in the laundry rooreet Dr DeMarco

Was she supposed to? She wasn’t sure

"Smells terrific in here," he said

"Thank you, sir The food’s ready"

"Great Carmine should be home from football practice in a few minutes"

Her pulse quickened at the mention of Carmine She hadn’t seen him since their aard encounter in the library, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to see hi the food in the center for the Do upstairs Sheopen, Carood?"

She s Do herself away to hide

The next evening, Dr DeMarco arrived ho to ht off"

She closed the pantry door "Okay"

"It’s Friday, so the boys will be at the football gaone this weekend on business"

Confusion set in He was leaving? "Are you sure you don’t want o?"

"Positive" He reached out, and she flinched, but it didn’t discourage hi her shoulder "Co"

She followed him into the family room, where he picked up a cordless telephone "I had a phone installed in case you need anything when I’oes directly to ency, speed dial number two is Dominic"

"Is Carmine number three?" The words flew froh sense to restrain them

"Yes, but any trouble you encounter won’t be as bad as the trouble that follows , call the first two"

"Okay" She stared at the phone "How do I do that?"

Sighing, Dr DeMarco gave some quick instructions on how to place a call A flurry of thoughts hit her as she listened, but Dr DeMarco cut theht ideas like calling 911"

Her brow furrowed "Who’s 911?"

He stared at her as if he thought sheyou want to do, child"

Dr DeMarco left, and those words ran through Haven’s mind as she wandered the empty house She ended up in the fa in front of the white telephone again

Picking it up, she turned it on like Dr DeMarco had shown her She hit the 9 button before pressing the nuain She stood there, her heart pounding rapidly, before pressing the button to turn off the phone

She did it threethe phone into its cradle and leaving the roohtened to press the last nu when Haven ended up in the library She ca a pencil before eagerly running to her roo on the paper With no pictures, Haven was desperately afraid she would forget what her mama looked like, afraid hercae of seven, her first ave her paper and crayons It was the first ti, and it turned out to be the last, but Haven cherished the gift until the last shred of crayon disappeared

As she grew older, she’d sneak supplies from the ranch house, but afterward destroyed all evidence so no one would find out She usually folded the sketches and stuck theot

Haven lost track of ti of her ht when the sound of music captured her attention It was earlier than the other nights Curious, she set the drawing aside and crept to the door to peek out