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Rawley sipped his coffee then put down his cup He leveled old blue eyes at her "Here’s the deal, missy I kno important it is to you to be independent--you wasted no ti me What I’d like most of all is for you to find your way You had a trial or two getting this far, you have a kidit’s high ti part of soood than you That old house is paid off If you want to help with food, you go on ahead"

"That’s not very much help," she said

"You should prolly help with electric while you’re at it--you burn lights reading half the night or watching that TV or chargin’ up that laptop"

She laughed at hi any issues with a three-year-old taking over your house?"

He thought for a moment He sucked a little on his teeth Then he said, "If I’d a had a norrandchildren Maybe a little one like this here ants tokick outta her You about ready to go hoet ready for tomorrow My first day"

He wiped his hands on a towel and reached in his pocket He pulled out soot a seat for Mercy You should have a ride so you can get back and forth--onna have to take care of your own gas, and it eats a bunch"

She was stunned silent for a et around?"

"I told you--I have an old truck I’ly, but fine"

"Then if I use anything, it should be the old one!" Devon said

"Nah, that won’t work I need that truck When et quiet, I work on that truck out back I use Ben’s old tools--he left ’e with the truck It’s thetoward him "This is tooand coht I can stay busy till work starts or till you finish And quiet--I can stay quiet We won’t et in the way"

He pushed the keys at her "It’s a stick Can you drive a stick?"

"Rawley"

"Mercy needs her sleep and I get up at five And she needs a ht She needs cartoons or soet a little et used to this place, maybe you’ll find just what you need For now? It’s a ride"

"Oh, Rawley"

"That truck’s a hundred years old It’ll work another few I’ about this now"

Devon was a little hard on Rawley’s trans up the hill on her way to Elmore She didn’t dare look in the rearview e But once she got going, once she was on the highway, she not only did fine, she found it exhilarating She felt so free, driving herself and Mercy, headed to a safe and secure place

Once she got back to Rawley’s, after giving Mercy so her with thirty minutes of cartoons before her afternoon rest, Devon was back on the coon driver’s licenses and laws concerning custody to see if Dr Grant was right She also looked at the Washington State records of birth and her college transcripts Although she had a Washington driver’s license soon, that license wouldn’t work for long To get her driver’s license in this state she’d have to take a test and provide documentation And she was thrilled to find that all she had to do was apply to receive a copy of her birth certificate, which she could do online, if she could get a credit card

Then she read about custody and found Dr Grant had it right Certainly as an ER doc he would have run into domestic situations from time to time, so he’d learned all about this

Devon ca by taking her child out of a coal business He would never seek legal help to get Mercy back--not only did Jacob believe he knew everything, he didn’t trust courts or law enforcerowing operation Devon had no idea who he sold it to or how the business was handled There were new faces around the commune from tiularity And, of course, one of these days Jacob would be caught and he would go to prison

What she noith blinding clarity was that his "cult" was a front for his drug operation It was a perfect distraction to have a God-loving, hippy-dippy, granola-natural, free-spirited commune that only appeared to live off the land and to do soherself, had been targeted and recruited very carefully by Jacob himself Devon shuddered at the reality of it all

The next day Devon went to work and Mercy went to Dr Grant’s house to play with his children, Jenny and Will, watched over by Gabriella, the sweetest and most beautiful nineteen-year-old Latina she’d ever met Gabriella had known Dr Grant and his faee tuition--organizing their schedules to accommodate his work and her class schedule

Devon quickly learned the routine in the doctor’s office, which could be boring at times, since it was so slow She scheduled a few appoint system; updated his computer files and even swept, ht her lunch from home but she took her coffee breaks across the street at the diner where she could count on seeing soh the diner and in no time she’d become a familiar fixture Sometimes, when it was just Gina McCain and herself in the diner, orparts of her story

She shouldn’t have been surprised when those women both chimed in with their own stories of bad relationships withrelationships that were not meant to be

Spencer often found a reason to stop by the new clinic She shouldn’t have been surprised as she kneas very curious about her But he claimed he was just interested in how the doctor could help out with physicals for the h school athletes Devon prepared a flier for Spencer complete with a price list Scott was pleased with her initiative and Spencer took soh school He stopped by a couple more times to pick up more fliers "You haven’t been back to the beach lately," he said "And the weather’s been perfect"