Three Converts

Part 32

The house Eliana and Jerry sent us to was small, brown. The tidy lawn and neat compactness of the home didn't mask its humble roots. It was a mansion compared to the hut in which I grew up.

A man answered the door. He seemed friendly, but cautious. "May I help you?" He looked past us as he spoke as if there was an army hiding down the road, ready to storm the house at our signal.

"Are you Eliana and Jerry's... um, relative?" It was unclear how old this man was. Was it an older brother? Father? He bore no resemblance to either Eliana or Jerry as far as I could see. He stepped onto the porch. I moved down a step.

"Yes. Are they okay? How do you know El?"

"We don't really. We ran into them in the mountains. Eliana was in labor? She had her baby!" Griffin put a smile on the last word, as if it just occurred to him he was delivering happy news.

The man closed the door to the house, Griffin and I moved back even more. "Shhhhh shut up!" he hissed at us. "Come on!" Roughly, he moved us down the path.

"Hey! Easy does it!" Griffin shrugged his arm away from the man's grip. "Look. They said to tell you, so we're telling you. They were seven miles up the mountain. They still planned to go to Mayrood." He turned to leave. I was already on the sidewalk. This guy was scaring me.

"And you just left them up there?" 

Well, that made me angry. "Listen," I scrounged up some courage and took a couple steps at him, finger pointed like a weapon. "Listen, she was in rough shape. We helped deliver that little girl, made sure they were okay, gave them everything we had, then came to find you. So maybe quit whining at us and try a 'Thank you!'" I thought I heard a chuckle from Griffin, but I kept my eyes locked on the man in front of me. He crumpled.

"A little girl?" He wiped away tears. "They had a girl?"

"Yes." I paused a very long time, then added, "She's perfect." His tears really did start coming then, but he was laughing too. Griffin and I exchanged a look.

"Well, I guess we'll be going then." Griff said slowly. We were both starting to wonder about this guy's mental health.

"No, wait. Please. Thank you. Thank you so much. I'm sorry for my behavior." He shook his head and I did appreciate his shame. He looked nervously back at the house. "I was scared." We nodded, really just wanting to leave more than hear his apology. "Listen, Eliana's my little sister. My parents don't approve of Jerry. They don't know about the baby. It's..." he sighed, "family drama."

"Hey, you don't have to explain anything to us," Griffin assured him. "And we're just passing through. We won't say anything."

The man looked relieved. "I want to thank you for your help though. My wife will be here any minute. How can we repay you? We live here with my parents. Just for now. They're not bad people, just... strict when it comes to El. Oh, here she is! Babe!" I watched the last bit of his gruff demeanor drop, and his face morph into adoration. He raised his arm and waved as though flagging down somebody in a huge crowd. I turned to see a woman walking up the sidewalk. Unlike her husband, she defaulted to a smile, even though she must have been very confused.

She had bright blonde hair, cut chin-length and was wearing shorts with a bright pink tank top and heels that looked uncomfortably high. She always did love fashion.

"Misty?" I whispered. Her smile couldn't bearthe weight of the shock and it fell from her face.