Chapter 6

Nikita helped her off with the helmet. They were both soaked to the bone, but the coffee in Latisha's arms was miraculously intact.

"What's wrong with these people?" Nikita grumbled, taking the bags from her. "A company this big and they don't even have their own coffee machine?"

She offered Latisha a weak smile. "You wait here, sweetie. I'll be right back."

Latisha nodded and stood under the small awning by the entrance. The rain fell harder, a cold, late-autumn downpour that signaled the coming of winter. She stared out at the curtain of water, her mind drifting.

The day Darby had brought her to the Lambert family, it had been raining just like this. She had hidden timidly behind his legs as a nine-year-old Clifford looked her up and down.

He had asked who she was.

Darby had joked, "I found you a wife. Do you want her?"