The words rushed out, and I realized I’d taken so long to answer his nervousness had turned to embarrassment.
“Roman,” I said, stopping him. “You want me to meet your family? Really?”
I couldn’t stop the hopeful sound in my voice, and his face softened. “Yeah”—he reached for my hand, threading our fingers together—“but if you aren’t ready, that’s okay too. I don’t want to rush you.”
“If you’re sure, then I would love to meet them.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, and if you say they won’t tell anyone, I believe you. And besides, it would be fun to go somewhere with you without having to hide what you are to me.”
Chapter 18
Roman
“So what would you do? On a date, I mean, if you didn’t have to hide.”
“Nothing special on a date, just ordinary life stuff, you know, go to dinner, go dancing, go to a concert in the park. I love community theater, so maybe go to a play or something like that. But what I would really like to do is go on vacation without worrying about being seen.”
“Like what kind of vacation? Are we talking a trip to Paris or a trip to Disney World?”
He smiled that beautiful, genuine smile. The one that lit up his face and melted my insides. Damn, if I didn’t already know I was done for—how happy it made me to see him smile—that would’ve made it clear. “I’ve never really given much thought to an amusement park before, but that might be fun. Paris, on the other hand, doesn’t interest me much. What I’d really like to do is take the sailboat down the coast, from here to Florida.”
“Where we could go to Disney World,” I pointed out.
“Where we could go to Disney World,” he agreed. “But mostly, I was thinking we could pull into any ports that were interesting along the way. Just take a leisurely trip on the water.”
“That really sounds nice. We should do that when this all over before you start looking for a job.”
“I think I’m going to have plenty to worry about when that happens. I have to find a place to live because as nice as Ash was to offer, the two of us in a studio apartment is not a good idea. I know cause we shared a dorm room.”
I bit my tongue to keep from suggesting he not find a place—that he move in with me, but that was crazy. It was too soon to be thinking along those lines, and if I suggested it, he would think I was insane. So instead, I said, “Well, once you get situated, we should do it. It would be fun.” For a second, I thought I saw a flash of disappointment, like maybe he said that as an opening for me to say he shouldn’t look for a place, but it was gone quickly enough that I decided I’d imagined it.
“So what do you want to do for the rest of the day?” I asked, but before he had a chance to answer, my phone rang. I checked the caller ID and then answered it.
“Hello, Fredrick.”
“Hey, Roman. You two need to come up to the house. We got another letter.”
“So where did you find this one?” I asked, poking the envelope with a pencil.
“Someone found this one this morning, hanging on the door to campaign headquarters.”
“We’d notified them to call here with anything unusual, and that’s what they did.”
“Did they open it?”
“They said they didn’t, and it looks like it’s still sealed, so I’m saying no.”
I glanced over at Trey where he sat nervously. I knew everyone in the room assumed it was because he was afraid of the stalker, but I knew he was holding his breath, waiting for the moment one of those letters spilled his secrets. I took out a pair of latex gloves and slipped them on, then picked up the bag. It was just like the bag from the last one. I pulled out the letter and set it on the desk in front of me and opened it up.
Even the angels were not spared when they sinned. Instead, they were cast into the lake of fire. Do you think you deserve better than the angels? No. I will pour out my fury on evildoers, and unquenchable fire will consume those who anger me.
I am the Vengeance of the Lord.
I held the note over where Trey could read it. “I am the vengeance of the Lord?” he said. “What on earth?”