Page 15 of Sheltering You

“Over her?” Derrick sounded genuinely surprised. “A grown woman?”

“Of course.”

“But she’s an adult.”

Jasmine threw her hands up. “She is a woman. She has no power. She only has choices if a man lets her.” The problem wasn’t Jasmine’s accent at all. How could Derrick not see?

“Okay. Okay.” He lowered his gaze and rubbed his forehead. “Sorry. It’s a cultural thing, of course. It’s hard for me to comprehend. It’s…bizarre.” He met Jasmine’s eyes. “I’m not trying to be thickheaded. I just come by it naturally.”

“I see that.”

His lips quirked, but the smile never materialized. “Truly, Jasmine. This is very foreign to me. Can you understand that?”

She took a breath. “I think, yes.”

“And what is it you’re asking me to do?”

“Go with me to help her and her brother escape.”

He shook his head. “Way too dangerous. What if somebody sees you? What if⁠—?”

“She is my friend. I should let her suffer because I am afraid?”

He started to say something, stopped himself. “She’s not your responsibility.”

“She is, of course. She is…she is like a sister. You would do this for your brother, yes?”

“Obviously, but she’s not your sister. And how do you know she’s telling you the truth? What do you know about this brother of hers?”

“My friend would not lie. And I have met Dari. I know him.” She stood and paced across the living room, asking God to help her explain. The fire flickered, the Christmas tree lights twinkled, such a contrast to her dark thoughts.

She peered out the windows at the bottom of the hillside. It was winter, but a few boats bobbed on the water, lit by colorful holiday lights that matched those in the small, secluded town of Shadow Cove.

In this place, everything was bright and cheerful and happy. How could Derrick possibly understand a man like Dari?

Her focus shifted, and she caught sight of Derrick in the reflection, watching her. She turned to face him. “Have you ever met somebody who exuded the Spirit of God? Somebody who loved the Lord so much that you could feel Him on them?”

“I’m a good judge of character, if that’s what you mean. Why, do you get feelings like that about people?”

“Yes.” She moved to stand with her back to the fire, enjoying the warmth after the chill that seeped through the windows. “Usually within a few minutes, I can tell if somebody is being honest or duplicitous. It is the reason that, when your brother showed up to rescue us from Iraq, I trusted him immediately. It is the reason I do not fear you and your family.” At least, she usually didn’t fear them, when she was thinking straight. “You are all very…clean.”

His eyebrows hiked. “Uh…clean?”

“I do not know how to explain.” She flipped her hands toward the family in the other room. “It is a feeling. It is just that there is a clarity, nothing muddled or twisted or ugly, you see? This house, and your brother’s house, they feel clean. Like that.”

“Okaaay.”

“What is a place you love, a place you feel close to God? A church?”

“Oh. I see what you’re saying.” Derrick seemed to consider that. When he met her gaze again, he said, “In the cockpit, in the air with the clouds below me, nothing but sky all around. I realize how small I am, how big God is. Is that what you mean?”

“Yes, okay. It is a clean feeling, yes? Clear and fresh.”

“I wouldn’t have described it that way, but I guess.”

“Now, think of a place where you were in the presence of sin.”

“So like…a singles bar? Where people are drinking and hitting on women?”