Salvaged (22 page)

Attie looked like she was about to vomit. "Did she now?"

"They should have done the duet early in the service so you
could get it over with instead of having to suffer through," I said.

"Tell me about it." She started fanning herself. "I should have
brought a brown paper bag to breathe in."

"Put your head between your knees," I suggested.

She did, and she stayed in that position for the rest of our drive
to church.

Under normal circumstances I would have said that church service was great and the sermon powerful, but I quite honestly have no
idea what happened the majority of the time because I busied myself
praying for Attie not to pass out before, during, or after the song.

"Is the sanctuary always this crowded?" she whispered in my ear.

"Yes, always." I tried to assure her, but I was lying. It looked
much more crowded than normal.

Anne, Tammy, Jen, Tess, and Chase were sitting directly in front
of us, and they had no idea what was about to take place. I would
have warned them, but I didn't wanna make Attie more nervous.

"Well, we have a very special treat for everyone here today," the
pastor announced. "What a perfect day too because we seem to have
a packed house. It's never this full!"

I felt Attie stare me down, but I pretended I didn't hear him
comment on the size of the crowd.

"Richard?"The pastor turned to the choir and addressed Gramps.
"Would you join me down here, please?"

Attie grabbed my arm and squeezed-very tightly. Her nails
were digging into my skin, and I bit my bottom lip to keep from
screaming out in pain.

I took in a slow deep breath and blew it out in an effort to get
her to do the same. She didn't; she just looked panicked.

"Breathe," I mumbled.

"I am!" she spat back under her breath. "If I don't die of a heart
attack up there, would you please remind me to kill my Gramps
when this is over?"

The pastor explained to the audience the significance of the day.

I pried her fingers from my arm. "I may kill him for you."

I heard Gramps call Attie to the stage, and at least he called
her Attie instead of Atticus. In front of all these people, calling her
Atticus really would have ticked her off.

The gang on the row in front of us turned around and looked at
Attie in complete shock. She shook her head slowly as she got up.

"Sorry for what you're about to witness," she whispered to them
as she left the pew and stepped out into the aisle.

The congregation clapped for her as she made her way to
the stage.

"Isn't she lovely?" Gramps gushed proudly as she joined him.

My skin felt as if it was gonna break out into hives, and I couldn't
stop myself from running my fingers through my hair.

"Can you tell she can't wait to do this?" Pastor Rick teased.

The audience laughed. Attie rolled her eyes and took his
microphone.

"I'm never going to forgive you for this. You know that, don't
you?" she teased her Gramps.

"I'm very aware, darlin', I'm very aware." He laughed and the
congregation joined. "But you're makin' me one proud grandpa."

"Aws" were heard all throughout the audience as he gave her a
kiss on the cheek.

"I'm a big Sandi Patty fan," he explained. "And when Attie was
a little girl, we used to listen to the same Sandi Patty cassette every
time we got in the car."

Attie interrupted him. "And for those of you that don't know,
a cassette is something that they used to play music on back in the
olden days before we had CDs."

The crowd laughed, and she gave a big grin.

"Yes, thank you for clarifying, Attie," he teased.

"Anytime."

Gramps continued, "Our favorite, or my favorite song on the
album, is a duet that Sandy did with Lionel Harris. The song's called
`More Than Wonderful.' Attie and I would sing that song together
over and over again when we drove around in my car." He smiled
at the memory. "One day after listening to Sandi Patty all day and
singin' to the Lord, Attie turned to me and said, `cramps, don't you
think that if I'm gonna sing songs like this to the Lord he should be
in my heart so he can hear `em better?"'

The crowd sighed and cooed while listening to the story, and a
big smile spread across Attie's face.

Gramps continued, "I pulled over right there on the side of the
road and prayed with her as she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord
and Savior." The audience cheered and Gramps beamed again. "It
was one of the most wonderful moments in my life," he said softly.

Tears filled Gramps's eyes, and looking around I realized that
most everybody in the room was getting weepy-including me.

"So thank you for indulgin' an old man and lettin' him relive a
wonderful memory," Gramps added.

Attie gave her grandfather a quick kiss on the cheek. "Well,
when you put it that way, how can I say no?"

The audience clapped again. They, like me, had fallen in love
with the witty little blonde standing on stage.

As the music started and the choir hummed behind her, Attie
got startled and giggled. She hadn't expected such a large production, but she grabbed Gramps's hand, looked into his eyes, and began
to sing.

To me, her voice sounded as if an angel were singing, but afraid
that I might be biased, I looked at our friends sitting in front of me
to check their reaction. Their jaws were dropped. They were also
blown away by Attie's voice.

Their voices were amazing separately, but when they sang
together it was as if God created them to sing together. The words
were powerful enough on their own, but coming out of their mouths,
you could feel that everyone in the room believed that they were witnessing an amazing moment. People stood all over the auditorium
with their eyes closed and their hands held high in worship, and by
the time they reached the end of the song, people were clapping and
shouting praises to their Lord.

Trumpets brought the song to an end, and the room erupted
in cheers as Attie and her Gramps smiled at each other and took a
small bow. Then, as Gramps stood back and pointed to Attie, presenting her to the audience, the congregation erupted with louder
applause and cheering.

Attie shook her head in embarrassment and gave a weak smile.

"Oh my!" I heard Pastor Rick's voice over the noise. He joined
them on stage, and as the clapping continued, Attie looked more
and more uncomfortable. Finally, the cheers died down, and the
audience sat so that Pastor Rick could speak.

"Mike," Pastor Rick said, looking over at the worship leader,
"why isn't this girl in the choir?"

Mike shrugged his shoulders. "I'll get right on that," he said into
his mic.

I was so proud that my heart was about to explode, and I wasn't
sure whether to laugh or cry, so I did both.

"I think we need to hear that more often," Pastor Rick suggested
before turning to Attie. "Are you available next week?"

The auditorium erupted again as Attie simply shrugged and
looked down at her feet. She hated compliments.

Pastor Rick kept a hold of her hand and grabbed Gramps as
well. "Can we all bow our heads and pray?"

I couldn't bow my head because I couldn't stop looking at Attie.
I was amazed, blown away, and even crazier about her.

Midway through the prayer, I noticed her look up with a small
smile on her face and glance around the room, but the smile left her
face and she looked frightened. Her eyes locked in place, and I followed her gaze. She'd spotted Mitchell King, and it registered in her
mind whom he was.

I nudged my dad and he looked over at me. "Attie spotted
Mitchell," I whispered.

Dad's head jerked in her direction, and his face turned pale.
"You get ready to go grab her as soon as Pastor finishes," he whispered back.

Her eyes, large and full of fear, left him and frantically searched
the auditorium until they met mine.

I gave her a small smile and nodded. "It's all right," I mouthed.

Attie slowly nodded and didn't take her eyes off of mine until
Pastor Rick finished his prayer and dismissed everyone.

Within seconds I made my way down the aisle and whisked
Attie away behind the stage. She contained herself until we were
alone, but eventually her body trembled, and she started to cry.

"I saw him! I saw him!" she whispered loudly.

"I know, Charlie, I know. It's all right." I rubbed her back in an
effort to comfort her, but it wasn't working. She was inconsolable.

Dad came running into the room with Joshua, Nicole, and Pastor Rick. Joshua knelt down next to her.

"Attie," Joshua spoke to her. "Attie, can you hear me?"

She nodded.

"What happened? Can you talk to me and tell me what happened?" he asked.

Attie slowly lifted her head and looked at him.

"I saw him."

"Saw who?" he asked.

"I've seen that face every night for almost a year; I'd know it
anywhere." She shook her head as if she were trying to force his
picture out of her mind. "I wasn't ready. I didn't expect to see him.
Why didn't someone tell me he went to church here?" She turned
and looked at me. "Riley, why didn't you tell me?"

"Who was it, Attie?" Joshua asked.

She slowly turned and looked into Joshua's face.

"I saw the man that killed my mother."

Joshua joined us in the family room. "She's all right. I think that
she'll be fine."

"Can I go up now?" I asked. "Can I check on her?"

I hadn't even seen Attie since church. Joshua and Nicole brought
her home in their car and took her straight upstairs.

"Not right now, Riley. I want to talk to you two. I think I might
want to try something tonight."

My heart started racing. "Look, we're not gonna make her
sleep alone after today, are we? She'll have a really bad one tonight,
I know it."

"No, Riley, I won't do that to her," Joshua answered. He turned
to my dad. "Mr. Bennett, if it's all right with you, I'd like to take
Riley home with me tonight and then have Nicole sleep over here. I
want to get her perspective on what's going on."

"No way, I'm not doing it." I hadn't spent a night away from Attie
since she arrived, and I wasn't planning on changing the routine.

"Riley," Dad scolded. "This is about Attiline, not you. If this is
what we need to do to help her find out what's going on, then that's
what we're gonna do."

"It's just for a night, Riley. You can come back first thing in
the morning," Joshua informed. "I thought we'd make it a little less
frightening for Attie and let her have a friend or two over if that's
okay with you, Mr. Bennett?"

"Whatever you think; we can make it a sleepover or whatever
it is they call them. A big shindig. We can celebrate her singing
debut," Dad suggested.

I started to speak, but Joshua cut me off. "We can stay until it's
time for them to go to bed, and then we'll head to my house. What,
you don't want a boys' night out?"

"Not really," I mumbled.

"You're getting too attached," Dad said.

"I'm not too attached, Dad. I'm concerned."

"Mr. Bennett-" Joshua began.

"Tom," Dad corrected.

"Tom, I wouldn't worry about Riley and Attie being too attached
right now. I think he's helping her."

I appreciated Joshua's input, and Dad looked relieved. "All right,
if you say so."

Nicole and Attie made their way down the stairs, and I ran to
her and gave her a hug. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Riley, really."

She looked exhausted. Not so much physically, but mentally. A
year of sleepless nights was draining her, and the constant turmoil
had taken a toll on her body.

"Hey, Attiline, we have a great idea," Dad announced.

"You do?" Her voice sounded tired.

"Yeah, in order to celebrate your wonderful singing today,
why don't you have some friends spend the night? We can have
a little party!"