Page 29 of Protected By Duval
She wasn’t about to break down in tears in front of McCrae King.
How weak would she look?
How weak would she feel?
“Noelle, are you-” “Mama!”
* * *
DUVAL
“Mama!”
He knew that she was a mom.
She’d told him as much.
He’d seen that life changing photo of her daughter, sitting on the floor, her father’s blood on her.
It was quite a different child than the one who called out to her mother from the porch.
Holding onto one of the posts, her hair, dark chocolate brown like her mother’s, swished around her chin.
“You’re home!”
Beside him, Noelle lifted a hand to wave. “I’ll be there in a minute,chachetona!”
The little girl giggled. Letting go of the post, she clapped her hands against her cheeks. “My cheeks aren’t chubby, Mama!”
Duval smiled at the interaction.
There was an ease between mother and daughter that spoke of love, bottomless love.
The front door of the house opened wider and an older woman stepped out.
It was easy to see the resemblance between the three.
This was obviously Noelle’s mother.
He turned to greet her and raised his arm in a wave.
Two unforgettable things happened in that moment.
The sun dropped down beneath the lowest branches of the cottonwood as sunset rapidly approached, hitting him square in the chest and Noelle’s daughter began to wail.
Duval was stunned, but Noelle launched into action.
Pushing him back, she rounded the front of her car and ran up to the porch.
She grabbed her daughter up, holding her tight to her chest.
Duval stood there with his heart pounding in his chest as Noelle’s mother opened the door and held it for her daughter.
Noelle disappeared inside, but the child’s wails still filled his ears, making him a little weak in his knees.
Noelle’s mother took her hand away from the door and it slowly swung closed, but didn’t latch. He didn’t hear the click of the door catching in the frame.
He felt his heart pounding in his chest and lifted a hand to cover it, pressing the heel of his hand against his breast bone.
