When Love Finds a Home

When Love Finds a Home

Megan Carter

Chapter One

Rona pulled the tattered
blanket more securely around herself and Karla, the trembling child she held.
The temperature was dropping rapidly. Tiny needles of sleet darted like
sparkling schools of minnows through the glow of the security lights that
illuminated the side of the building. Today was her thirty-sixth birthday. Had
her parents remembered? The child in her arms shivered. All she could do for
her was to hold her closer. The enormous cooling unit that looked like
something out of a science fiction movie not only allowed them a hiding place,
but it also protected them from most of the weather and placed them in a good
position for quick access to the rear entry door.

"How much longer?"
Tammy whispered.

Rona leaned over until her
lips were touching Tammy's ear. They couldn't afford to be caught and chased
away by the fat security guard. "It won't be much longer, but we have to
be quiet. As
soon as I nudge you, grab
Katie and follow me. But for God's sake be quiet when you do."

Tammy nodded and hugged the
child she was holding closer.

Rona looked from Karla, the
young girl in her arms, to her twin sister, Katie. They were only four but had
been living on the streets with Tammy, their mother, for over a year. Rona
didn't know Tammy's entire story, only that there was an abusive husband
hunting her. He had already found her at least once, but she ran away again at
the first opportunity. Tammy had told her she was petrified of losing her kids.
They were her life.

Rona glanced nervously at the
rear door. Something was wrong tonight. There didn't seem to be any activity
within the building. Normally, both the security guard's truck and the van used
by the cleaning people would be parked behind the building. Tonight, the only
vehicle in sight was a light-colored Honda in the side parking lot. She knew
the security guard's routine by heart. He would hang around until the cleaning
people moved down to the first floor. They always started on the top floor of
the four-story complex and worked their way down. When they made it to the
first floor, he would go to the second-floor lounge and sleep until it was time
for him to make his rounds at midnight. Then he would check the door at the
main entrance and the back door before going back to the lounge and sleeping
until five. At that point, he would return to the tiny cubicle where he was
supposed to spend his nights, fill out a few papers and leave at six. Rona
assumed each tenant had a key to open the front door, but a wide-shouldered,
gray-haired man was the first one in each morning. He arrived shortly after the
security guard left and he always left the front door unlocked. As soon as he
disappeared into the elevators, she would walk out the front door and disappear.

Rona had stumbled onto this
little goldmine by accident. She had been searching for a place to sleep for a
few nights, to avoid being picked up in one of the raids that the San Antonio
Police Department were staging in an attempt to clear the homeless out of the
downtown area. While slipping through the back parking lot, the alien-looking
cooling system caught her attention. She had started crawling among the massive
pipes and units, checking out its possibilities as a new home. That's when she
noticed that the cleaning people propped the back door open while they rolled
their carts filled with garbage bags out to the dumpsters. For a few short
minutes, the door was open and unwatched as they emptied the cart. Rona
returned to watch the building each night for two weeks. Every night the
routine was identical. The security guard would hang around until the
four-person cleaning crew came down. He would then get on the elevator and
disappear until midnight.

Then one miserably cold, rainy
night, she got desperate enough to dash into the building while the door was
open. As she raced down the narrow hallway, she caught a glimpse of the tiny
cubicle where the security guard was supposed to be and then the elevators. The
hallway led to a small lobby that housed two waist-high ficus trees, along with
half a dozen chrome and imitation leather chairs. She hid behind one of the
chairs and waited until the cleaning crew left. After letting enough time pass
to ensure the cleaning crew was not returning, she explored the first floor and
found a second hallway that led to an architect's office located across from a
lawyer's office. She tested both doors and found them locked. On tiptoes, she
climbed the stairs and heard the guard snoring long before she spotted him stretched
out on a sofa in the lounge. The lights from the nearby vending machines cast
an eerie glow around him.

Careful not to wake him, she
slipped back into the stairwell before stealthily exploring each of the four
floors. The second and third floors consisted of offices for an insurance
company, an investment firm and a financial planner. At the end of the hallway
were two doors displaying the names of oil companies. It was the fourth floor
that made her smile. A computer software training center took up the entire
fourth floor. The main training center was locked like the offices on the other
floors, but the restrooms in the hallway were not. The women's restroom
contained two chairs
that she could pull
together and use as a makeshift bed. The following morning she was back in the
lobby behind a chair when the security guard came down to fill out his forms
and leave.

At first, she had been
terrified of being caught by workers coming in, but after the wide-shouldered
man arrived and left the door unlocked, she was free to leave with little risk
of being seen.

The office complex became her
ace in die hole. Only on die worst nights, like this one, would she take the
chance. Tonight she was breaking her own golden rule of not bringing someone
with her. Over die last several months, she had developed a soft spot for the
twins, especially little Karla. When die colder than usual February
temperatures started dropping and the city began to hum with the possibility of
snow, she went searching for Tammy.

As the time crept by, she
began to worry. If the cleaning people weren't there to prop open the door, she
wouldn't be able to sneak inside, and tonight was going to be bad. The sleet
was coming down much harder now. The parking lot was beginning to take on a
shiny gleam. She sensed Tammy's nervous glances. Rona had promised the girls a
warm place to sleep tonight and she was beginning to fear it wasn't going to
happen.

Tammy touched her arm and
nodded toward the parking lot where the one lone car waited. Two men were
walking toward it. Even from this distance, Rona recognized them as Harper and
Roach. Two homeless men anyone with any sense avoided like the plague. They
were both trouble.

Rona cursed under her breath.
If they broke into the car, she and Tammy could forget about trying to sneak
into the building tonight.

Katie started to giggle when
Roach slipped and fell on the icy pavement, but Tammy quickly shushed her.

He got up and the two men made
their way to the car, peeking into die windows. As they walked around to the
passenger side of die car, die back door to the office complex opened with a
loud squeal.

Rona's muscles tensed to dash
inside. When she turned, she saw a tall dark-haired woman rather than the
cleaning crew she was expecting. Rona's muscles slowly relaxed as a she watched
the woman carefully make her way toward die car. She was carrying a large
briefcase, and a purse hung from her shoulder. A quick glance back to the
parking lot showed Roach and Harper were nowhere in sight. "Where did they
go?" she whispered in Tammy's ear.

"They're behind the
car."

Rona knew what was about to
happen. "We have to get out of here." She clutched Karla to her and
started to stand.

"What about her?"
Tammy asked and nodded toward the woman gingerly picking her way across the
parking lot.

"She'll learn a lesson
that she won't soon forget," Rona replied without looking at the woman.
She felt bad for her, but there was nothing she could do. Sometimes life handed
you a bum deal. She began to make her way around to the other side of the
gigantic cooling system.

"Rona, wait," Tammy
hissed. "We can't just leave her."

"Are they going to hurt
her?" Karla asked as she twisted her head around, trying to see the woman.

"No. They won't hurt her.
They're just hiding," Rona murmured.

"That one that fell was
Roach," Katie piped in. "He's mean. He tried to hurt Mama."

Rona stopped and looked back
at Tammy, but Tammy wouldn't meet her gaze. A scream echoed from the parking
lot.
Where was the damn security guard?
This is not my problem, she told
herself. They needed to find shelter somewhere else, and she had no idea where
that would be. All the best spots would be taken by now. As she turned to
leave, Katie began to howl that they were hurting the woman.

"We've got to do
something," Tammy said. Rona stopped when she saw the glistening of tears
on her cheeks. Tammy was tough. She never cried.

Rona cursed and set Karla
down. "Damn it. Wait here." She
started
running toward the car. As she left the covered protection of the cooling
system and stepped onto the slippery pavement, her feet almost slipped from
beneath her. Years of ice-skating as a child in Michigan finally paid off. She
used her arms as balance. It looked like she might be too late; the woman was
on the pavement and Harper was struggling to yank the purse off her arm. She
realized she wasn't going to make it across the icy parking lot in time to stop
them. In the hope of buying the woman a little extra time, she began screeching
like a wild woman. Maybe if she made enough noise they would run. Both men
whirled to face her and took a step away from the woman. For a moment, Rona
thought they were going to run, but they stopped and actually took a few steps
toward her.

She was on the verge of
running back to Tammy and the girls when another screaming ruckus kicked up
behind her.
Good old Tammy.
Rona renewed her own shouts. Apparently,
Roach and Harper found the second intruder more than they wanted to deal with
and ran off into the night.

When Rona reached the woman,
she was trying to get up. "Let me help you," Rona said.

The woman screamed and lashed
out when Rona touched her arm.

"Where in the hell is
that security guard," Rona muttered.

Tammy and the girls were
making their way across the lot. Rona decided to wait; seeing the kids might
calm her down.

"Get away from me,"
the woman yelled as she swung her arm.

"Will you stop it,"
Rona snapped. "You damn fool. I'm trying to help you."

The woman peered at her
suspiciously but finally nodded and tried again to stand. This time she allowed
Rona to help her.

"Is she okay?" Tammy
asked.

"I don't know, but we
need to get out of here in case someone called the police." Rona glanced
around nervously.

Ignoring her, Tammy stepped
closer to the woman. "Did you hurt yourself when you fell?" Tammy
asked.

"My head," she
answered as she kept swaying.

Tammy ran her hand over the
woman's head. "There's a nasty bump on the back of her head."

When Rona released the woman's
arm, she almost did another nosedive.

"She needs to get to a
hospital," Tammy said as she helped steady the woman.

"She can call for help.
I'm sure she has a cell phone. We have to get out of here," Rona insisted.

"We can't leave
her," Tammy protested. "She can barely stand. They might come
back."

"Please, don't leave me
here," the stranger whispered.

Tammy leaned over and picked
up a ring of car keys from the ground that Rona hadn't noticed. "Help me
get her into the car," Tammy said.

"No. I'm not going to get
any more involved than I already am," Rona insisted. "Don't you
understand that we have to find a warm place to sleep tonight and her stupidity
just cost us the perfect spot." Rona caught Karla's disappointed glance
just before the child stepped forward and braced her tiny body against the
stranger's legs, as if she could help hold up her upright. Katie immediately
rushed to her aid.

"We'll help you,
Mama," Karla said.

Rona swallowed the curse that
threatened to erupt as she watched the girls temporarily overcome their fear of
strangers in order to assist their mom. "Christ in a handbasket," she
grumbled as she grabbed the woman's arm. "Open the door first," she
said as she gently moved the kids out of the way.

It took some doing, but she
and Tammy eventually got the woman buckled safely into the front passenger
seat.

"You and the kids get in
the car," Rona said as she went back to pick up the woman's purse and
briefcase and toss them into the car.

"No. I need to find a
place," Tammy said as she continued to stand on the opposite side of the
car.

"The hell you do,"
Rona snapped. "You got me into this mess and you're going with me every
step of the way."