The Villa

some. I can handle it. Once we're through them, we go up a slope, and that should do it. Get my phone, Mama, just in case. And everybody hold on."
    She didn't look at the speedometer. Her eyes were glued to the road now, her mind anticipating each turn. She'd driven the road countless times. The headlights cut through the dark, slashed across oncoming traffic. She heard the angry sound of horns blaring as she crossed the center line.
    "Nearly there, nearly there." She whipped the wheel left, then right. It slicked in her hands as her palms sprang with damp.
    She could see, could feel the ground begin to level. Just a little more, she thought. A little bit more. "Into first, Mama. Shove it into first."
    There was a horrible noise, a tremendous shudder. Sophia felt as if an enormous fist punched into the hood of the car. Something shrieked, then clanged. And as the speed dropped, she pulled to the side of the road.
    No one spoke when they stopped. A car whizzed by, then another.
    "Is everyone all right?" Pilar reached for the latch of her seat belt and discovered her fingers were numb. "Is everyone okay?"
    "Yeah." Maddy dashed tears from her cheeks. "Okay. I think we should get out now."
    "I think that's a good idea. Sophie, baby?"
    "Yeah. Let's get the hell out."
    She managed to get out, to get to the far side of the car before her legs buckled. Bracing her hands on the hood, she fought to get her breath back, and only managed to wheeze.
    "That was really good driving," Maddy told her.
    "Yeah, thanks."
    "Here, baby. Here." Pilar turned her, held her when the shakes came. And, holding her, reached out for Maddy. "Here, baby," she said again. Maddy pressed herself into that circle of comfort and let the tears come.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
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    Nearly blind with terror and relief, David bolted out of the house. Even as the police car braked, he scooped Maddy out, held her cradled in his arms as he would a baby.
    "You're okay." He pressed his lips to her cheeks, her hair. Breathed her in, as the shakes he'd held off since the call took over. "You're okay." He said it a half dozen times as she curled into him.
    "I'm all right. I'm not hurt or anything." But when she wrapped her arms around his neck, her world came all the way right again. "Sophie drove like one of those guys you and Theo like to watch on the raceway. It was kinda cool."
    "Kinda cool. Yeah." Rocking now, calming himself, he kept his face buried in the curve of her throat while Theo awkwardly patted her back.
    "Bet it was some ride." Theo manfully swallowed the prickly lump in his throat. There was a jittering inside his chest that came as much from seeing his father break apart as from anxiety over Maddy. "I'll haul her in, Dad. You're going to wreck your arm."
    Unable to speak, David just shook his head and held on.
    His baby, was all he could think. His little girl might have been lost.
    "It's okay, Dad," Maddy told him. "Everybody's okay now. I can walk. We got the shakes after, but we got over it. But Theo can haul in all the loot." She rubbed her cheek against her father's. "We kicked shopping butt, right, Pilar?"
    "Right. I could use a hand, Theo."
    "Theo and I'll get it." She wiggled until David set her down.
    "What'd you do to your hair?" David ran his hand over the sassy crop of it, left his hand resting warm on the back of her neck.
    "Got rid of most of it. What do you think?"
    "I think it makes you look grown up. You're growing up on me. Damn, Maddy, I wish you wouldn't." He sighed, pressed his lips to the top of her head. "Just another minute, okay?"
    "Sure."
    "I love you so much. I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't scare me like that again anytime soon."
    "I don't plan on it. Wait till you see the dress I got. It goes with the hair."
    "Great. Go ahead, drag off your loot."
    "You'll stay, won't you?" Maddy asked Pilar.
    "Yes, if you want."
    "I think you should stay." Since Theo had grabbed the bags, she clomped off after him in her funky new shoes.
    "Oh, David, I'm so sorry."
    "Don't say anything. Just let me look at you." He cupped her face, skimmed his hands back into her hair. Her skin was chilled, her eyes huge and full of worry. But she was here, she was whole. "Just let me look."
    "I'm fine."
    He drew her close, seemed to fold himself around her and rock. "Sophia?"
    "She's fine." The taut wire that had held her straight and steady snapped as she burrowed into him. "God, David, God. Our babies. I've never been so scared, and