A piercing cry came from the playroom. Preacher was on his feet at the same...

A piercing cry came from the playroom. Preacher was on his feet at the same moment Chris came flying into the kitchen, holding his forearm with his other hand. He ran to his mother, with a look of pain and fear, his mouth open in a wail, tears on his face. Paige instantly drew him in, asking, "What's wrong? What's wrong?" Preacher leaned over, pulled Chris's hand away, saw the perfect outline of a juvenile mouth and, with an expression of sheer horror and disbelief, leveled his gaze at Bud. "Someone bit him!" "Aw, kids. They'll work it out," Bud said, waving his hand, as though leaving them completely unsupervised had nothing to do with him. Gin said, "I'll get something for that," and jumped up. Dolores left the table saying, "Ice. I'll get ice." Preacher gently drew Chris away from Paige and lifted him up against his broad chest. Chris put his head on Preacher's shoulder and cried. He met Paige's eyes and he was sure that despite his greatest effort to remain calm, his were ablaze. Paige stood, regally, Preacher thought with a touch of pride, and said, "We'll be going now." "Sit down," Bud said sharply, and Preacher was as close as he'd ever been to coming completely unhinged. He passed Chris back to his mother as calmly as he could, then leaned both hands on the table, pressed his face close enough to Bud's so that Bud actually leaned back a little bit. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Paige had her bag over one shoulder and Chris lying against the other, headed for the front door. "We're going to miss those steaks," he said in a very menacing whisper. Then he picked up the fork he'd been squeezing and saw that it was a little bent. He bent it the rest of the way, folding it in half with one meaty hand. He dropped it on top of Bud's salad. "Don't get up." By the time Preacher caught up with Paige, she was halfway down the walk toward the truck and already the women were fluttering out the door, calling after her. With no experience at this at all, having never before been in this position, Preacher knew what was going down. They were going to make excuses for Bud, maybe apologize for him, probably beg Paige to come back. He put a soft hand on her shoulder and she stopped, turning toward him. He reached for Chris. "Here," he said, taking the boy tenderly. "Say goodbye. We'll get settled." He got Chris in the car seat while Paige and the other women were still on the walk. Each one of them took one of Paige's hands, but she pulled out of their clutch. "Lemme see that arm, buddy," Preacher said to Chris. "Aw, that's going to be all right. Hey, how about pancakes? Breakfast for supper, huh?" He nodded and sniffed back tears. Preacher wiped a big thumb under each eye. "Yeah, pancakes. And chocolate milk." Chris nodded again, a slight smile on his lips. Preacher

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