Then Asher realized how tired they must be, standing in that rain since early this morning, wading along the muddy edges of the water, saving Caleb and his daughter, clad in soaking wet jeans that must have been rubbing their skin raw. And then it dawned on Asher that he was sitting there in muddied clothes, too. And that the skin had peeled away from his hands in a half-inch stripe where the rope had burned through. They all needed food. They needed to rest.

Asher took them into the house and then into his and Lydia’s bedroom and gave them pants and shirts, left them alone to change. Candlelight stuttered against the walls of Justin’s room as Asher passed and he could hear Zelda in there talking softly to Rosalee about her mother. Rosalee had seen her go under. “I had a hold of her hand,” Rosalee said, then could say no more. He eavesdropped long enough to hear that.

The house seemed completely different with nothing more than candlelight. The ceilings higher, the rooms larger. All was shadows around Lydia as she stood in the middle of the living room.

“Will he be alright?” she said, her eyes on Caleb, who was trembling in a kind of sleep.

“I think so. His breathing is calmed down. I can’t find any wounds on him anywhere. He got bruised up a little, but that’s all.”

“Did those men leave?”

“No,” Asher said. “They’re putting on some dry clothes.”

“We can’t have them in here, Asher,” she said quietly.

“They don’t have anywhere else to go,” Asher whispered. “We’re the lucky ones.”

“What would the congregation say? It’s not right—”

“Not right to help people in trouble?”

“I know who they are,” she said. “They’re—you know what they are, Asher. We can’t have them in here around Justin.”

“So you wouldn’t want Justin around my own brother?”

“That’s not the same.”

“But you wouldn’t,” he said.

She kept her eyes on his, unyielding.

“They’ve lost everything they have,” Asher said.

“I feel bad for them, but I don’t know what we’re supposed to do,” she said.

“We give them a place to stay. That’s what. We be kind to them.”

“Asher, you know as well as—”

“Hebrews says to entertain strangers,” Asher said, thinking the Bible might have some sway on her.

“Asher.” Lydia’s face was golden but hard-edged in the candlelight. “We can’t let them share a bed in this house.”

Only then did Asher realize the men were standing in the hallway.

“If you could direct us to the next closest place that didn’t flood, we’d appreciate it,” Jimmy said, his face lost to the shadows.

“We’ve got plenty of room right here,” Asher said.

Lydia started to speak, then put a hand to her mouth.