“We’re always happy to do what we can in a pinch,” Everett said. “God’s blessed us with a roof over our heads, a full table, and His guidance—all of it meant to be shared.”

Everett pointed at a cross-stitched sign hanging on the kitchen wall, just beneath a clock with hands that did not seem to move. Each word was stitched in a different color so that, from afar, the rectangular frame looked like it contained a rainbow. But the letters were uneven and boxy and would have earned poor marks from my sewing teacher.

Whoever receives One such child in My Name receives Me, and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.

“Isn’t that beautiful?” Ann said admiringly. She looked at Janet with an expectant smile on her face. “Is that your handiwork?”

“It is,” Janet admitted. “I find it relaxing to work with my hands.”

Everett leaned back in his chair, beaming at his wife.

“Really lovely,” Ann said. “Well, let’s just get back to Aryana here. As I mentioned on the phone, this situation came up urgently and suddenly. She’s just arrived from Pakistan. She speaks English, but I can’t tell how much. Doesn’t eat a heck of a lot and has just that bag you see at her feet. She was medically cleared, though it does seem she has a history of sexual abuse.”

I wanted to object but didn’t know where to begin. Everything was wrong.

Everett clapped his hands so loudly that I jumped.

“We’re going to take excellent care of her,” he said, looking at me with great confidence. “We’ll get her speaking English and maybe even learn a little Pakistani from her.”

And then I was alone with Janet and Everett. When Ann left, Janet opened an empty bottle and drained all four cups of orange soda into it before placing it in the fridge. At the sound of footsteps overhead, Janet took a broom from a corner closet and rapped the hard end of it against the ceiling. The footsteps stopped.

Janet instructed me to leave my shoes in a closet by the front door. She and Everett led me upstairs, shaking their heads at the way I used the railing to steady myself. I clutched my bag tightly, though they didn’t seem the least bit interested in it.