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can’t put you through this.”
    “I’m willing to risk it.”
    The strong, quiet, admission sobered him, but it wasn’t enough. “I’m not.”
    Ray squared his shoulders and walked out the room.
    ~ ~ ~
    The moment Laney opened the door and saw her grandfather, Charles O’Reilly, she knew he was worried. Her bogus smile wobbled, then disappeared altogether. She walked into his arms and placed her head on his chest.  
    Charles rocked her gently back and forth. “Raphael will be just fine, sweetheart,” he said in a soft, gentle tone.
    Laney raised her head and smiled in earnest this time. “I know. I only wish Raphael could believe that, too.” 
    “I spoke to Zamora right before you walked in.”
    “Is everything okay?”
    Charles nodded, noting the worried expression in her green eyes. “Don’t take anything Raphael said personally. According to Zamora, Raphael is having a tough time dealing with all of this. He won’t even talk with her, and you know how close the two of them are.”
    “I’m not surprised, Poppy. Raphael is a private man, sometimes too private. He has a hard time letting others get close to him.”
    Charles placed a kiss at Laney’s temple and hugged her closer. “So what are you going to do?”
    Laney shrugged. “There’s really nothing I can do at this point.”
    “When you were growing up, what was the one thing I always reminded you of?”
    “The fervent prayer of a righteous man availed much.”
    Charles offered a smile filled with wisdom. “Well, I don’t see where the situation with Raphael is any different.”
    ~ ~ ~
    “How ya feeling, son?” Mama Z stood at the threshold of the bedroom door and posed her question.
    With his eyes closed, Ray lay in the middle of his bed with his hands tucked under his head. It was Christmas Eve. Since the day he’d undergone surgery, he’d spent most of his time in this very spot, staring at the ceiling. This was complete bull and all jacked up. Okay, so he hadn’t been a saint when it came to women. He’d be the first to admit that he’d danced in and out of their beds for his own selfish pleasure, but was cancer his atonement?
    Ray opened his eyes and turned his head sideways to focus at the door and released a sarcastic chuckle. “Other than being tore up from the floor up, I’m great.”
    Mama Z walked in and sat on the side of the bed. “Boy, I raised ya from twelve, and I knows just as good when ya bothered by somethin’. Now what is it?”
    Ray blew out a hard breath. “Why me, Mama Z?” he shouted, angrily and sat upright. “Why did I have to get cancer?”
    She grabbed both his hands and tugged until he looked at her. “Son, only God knows the answer to that question.”
    “Mama Z, I ain’t feeling God right about now.”
    “Now ya listen to me, boy, and I wants ya to listen to me good. Ya got some difficult days ahead of ya. Now ain’t the time to be running from God. If anything, ya outta be running to Him. Understand me?”
    Ray ran both hands down his face. “Things were just starting to roll for me. Know what I mean?” Before he knew it, he blurted out, “I had even gotten together with Red…”
    “Son, that child ain’t going no where.” Mama Z reached up and stroked the side of his face. “It ain’t the cancer that’s got ya troubled. It’s Laney, ain’t it?”
    Ray reminded silent.
    Mama Z offered a warm smile. “That’s a strong woman ya got, son. That child don’ for ya what everyone else in this family been doing.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Pray.”
    “Oh, so you heard Red praying from half way around the globe?” Ray asked sharply. 
    “Naw, I heard her right in Oakland,” Mama Z pointed out.
    “You mean Red didn’t go to Stockholm?”
    Smiling, Mama Z shook her head sideways. 
    Stunned, Ray stared at his grandmother slack jawed. After ten long years of grueling research, Laney missed a once in a lifetime opportunity to be recognized for it. Her unquestioning belief in her