Half-Past Dawn by Richard Doetsch Read Free Book Online

that were happening in his life and career.
    Jack could still hear Mia’s voice as she calmed the girls, standing in his parents’ driveway, wiping the tears from Hope’s and Sara’s eyes as they cried about leaving behind their pillows, their stuffed animals, and how much they would miss them.
    “Honey.” crouching down, she took each of them into her embrace, “both of you, give me your hands.”
    The two girls held out their right hands, which Mia gently grasped. She warmly kissed their palms and then closed their small fingers around the kiss so it wouldn’t escape.
    “Do you know what that is?”
    The girls shook their heads in unison.
    “That’s a kissing hand. Whenever you miss me, need me, or are scared, you place it against your cheek.” Mia placed her palm against her cheek in demonstration; both the girls followed her lead. “Do you feel it?”
    The girls smiled and nodded.
    “I do,” Hope said.
    “You both hold on to those.” She pulled them close and whispered in their ears, “They last forever.”
    With the girls now smiling and their eyes focused on the beach, Jack and Mia handed them and their bags to his mom and were back on the road. They loved their children more than life but realized that they had sacrificed so much of themselves to the point of forgetting about each other.
    All of their money went into their house, their government salaries not affording them the luxury of vacations. And so they embracedthose moments of slowing down, turning their lives around, modifying their day to make it a vacation of the mind.
    Their conversation on the way home had nothing to do with play dates, juice boxes, or Fineas and Ferb. It was about each other, catching up on things missed as a result of work and children.
    After walking through the door of their home, they reveled in the silence. It was like the peace of walking into a hotel after a long journey, dropping the bags onto the floor, and collapsing on the bed. They read the paper, walked around in their underwear without care, talked for hours, and fell silent for long spells, taking pleasure from simply being in each other’s company. There were things Jack wanted to talk about, things about life and the future, but in the recaptured feeling when one first falls in love, Jack decided that things could wait, that some secrets could hold for a few more days.
    Mia made garlic mashed potatoes and green beans while Jack seared the steak. They made love on the sofa like teenagers whose parents were out for the evening, watched movies, and lost themselves in the moment. At eight o’clock, they piled a sea of pillows and comforters on the floor of the sunroom and fell sound asleep in each other’s arms.
    Besides the night before, it was the last full memory of the week he could form. He looked again at the blue bear, leaned down and picked up the brown one. He knew where he would take them.
    F RANK DROVE THEM up the Merritt Parkway, heading north, the glare of the early-morning sun filling his Jeep.
    Jack dialed his cell phone. His mom had always been an early riser, so he felt no guilt about calling so early. He needed to hear that the girls were OK, needed to know they were safe. The phone rang.
    He had given his mom a cell phone, taught her how to use it, insisted that she always carry it in case of emergency, but he knew shehad tucked it into the back of a drawer where the battery died and had forgotten all about it.
    The phone rang again. And again. Four times now. No answer. He cursed her for not having an answering machine, for not keeping up with the times.
    On the sixth ring, Jack began to panic, and Frank hit the accelerator.

CHAPTER 8
    F RIDAY , 7:45 A.M .
    J ACK BURST THROUGH THE side door of his childhood home, raced through the small New England foyer, and charged up the stairs. He tore open the door at the end of the hall and peered into the dark room.
    The curtains were drawn; daylight had yet to arrive in his old bedroom. His