Moments In Time (38 page)

“So was I, Jess,” she admitted.

“We prayed every night, all of us did,” Tyler told her.

“I’ve no doubt that’s what pulled him through.” She was near tears again.

“We’re glad you’re home, Mom.” Jesse leaned back, permitting her for the first time in years to pull the covers up and tuck him in.

“So are we.” She leaned over and kissed them both before turning out the light.

Rick and Caroline were just preparing to turn in, as she descended to the bottom of the steps. She hugged them, thanking them for sharing their homecoming, then walked into the kitchen to lock up the back of the house.

J.D. had just turned off the outside lights.

“Think we should turn in, too,” she told him. “It’s been an exhausting day. Won’t it be lovely to sleep in our own bed
tonight
…
What is it? What is that grin for?”

“That’s just how you looked the day I met you, your hair pulled back like that. Even had on the same color sweatshirt.”

“Probably is the same sweatshirt.” She pulled at the front of the red fleece top and laughed.

“You’ve barely changed all these years, you know that?” He reached out for her with his good hand and wrapped his arm around her, kissing her soundly.

“Well, you haven’t changed all that much either, you know. Except, of course, for that bald spot.” Her fingers
searched the back of his head for the spot that had been shaved in the hospital when the slight nick from the bullet had been treated. The hair had, for some reason, stubbornly refused to grow back.

She wiggled out of his arms and turned off the rest of the lights, then took his hand and led him toward the front hallway.

“Come on, Jamey, let’s go to bed,” she coaxed. “I want to see if what they say about bald men is true.”

“And what would that be?” he chuckled, pausing as she locked the front door.

“That bald men make better lovers.”

“They say that, do they?”

“Umm-hmm.”

She had reached the landing and stopped suddenly. A large orange harvest moon hung above the trees beyond the house. She turned from it, shivering at the sight.

“Ah, but you can’t go through the rest of your life hiding from a full moon, Maggie.” He caressed her face. “It happened and it’s done and we move on in spite of it. We’re fine, sweetheart. We’re home with our children and we’re fine.”

“You’re not fine, Jamey. You can’t use your arm. You can’t play an instrument.” The angry words spilled from her.

“That’s all I can’t do, Maggie. Yes, I lost the use of my arm. No, I will never play the piano again, not like I did. But I can still write my music. I can still sing. And the most important thing is that we are alive. We have each other, we have our precious family, our wonderful home, our friends. Compared to what I have, I’d say what I’ve lost is insignificant.”

“How can you be so rational? We came very close to being murdered.”

“Close but no cigar.” He winked and fluttered an invisible cigar, doing his best Groucho Marx.

“Don’t make jokes about it, Jamey.”

“Look at it, Maggie, look.” He gently tilted her face,
forcing her to gaze out the window. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Big and round and golden. Just as it’s always been, as it always will be.”

She stared at it numbly, then nodded,
“Yes, it’s a beautiful moon…
”

“Now come along and we’ll see if a one-armed bald man can put your fears to rest once and for all.”

Later, when he had fallen asleep, she silently crept from the bed and crossed the carpeted floor. Raising the curtain to one side, she looked out with some trepidation, intent upon facing the night and the fears that haunted her.

It was a beautiful night, a beautiful moon. For the briefest moment, the terror she had known that terrible night washed over her, reminding her that he had almost been lost to her forever. As the fear slowly ebbed, she took a deep breath and looked over her shoulder to where he slept bathed in moonlight. She knew then with absolute certainty that he was right. They had the things that mattered most. They had cheated Brenner, had cheated death. They would live to watch their children grow, see each other through the trials of the coming years, grow old together, just as they had always planned.

What more,
she asked herself as she turned her back on the night sky,
did anyone have the right to ask?