by Jane Haddam
“We can’t know until it’s born. Spina bifida is funny. Maybe Benjamin will be born severely damaged and die in a couple of days. Maybe he’ll be born only a little damaged and they’ll take care of it at the hospital before Phoebe brings him home, and three years from now we’ll never be able to tell he had it. I’m with Phoebe. Have him, hope for the best and see what happens.”
“Me, too,” I said. “I wonder what they’re doing out there.”
The hall doorway slammed open. Adrienne said, “Could you get the big bear, Garrison, please? In the lumpy package with the bow on top. I think Nick wrapped it himself. And the box with the little presents in it. They’re for stockings.”
“Of course, Miss Adrienne. What about your dresses?”
“I want to hang them on the hook in the front. And don’t look in the box, because one of the little presents is for you. Christmas is such a problem. I’m going to give my room one more look.”
“I listen to them together and I feel like I’m acting in something on PBS,” Nick said. “I hate PBS.”
We listened to Adrienne tromping through the hallway toward the back. I bit my lip.
“Oh dear,” I said, “you can’t get to the back hall except by going through the living room.”
The hallway door clicked again: Garrison going out. Adrienne’s footsteps stopped. We heard her let out a sigh. We heard her reverse course and head back toward us.
She came through the door from the hallway, marched to the middle of the kitchen and put her hands on her hips.
“Phoebe and David,” she said, “are necking.”
“Shit,” Nick said.
“I’m not allowed to use that word,” Adrienne said, “but I feel exactly the same way. How can I supervise the packing? I can’t go barging in and out of there to get to my bedroom when they’re doing that.”
“They probably won’t be doing it for long,” I said.
Adrienne snorted. “The way they look, they’ll still be there when we get back from Christmas.” She peered at Nick suspiciously. “You’re getting that look on your face,” she said. “I don’t like it.”
“You’ll understand when you’re older,” Nick said.
“What look on his face?” I said.
“I’m getting out of here,” Adrienne said. “This sort of thing is embarrassing.” She went all the way back to the hallway door and stopped again. “And I’m never getting married,” she said. “As soon as people start talking about getting married, they get weird.”
She pushed through the swinging door and disappeared.
“You want to get weird?” Nick said.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 1988 by Jane Haddam
Cover design by Mauricio Díaz
ISBN: 978-1-5040-6077-6
This edition published in 2020 by MysteriousPress.com/Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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