Cracks in the Sidewalk(66)

“I don’t have anybody to bring them.”

“Oh, pleeese,” Noreen groaned. “If there’s no family member available to take them, go yourself!”

“And sit there for three hours watching Liz die?” JT asked, but Noreen had hung up.

“Some lawyer,” he grumbled.

~

JT didn’t call Liz when he hung up. Instead, he unplugged the telephone and waited until seven o’clock that evening to return her calls. When he finally did, Elizabeth’s father answered the telephone.

“Is Liz there?” JT said. “David wants to talk to her.”

“Hold on please,” Charles answered, his voice cold but civil.

Moments later, Liz picked up the phone.

“Jeffrey,” she said, trying to sound healthier than she felt. “Thanks for calling me back.”

Without acknowledging her words, JT handed the receiver to his son. “Hi, Mommy,” David said.

Elizabeth had waited so long to hear those two words. She opened her mouth and a sigh escaped, carrying away the anguish of lost time. “David, honey,” she said, “Mommy’s missed you so very, very much.”

“I miss you too, Mommy. Are you in heaven?”

“No, honey, Mommy is at Grandma’s house.” Elizabeth started to ask why he thought that, but she heard David’s voice recede slightly.

“Daddy,” the boy yelled. “Mommy’s not in heaven, she’s at Grandma’s house!”

A stab pierced her heart, but she moved on. “Would you like to come and see Mommy?”

“Unh-huh. Can Kimberly come too?”

“She sure can. You can come and Kimmie can come, and Christian can come too. We’ll have a party with milk and cookies. And guess what else? Stories! Mommy’s got three new story books, and I’ll read each of you a special story. Would you like that?”

“Are they Robin Hood books?”

“Robin Hood?” Liz said, feigning surprise. “Why, I thought Peter Rabbit was your favorite.”

“Peter Rabbit is for babies,” he said indignantly. “I like Robin Hood.”

“Well, then,” she laughed, “it’s a good thing I got a new Robin Hood book.”

“Robin Hood is Christian’s favorite too, so you have to read two stories.”

“Two stories!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “Don’t you think maybe Christian would rather hear a Peter Rabbit story?”

“No, he likes Robin Hood.”

“Did he tell you that?”

David giggled. “Silly, Christian doesn’t know how to talk. He’s a baby. He says Daddy and milk, that’s all.”

David’s first word was Mommy, as was Kimberly’s, but Christian was a child who had never known a mother. Elizabeth choked back the urge to cry.

“Well, then,” she said, moving past the momentary sadness. “How do you know Christian doesn’t like Peter Rabbit?”

“I know,” David said with the guile of a six-year-old, “because when I show him both books, he points to Robin Hood.”

“Oh,” Elizabeth said. “Well, then, I guess I’ll just have to read two Robin Hood stories.”

“Hooray! Can we come to Grandma’s house tomorrow?”

“Not tomorrow, but Daddy’s going to bring all three of you to see me on Sunday. Sunday’s only two more days after tomorrow.”

“Daddy,” David called out. “Are we going to see Mommy on Sunday?”

Elizabeth heard Jeffrey answer, “We’ll see. Now hang up and come take your bath!”

“Daddy said I’ve gotta hang up,” David reported.

“I heard him. Baths are important, so do what Daddy said. Go take your bath. I’ll talk to Kimmie for a little while.”

“She can’t talk. She already went to bed.”

“Oh,” Elizabeth said, momentarily stumped. “Well, then—tell Daddy to please have Kimmie call me tomorrow.”

“Daddy gets mad if anybody calls her that. He said her name is Kimberly, not Kimmie.”

In the background Elizabeth heard JT shout, “One minute!”

“I can hear your daddy calling you, sweetheart, so you’d better go.”

Liz hesitated a second, then said, “I love you, David.” By then he was gone.

~

On Thursday there was no call from Kimberly, nor was there a call on Friday. Both days Elizabeth called the house any number of times, but the telephone rang without an answer. By Saturday morning Elizabeth grew quite discouraged and began to wonder if JT would ever allow her to talk to or see the children. She tried calling three times, but still no answer. On the fourth try Kimberly answered in her high-pitched little girl voice.

“Hi, Kimberly,” Elizabeth said, a swell of affection catching in her throat. “Do you know this is Mommy?”

“Yes,” Kimberly answered. She sounded far more grownup than Liz remembered. “You’re at Grandma’s house, not in heaven.”

“Yes, I’m at Grandma’s. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think of you and miss you every day. Tomorrow is going to be very special. So special it will be almost like Christmas.”

“Why?”