the darkness. Lianna was leaning into the back seat of the car, which was double-parked in front of the house. The car’s flashers were blinking. Harris got out of the driver’s seat and waved to Shelby. He indicated the police car, its lights still flashing, parked illegally across the street, and frowned.
Shelby walked out to the curb. ‘Some escaped convict got a parking ticket on this block,’ she explained. ‘The police are looking for anyone who saw him.’
Harris grimaced. ‘That’s comforting,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘Welcome home.’
‘Life in the big city,’ said Shelby, trying to force a smile. ‘Thanks for bringing Jeremy home. We could have come for him.’
Lianna stood up and regarded Shelby frankly, her keen, gray eyes looking pained. ‘We were glad to do it. How are you holding up? You and Rob?’
Shelby shook her head. ‘Surviving.’
Lianna gazed at Shelby with genuine sympathy. ‘I swear, I don’t know how. I am so sorry,’ she said.
Shelby felt her tears well up, and she didn’t try to stop them. ‘Thank you,’ she said. She wiped her tears on her sleeve and took a deep breath. ‘I want to thank you so much for keeping Jeremy,’ she said, ‘so I could be there.’
‘We were glad to do it.’ Lianna frowned in the direction of the open car door and stepped away from it. She lowered her voice to almost a whisper. ‘About Jeremy. I think you should know . . .’
Shelby could see Jeremy’s legs inside the car, kicking into the back of the front seat. Harris came around and wedged himself into the space between the front and back seats. ‘Hey buddy,’ Harris said, as he reached down to unbuckle the car seat. ‘You’re home.’ He lifted the boy out, cradling him against his chest.
Jeremy looked over Harris’s shoulder at Shelby and blinked as if he could not believe his eyes.
‘Hi sweetie.’ Shelby reached up for her grandson, but Jeremy reared back, kicking his chubby leg at her.
‘No, Shep, I don’t want you. I don’t want you. I want Mommy,’ the child yelled, his face red.
‘Hey, slugger,’ Harris cajoled him. ‘Stop that now. Say hi to your grandmom.’
Jeremy began to scream. ‘No Shep. I want Mommy, I want Mommy, I want Mommy.’ Tears spurted from his eyes and he clutched Harris’s jacket with his fists. Harris kept a firm grip on the child.
Lianna spoke quietly to Shelby in her low, husky voice. ‘I’m so sorry. This is what I wanted to tell you. Some volunteer at that church school he goes to told him about Chloe. Some old biddy who helps out in the classroom. I don’t know what she was thinking. She said she was afraid the kids would tell him that his mother was drowned in the ocean and she had to explain it to him.’
Jeremy had buried his face against Harris’s shoulder. ‘Hey there buddy,’ Harris murmured. ‘Everybody wants to see you.’
‘NO. I won’t,’ Jeremy insisted.
‘He’s just upset,’ said Harris to Shelby. ‘Let me carry him inside.’
Shelby glanced back at the row house. Rob was in the doorway, comforting Molly. Shelby took a deep breath. ‘I’ll do it,’ she said. As Shelby reached for him, Jeremy began to strike at her with his little, balled-up fists. His face was as red as a tomato. Ignoring Jeremy’s angry blows, his kicking, sneakered feet, Shelby lifted her grandson from Harris’s arms.
‘Put me down,’ Jeremy insisted.
‘Maybe he wants to walk,’ Lianna suggested as Jeremy continued to kick and punch his grandmother. A teenage driver in a low-slung car with a loud boom box pulled up behind Harris’s late model sedan. Between the illegally parked police cruiser and Harris’s doubleparked Lexus, there was no room to get by.
‘Molly,’ Shelby called out to the girl who was still huddled beneath her father’s arm in the front doorway, ‘can you get Jeremy’s stuff for me?’
Molly nodded and hurried down to the car. Harris opened the trunk and began to hand Molly her brother’s belongings.
Lianna wrapped her arms around her own, slightly expanded waist and walked up to Rob. They spoke awkwardly. Shelby could see that Rob was saying something to his ex-wife, and she was nodding, staring at the ground.
The teenager honked his horn.
Harris turned and glared at the young driver. ‘Keep your pants on,’ he said to him. Then he turned back to Shelby. ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to carry him?’ Harris asked.
Shelby shook her head. She thought of all the times as a young mother when she