C4 antho - Chamber Four

~98~ The Chamber Four Fiction Anthology
Rebecca met my gaze, soft and open for just a moment, until
she turned away and closed her arm around her daughter.
* * * *
It was fall, then winter. The weather and a spate of colds
kept me and my sons away from the park. The colds turned
into croup, and I spent several nights with each of them outside
the steaming shower and many days trying to keep them
occupied in our small rooms. By this time, Rebecca and I exchanged
only brief nods when we passed in the hallway.
Often it was easier to feign absorption in the mail or my grocery
bags and pretend I never saw her at all.
One day, Eric Redl appeared at my door, dressed for
work and carrying a briefcase. It was a Tuesday morning,
nine-thirty, and already my living room looked like a shipwreck.
Vera stood beside him, clutching his arm. When I
stepped toward them, she sidled closer to her father, as if
she’d climb inside his body if she could.
“Would you mind?” Eric asked. “I have to teach a class at
ten, but I’ll be back after that.”
“Of course.” I reached for Vera’s hand, but she pulled
away. She wore a mismatched skirt and sweater. Her chin
was streaked with jam.
Eric leaned toward me. “Rebecca’s gone,” he whispered.
“Gone? Where did she go?”
“Apparently Paris.”
“Paris?”
“That’s what it said in her note.”
She took off for Paris without so much as looking back...
Already, I’d begun composing the story I’d tell the others, but