Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone for all the kind reviews. And a double, nay, triple shot of thanks to PhDelicious, for being my beta for this chapter, and maybe more to come;)
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The Last Embrace
by Kristen Elizabeth
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July 1978
"Hey, kids! Check this out."
Laura looked up from her magazine in time to see her children abandon their sand castle and run over to their father. Adam got there first, but Sara wasn't too far behind him. She was tall for six, going on seven, with limbs that were already gangly. Her hair, which had been neatly parted and braided that morning, at Sara's own insistence, now hung in two messy ropes down her back.
Her daughter was a perfect little mess of rough-and-tumble boy and fairy princess, and possessed a smile that, Laura was convinced, could light up the world.
That light was becoming rarer.
She continued to watch as her family gathered around one of the many tidal pools along the rocky stretch of beach where they were spending a lazy Saturday afternoon. She had to squint to see what her husband had pulled out of the water.
"See this?" she heard him ask the children. "It's a mermaid's purse."
"Whoa!" Adam exclaimed, easily enchanted by anything his father told him. "Neat!"
Her husband smiled at this, and for a moment, it really was a perfect afternoon. Laura was just about to return her attention to her magazine, when she heard Sara's voice speak up.
"It's not a purse, Daddy," she said matter-of-factly. "It's a shark egg. There was a baby shark inside."
Even from a distance, Laura knew the look that suddenly darkened her husband's face. "You don't believe me, kiddo?"
"Mrs. Murphy has this book about sharks," Sara went on, unaware and so eager to share something she'd learned from her beloved teacher. "I read it and it said that shark sometimes have their babies live and sometimes they lay eggs. The book had a picture just like that." She pointed to the object in her father's hand.
Laura watched with glassy eyes as her daughter flinched when he closed his hand around the shark's egg, destroying it. For a moment, it looked like he might make use of his newly formed fist. But something stopped him. Maybe it was the surprised look on Sara's face. She was still capable of being surprised by his anger. With a sharp curse, her husband threw the mangled egg case back into the tidal pool and stalked away.
Adam stuck his tongue out at his little sister. "Dumb know-it-all!" he taunted her, before running after their father.
By the time Sara reached their makeshift picnic area, Laura was deep into pretending that she'd been reading the whole time, and had missed the exchange. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched her daughter sit on her towel and pull her knees up to her chest. The roar of the waves was loud, but not deafening enough to drown out Sara's little voice.
"One times one is one. One times two is two. One times three is three…"
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Nick's family arrived en masse.
Sara liked them, she really did. They were perfect. But there were just so many of them. Sisters and brothers-in law…nieces and nephews whose names and ages she never quite got down. Still, family gatherings at the huge Texas spread where Nick had grown up had been slowly getting easier for her.
But now Nick was gone, and she'd lost her stabilizing island in the sea of chaos that his relatives couldn't help but create. It was just her and Cassie amidst all the grief and sympathy.
It didn't help matters that his living will stated that he wanted to be buried in Las Vegas, and not in the Stokes family plot. No one said anything to her, but Sara knew they all suspected it was her doing rather than his final wish. Texas was his home, he'd always said, but Las Vegas where was his heart beat. She didn't blame them for not understanding that. It had taken her a long time to believe him, as well.
The day before the funeral, she met Nick's mother at the children's store in the mall to pick out what Cassie would wear to the service. There were, not surprisingly, very few dark dresses for little girls, especially just before Easter. But her mother-in-law was nothing if not a dedicated and decorated shopper, so they pressed on.
It was only during a much-needed Starbucks break that they actually talked for the first time since she'd called with the news. The hardest phone call of her life, from which Sara had yet to fully recover.
Jillian Stokes added sugar to her decaf latte. "I'm sorry your mother couldn't join us. I have to say, I was surprised to see her here. I always got the impression you weren't close."
"We're not really." Sara handed Cassie her juice cup. In the comfort of her stroller, her daughter was quiet for the moment. "The last time I saw her was at the wedding."
"I know. Nick told me." Her son's name overpowered the conversation, and there was silence until she regained control. "He was so happy that day, Sara."
She nodded tightly. "Yeah."
"He loved you very much. You know that, right? He told you? Told Cassie?"
Sara sipped her coffee, burning her tongue. "She'll need to be reminded, but he didn't let a day go by without telling her he loved her."
"And you?"
"I knew," was all Sara said.
Jillian let out a shaky sigh. "My son wasn't much of a mystery, was he?"
"Trust me," Sara whispered. "It was part of his appeal."
"When he was kidnapped, I prayed for just a little more time with him. And I guess…God took me literally." Her mother-in-law dissolved into tears which she tried to hide behind her hand.
Sara swallowed a lump in her throat as she looked down at her daughter. Cassie grinned, showing off her sprouting baby teeth. "Mama," she said, dropping her sippy cup. "Uh-oh!"
"Uh-oh," Sara tried to echo with the same surprise and wonder. She was afraid she fell miserably short of her mark. However, the baby didn't seem to care. She clapped in delight when her mother fetched her cup. She was so happy, in fact, that she dropped it again, just to see what would happen.
Instead of handing the cup back for another round, Sara plucked Cassie out of her stroller and kissed her chubby cheek. "Jillian," she said gently. "I need to find a bathroom. Will you take her?"
Nick's mother looked at her granddaughter, and smiled through her tears. "Of course." She reached for the little girl and once she had her, held her close. "Oh…" she murmured into Cassie's curls. "I can still hold a piece of Nick. My own baby…"
Sara stood up on weak legs. Her coffee wasn't settling well, and she fled for the peace of the mall's restroom.
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To Be Continued