by Sharon Sala
At that moment Luke honked.
“Daddy!” Amy Ann squealed. “Hurry, Mommy! We’re gonna be late.”
Jade smiled at her father and then shrugged off Amy’s comment, before following her daughter out the door.
A short while later, Luke and Jade, along with a half-dozen other parents, were making the long walk down the school hallway toward the kindergarten room.
“Never thought this day would come,” one weary mother muttered, as she waved goodbye to her youngest and fourth child.
“Hallelujah.”
Luke chuckled. Jade frowned.
“Easy, honey,” Luke said. “She’s obviously been at this longer than we have.”
She shrugged, then gasped when Amy Ann suddenly pulled loose from her hand and ran into the room without her.
“Amy Ann! Wait!”
“It’s okay,” Luke said. “Let her go. Be glad she’s not crying like him.”
He pointed to a little blond-headed boy who was clinging tearfully to his mother’s leg.
“You’re right—again,” Jade said, and then grinned. “That’s getting to be a habit.”
“Hey, Kelly! Didn’t expect to see you here,” a man called.
Luke turned around, recognized a man who was also a client. “Honey, I’m going to go say hello.”
“Sure,” she said. Despite knowing that her daughter was fine, she still had to see for herself.
She walked to the door and peeked in. Amy Ann was already at a table near the back of the room, engrossed in play with two other little girls. Jade assumed one of them must have been the friend who would be there, but she didn’t know them and was trying to remember where Amy Ann would have met them without her.
Jade stood for a moment, watching the teacher’s interaction with the children, seeing how tenderly she was speaking to the ones who were upset.
She sighed, ignoring the twinge of hurt in her heart that Amy Ann hadn’t cried for her, too. But Luke was right. It was good that her child was independent and fearless.
The teacher looked up, smiled and winked a goodbye, and Jade waved. Then, just as she was turning away, she saw him, in the corner of the room near the table where Amy Ann played.
Raphael.
As she thought his name, he looked up. She thought she saw his lips move; then she thought she saw him smile. She lifted her hand to wave, then watched him fade away.
Sudden tears shimmered in her eyes. But she knew he wasn’t gone, only nearby, as he’d been since the day Amy Ann had been born. That was when it hit her.
He was the friend—a friend who would always be there. Only she hadn’t known that Amy Ann knew him, too. Her eyes filled with tears as she quickly looked away.
Then Luke was putting his arm around her and pulling her close against his side.
“Sweetheart…don’t cry. She’s going to be okay.”
Jade looked up at him, then smiled.
“Yes, I know, darling.” At least, I do now.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-2899-7
OUT OF THE DARK
Copyright © 2003 by Sharon Sala.
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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