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.You can have the honors tonight.Then she went upstairs to Alfred's room to see if he wanted to watch television or play a game of Chinese checkers since there was no school the next day."Both of the Indian girls had been coughing for days, and since Dr.McPherson was not going to visit them and Popping Trees was not about to visit the surgeon, Sergeant Rowe brought the children's plight to my attention; I, in turn, delegated it to my wife, who, like many women, has always been knowledgeable when it comes to certain basic cures."CAPTAIN ANDREW HITCHENS,TENTH REGIMENT, UNITED STATES CAVALRY,REPORT TO THE POST ADJUTANT,JULY 16, 1876*PhoebeI nearly busted open some idiot's head the day after Christmas, he was saying, that's what I mean.I'm just not.focused.The guy was arrogant, but he didn't deserve what he got.She rubbed her hand over the fur and muscle on his chest, massaging the tiny nipple there--the color of coffee, she thought, sweetened with cream--with the soft skin in her palm, and burrowed her head as deeply as she could into the small, comfortable valley just below his shoulder.You stopped him for speeding, she murmured simply.She was happy, and she wanted him to be happy, too.He overreacted, she continued, and then you did.It happens, it's not that complicated.You shouldn't be so hard on yourself.I shouldn't have been so hard on him.He hit you.Still.and tonight I get to go home and have dinner with some social worker with so much silver and steel in her ears that she probably sets off metal detectors a mile away.What fun.A part of her didn't want to ask about the boy because she didn't want their last few moments together to be centered on his family or his life back in Cornish, but the part of her that would be a mother before another year passed simply couldn't resist: She wondered--and, yes, worried--about this faceless child she'd never met.And so she closed her eyes and said, How is Alfred doing?Well, let's see.I keep my hunting rifles in a solid-steel Treadlok gun vault that's bolted to the floor.The key is hollow--nonduplicable.I keep the ammo locked in a separate sideboard in a separate room.Yet Monday night when I came home from work, I proceeded to remove what had been my father's Savage 99 and my own Browning A-Bolt from the gun case, rounded up my three boxes of shells, and then on Tuesday I took everything with me back to the barracks in Middlebury.The guns, the ammo.The works.I'm storing it all there.Only weapons at home from now on are that Sig Sauer--and he pointed at the handgun in his holster that dangled off the side of the chair beside the motel room desk--and the Remington 870 I keep in the trunk of the cruiser.And I'm pretty sure the lad doesn't even know the Remington exists.So I think that sums it up nicely, thank you very much.That is how little Alfred is doing.It's that bad?I caught him planning to run away.The last thing the world needs is a runaway ten-year-old with a bad attitude and his foster father's Browning A-Bolt at his side.I'm sorry.That's not good, she said, and she watched her fingernails--Casino Red today--carve an invisible line up his chest and his neck.She watched the small goose bumps appear on his skin.Is that why his social worker is coming to your house tonight?No, I don't think so.She doesn't even know.No one knows but me and the boy.I guess she just wants to see us all together.One big happy family, he said, his voice awash in sarcasm.With his free hand he adjusted the pillow beneath his head.She saw in the midday light that poured through the drapes the silhouette of one of the motel housekeepers outside their window, pushing her cart with clean sheets and towels and spray bottles of disinfectant.This was a pretty nice motel: It catered mostly to the skiers who were visiting Stowe, and it was likely the young man behind the desk would be more than a little shocked when she checked out barely ninety minutes after checking in.She'd noticed this place--and its vacancy sign--as she drove into Waterbury, but she hadn't anticipated she'd be back here with Terry.They were only supposed to eat lunch.But the last two times they were together, they'd done little more than sit and talk with coffee and tea between them, and the whole idea that they were meeting now for no other reason than the fact that they wanted to see each other was too much.Suddenly it didn't seem so horribly wrong to backtrack up 100 to this motel and shed their clothes and allow themselves a little pleasure.It wasn't as if a person could get more pregnant.It wasn't as if anyone, ever, would have to know.I have some news, she murmured.Oh?I'm going to move back here.To central Vermont?Yup.Waterbury, maybe.Or Montpelier again.But, you know, this area.You told your father?No.He won't be happy.I know.But it could have been a lot worse from his standpoint.My family hasn't been hugely supportive of my pregnancy, and I was actually thinking about moving real far away.How far?New Mexico.New Mexico?Uh-huh.Santa Fe.One year when I was in college in Burlington I lived with a girl who moved out there.And she just loves it.Has a little family, says it's a great place for kids.You ever been out West?No, but I think that was a part of the attraction.It would be a complete change of scenery for me.Still, even Waterbury or Montpelier won't exactly please your father.I think he's going to miss you more than you realize.But the move will be good for me, and I think he'll understand that, too.Let's face it: When things have gotten to the point in the deep woods that I'm letting Smokey Bear pick me up, it's time to get my fanny back to civilization.He sighed and his chest rose.We can never make a habit of this, he said.You know that, right?Of course I do.I know you could get all too used to me.He squeezed her, pulling her body tightly against his, and he kissed her softly on her forehead.God, Phoebe, what am I doing? What are we doing?She wrapped her leg over his.We're having lunch, she murmured, happy in the warmth of his arms.That's all.Just having a little lunch.SHE WOULDN'T BE spending New Year's Eve alone, but she also wouldn't be with Terry Sheldon
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