Page 26 of The Midnight Hour
So much for being discreet. I’m reminded, poignantly, of our former life, when Daniel and I might attempt to speak in some sort of code at the dinner table, while our children, attuned to the merest hint of suggestion or secrecy, would demand to know what we were talking about, how it affected them. Parents weren’t allowed to have secrets.
“I need to talk to your father first,” I say, and am met with groans. “Mattie, why don’t you take Phoebe down to the stream? She loves splashing in the water.” I glance at the others. “Let’s tidy up camp.”
Everyone slouches off, reluctant and indignant, while Daniel draws me to the sheltering boughs of a large cedar tree, the same one I spoke to Sam under, a conversation that was ultimately unsatisfying for us both.
“What do you know?” Daniel asks, and he sounds caught between amusement and intent.
Briefly, I explain to him what Nicole told me aboutthe air base at North Bay. Daniel is silent, reflective, his gaze distant as he considers everything I’ve said. The minutes pass and I try not to feel impatient.
“I think I’ve heard about that place,” he finally says. “It was built in the sixties, at the height of the Cold War, and the U.S. paid for something like two-thirds of it.”
“We don’t need a history lesson here,” I remind him as wryly as I can. “Do you think it’s real? I mean, I know the base is real, but now…do you think it’s a safe place? And will they let us in?”
He shakes his head slowly. “I can’t believe the Canadian military has justfolded…but the U.S. military has folded, more or less, although I guess they’re focusing on building something out west, maybe.” He sighs, knuckling his forehead, and the slump of his shoulders reminds me of how much he’s carrying, for all of us. “I don’t know, Alex. It seems like a long shot. But if Buffalo is out of the picture, I don’t know where else to go.” He sounds despondent, and I long to put my arms around him, but I don’t.
“It’s only two hundred miles,” I say quietly. “We have the gas. We could give it a shot, at least.”
My words fall into a stillness that is shattered by a sudden, high, keening scream. Daniel and I stare at each other for one taut second as we recognize the timbre of that particular scream.
Ruby.
ELEVEN
The screaming is coming from the stream, and Daniel starts sprinting down there, while I follow as fast as I can, my heart pounding in my chest, my mind a blur of panic.Not something else, I think. Not something more.
I half-stumble, half-skid down the path to the stream, where Sam, Mattie, and Ruby are standing on the shore of the creek, immobile and horrified, Ruby pointing toward the stream, where Kyle is wading out into the water—and soon I see why. Phoebe has been caught in the current and is bobbing along, her face tiny and terrified amid the white-frothed waves.
“What happened?” I cry, which is probably the worst thing to ask, because it sounds like an accusation.
Mattie lets out a sound like a sob, while Sam shakes his head slowly.
“It all happened so fast…” he begins, trailing off as his gaze returns to Phoebe; her head dips below the water and then surfaces again.
“Phoebe—” I call, uselessly. We all watch, transfixed, horrified, as Kyle starts swimming toward her. As he’s been shot in the shoulder a mere week ago, I’m not sure he’s up to the job; hishead bobs under the water more than once. Daniel is already kicking off his shoes. Then, before he can reach the water, Kyle catches Phoebe in one arm, and someone lets out a ragged cheer. Minutes pass as he tows her back to the shore; Daniel wades in to his thighs to grab her and draw her to safety, while Kyle half crawls, half staggers, to shore, blood spotting his shirt where his wound must have broken open again.
To my surprise, as soon as Daniel puts Phoebe down she runs toward me, tackling me around my knees. I hoist her to my hip, a matter of instinct, as she burrows her face into my shoulder. It seems I’m the mom, after all, when it matters.
My gaze moves to Mattie, another matter of instinct, and I catch her glare, half anguish, half accusation. Then she runs to Kyle, dropping on her knees before him while he pats her arm, comforting her, rather than the other way round, although he is gray-faced with exhaustion and pain. His shoulder will need seeing to.
I stroke Phoebe’s hair and murmur nonsense endearments as my mind whirls at all the shifts in relationships that have happened in the space of about ten seconds. Sam is watching Mattie and Kyle, and Ruby is looking at me. Daniel comes up to me and puts his arm around my shoulders.
“She okay?”
I nod, still stroking Phoebe’s hair. “I think so.”
“I’ll build up the fire. That water is cold.”
Belatedly, I realize poor little Phoebe is shivering. I glance at Mattie again, and see that Kyle has his arms around her. I hoist Phoebe up a little further on my hip, and then up the path to the campsite.
Later, when a warm and dry Phoebe is napping, I go find Mattie. She’s sitting back by the stream, hands clasped around her knees, a blank look on her face that reminds me of Nicole.
“Hey.” I speak gently, like I would to a skittish animal, as I come to sit next to her on the bank of the stream. The current that seemed so treacherous a few hours ago is now tranquil, sunlight glinting off its placid surface. “Phoebe’s okay, Matts. It wasn’t your fault.”
She turns her head to glare at me, her eyes full of accusation. “Why would you even have to say that?”
“I…” I stare back at her helplessly. “Because you were looking as if you blamed yourself,” I finally answer. “And I wanted to let you know that you didn’t have to.”
She curls her lip, disdainful now. “You don’t even know what happened.”
