Page 74 of Dear Henry, Love Edith
Wood splintered. Glass broke. Something crashed. But scariest of all was the silence that followed a deafening thud. Edith held her breath. Why was there silence?
The baby had discovered his fingers to suck on, leaving Edith with nothing but the sound of her own unsteady breaths. Was Henry okay? Was Henryalive?
Flashing red lights reflected off the upstairs windows,accompanied by the short squawk of a squad car siren. And then the most beautiful sound Edith had ever heard in her life.
“Edith, honey? You okay?” Henry’s voice. Alive.Thank you, God.Edith’s lungs fully expanded and released for the first time in several minutes. Her heart rate might have even dipped below two hundred beats per minute.
Edith placed the baby back in the crib with shaky hands, shoved the dresser out of the way, threw open the door, and—gasped. “Henry, your face.”
“Yeah, well, you should see the other guy.” Henry tried to wink but failed miserably, considering his eye was already swelling.
Edith didn’t know what to say. She picked a noodle off his shoulder and held it up.
“You don’t mind eating off the floor, do you?” Henry looked over his shoulder. “Or the wall?”
Before Edith could answer, Sharon’s dismayed voice carried upstairs. “Oh, my word.” The sound of crunching glass followed. “Oh. My. Word.”
“I told you to wait in the car,” a male voice scolded.
“Don’t take that tone with me, James. I am your mother.”
“I need to secure the area.”
“What’s left to secure? You already handcuffed the perpetrator.”
“This is still a crime scene, Mom. I need to—”
“What? Draw a chalk line around the chicken lo mein?”
“Don’t take that tone with me. I am an officer of the law.”
“Don’t remind me. Why you couldn’t have gone to seminary school like your father—” Sharon’s eyes flew up to Edith as she descended the stairs.
“Oh, honey,” Sharon said on an exhale, “are you okay?” Sharon gingerly stepped over scattered noodles and broken glass from picture frames that had fallen from the walls and met Edith halfway up the stairs. “You’re not hurt, are you? I should have known it was only a matter of time before Tyler’s dad showed up and—”
The stairs creaked behind Edith and Sharon’s mouth gaped open. “Oh, my word,” she said again. Henry, his face bruised and cut, maneuvered down the stairs with the baby cradled in the crook of his arm.
“James,” Sharon snapped. “Tell the paramedic to get in here.”
“That’s not necessary,” Henry said, stopping on the stair behind Edith. “Baby’s already snoozing and I’m fine.”
Sharon rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you look real fine.” She tromped down the stairs and headed out the door, no doubt in search of the paramedic herself.
“What about you? You sure you’re okay?” Henry readjusted the baby in his arms and moved down a few steps so that he was standing eye level in front of Edith. “I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner.”
“Are you kidding? If it weren’t for you, that guy would have tried breaking the door down. Who knows what might have happened then? You came at just the right time as far as I’m concerned.” She leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on the lesser of his bruised cheeks. “Thank you.”
Henry slowly angled his head so the warmth of his breath fanned over her lips. “I seem to remember your thank-yous being a little more involved than that.”
Heat flooded her cheeks. “You’re holding a baby.”
“He’s secure.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“Not from my mouth.”
“There’s people around.”
