Page 449 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

George watched Jack's face, trying to see whether he understood or not. The boy looked bewildered, as if something apparently impossible seemed to be happening. The look on his face wrenched George's heart. He thought: How can I be doing something this cruel to the person I love most in the world?

How did I get here?

"You know I've been sleeping in the guest room."

"Yeah."

Here comes the hard part. "Well, I'm going to sleep at Grandma's house tonight."

"Why?"

"It's because Mom and I don't love each other."

"Okay, then, I'll see you tomorrow."

"I'm going to be sleeping at Grandma's a lot from now on."

Jack began to see that this would affect him. "Will you read my bedtime story?"

"Every night, if you like." George vowed to keep this promise.

Jack was still working out the implications. "Will you make my warm milk for breakfast?"

"Sometimes. Or Mom will. Or Nanny Tiffany."

Jack knew prevarication when he heard it. "I don't know," he said. "I think you better not sleep at Grandma's."

George ran out of courage. "Well, we'll see," he said. "Hey, how about some ice cream?"

"Yeah!"

It was the worst day of George's life.

*

Driving from the Capitol homeward to Prince George's County, George brooded on hostages. This year in Lebanon, four Americans and a Frenchman had been kidnapped. One of the Americans had been released, but the rest were languishing in some prison, unless they were already dead. George knew that one of the Americans was the CIA head of station in Beirut.

The kidnappers were almost certainly a militant Muslim group called Hezbollah, "the Party of God," founded in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982. They had been bankrolled by Iran and trained by Iranian Revolutionary Guards. The United States regarded Hezbollah as an arm of the Iranian government, and classified Iran as a sponsor of terrorism, therefore a country that should not be allowed to buy weapons. George found that ironic, given that President Reagan was sponsoring terrorism in Nicaragua by funding the Contras, a brutal antigovernment group that carried out assassinations and kidnappings.

All the same, George was angry about what was happening in Lebanon. He wanted to send the marines into Beirut with all guns blazing. People should be taught the cost of abducting American citizens!

He felt this strongly, but he knew it was an infantile response. Just as the Israeli invasion had bred Hezbollah, so a violent American attack on Hezbollah would spawn more terrorism. Another generation of young Middle Eastern men would grow up swearing revenge upon America, the great Satan. George and all thinking people realized, when the blood cooled, that revenge was self-defeating. The only answer was to break the chain.

Which was easier said than done.

George was also aware that he had personally failed that test. He had punched Jasper Murray. Jasper was no wimp, but he had sensibly resisted the temptation to fight back. As a result the damage had been limited--no credit to George.

George was living with his mother again--at the age of forty-eight! Verena was still in the family home with little Jack. George presumed that Jasper spent nights there, but he did not know for sure. He was struggling to find a way to live with divorce--just like millions of other men and women.

It was Friday night, and he turned his mind to the weekend. He was on his way to Verena's house. They had settled into a routine. George picked up Jack on Friday evening and took him to Grandma Jacky's house for the weekend, then brought him back home on Monday morning. It was not how George had wanted to raise his child, but it was the best he could manage.

He thought about what they would do. Tomorrow maybe they would go to the public library together and get some bedtime storybooks. Church on Sunday, of course.

He arrived at the ranch-style house that used to be his home. Verena's car was not in the driveway: she was not home yet. George parked and went to the front door. From politeness he r

ang the bell, then let himself in with his key.

The house was quiet. "It's only me," he called out. There was no one in the kitchen. He found Jack sitting in front of the TV, alone. "Hi, buddy," he said. He sat down and put his arm around Jack's shoulders. "Where's Nanny Tiffany?"

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