The World Never Ended novel · Chapter 24 of 24

Chapter 24: Walking Out

The sun came up over the compound fence a little after six.

The crew had gone home, one by one, with their hands shaken and their eyes red.

The medic had hugged me for a full minute.

The hazmat man had asked, awkwardly, whether he could keep the leather jacket.

I told him he could keep anything he liked.

The detective stopped by the gate on his way out.

He had a list, and he read it to me with his eyes on the paper.

"Kidnapping, false imprisonment, fraud, attempted murder," he said. "Your husband's lawyer has already quit."

"And Audra?"

"She'll plead, and she'll testify. The nurse too."

"Good."

"Ma'am, I've been on this job twenty-two years. I'd like to say I'm sorry."

"Thank you," I said. "Go and write it down."

He almost smiled, and he went.

Shane crossed the yard to the empty van, which the officers had finished with, and leaned into the back.

He came out holding a yellow stuffed duck by one wing.

My daughter saw it from my hip and made a noise I had not heard from her yet, a shriek of pure joy.

I set her down, and she ran at him with both arms out.

He crouched and let her take it, and she squeezed it against her face and then, after thinking it over, squeezed his beard.

"Ow," Shane said, gravely.

My son watched all of this with his hands in his pockets.

Then he looked at the sling on my chest.

"Is that the baby?"

"That's your sister."

"She's very small."

"So were you."

He thought about that.

"Can I hold her?"

I sat down on the gravel and put the baby in his arms, with my hands underneath.

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