Cross
Chapter One
"I'M PREGNANT, ALEX."
Everything about the night is so very clear to me. Still is, after
all this time, all these years that have passed, everything that's
happened, the horrible murderers, the homicides solved and sometimes
not.
I stood in the darkened bedroom with my arms lightly circling my
wife Maria's waist, my chin resting on her shoulder. I was
thirty-one then, and had never been happier at any time of my life.
Nothing even came close to what we had together, Maria, Damon,
Jannie, and me.
It was the fall of 1993, a million years ago it seems to me now.
It was also past two in the morning, and our baby Jannie had the
croup something terrible. Poor sweet girl had been up for most of
the night, most of the last few nights, most of her young life.
Maria was gently rocking Jannie in her arms, humming "You Are So
Beautiful," and I had my arms around Maria, rocking her.
I was the one who'd gotten up first, but I couldn't seem to get
Jannie back to sleep no matter what tricks I tried. Maria had come
in and taken the baby after an hour or so. We both had work early in
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