Darwin's Children
Chapter One
Spotsylvania County, Virginia Morning lay dark and quiet around the house. Mitch Rafelson stood with coffee cup in hand
on the back porch, dopey from just three hours of sleep. Stars still pierced the sky. A few persistent moths and bugs
buzzed around the porch light. Raccoons had been at the garbage can in back, but had left, whickering and scuffling,
hours ago, discouraged by lengths of chain.
The world felt empty and new.
Mitch put his cup in the kitchen sink and returned to the bedroom. Kaye lay in bed, still asleep. He adjusted his tie
in the mirror above the dresser. Ties never looked right on him. He grimaced at the way his suit hung on his wide
shoulders, the gap around the collar of his white shirt, the length of sleeve visible beyond the cuff of his coat.
There had been a row the night before. Mitch and Kaye and Stella, their daughter, had sat up until two in the morning
in the small bedroom trying to talk it through. Stella was feeling isolated. She wanted, needed to be with young people
like her. It was a reasonable position, but they had no choice.
Not the first time, and likely not the last. Kaye always appro ... read full excerpt from Darwin's Children ebook
