Waiting (26 page)

“Is she pretty?” he says.

“Beautiful.”

I can see my breath. I sit up, scoot down the bed till I sit right next to my brother. I kiss his cheek and his face is as soft as London Faith’s. “She’s just like you.”

Zach shakes his head and tears fall in his lap, shining, diamond chips, then disappear.

“I’ll do everything I can for her,” I say.

“I know you will, London,” Zach says. And then he sobs.

“I miss you all so much,” he says. “I miss you all so much.”

I’m crying too. Crying like nothing could stop me. “I miss you too, Zach. We all do.”

“She’ll never know me,” he says, and that makes me cry even harder.

“I’ll tell her everything,” I say.

“Everything?” he asks. He hesitates. “Even the end?”

I swallow. “When she’s ready.” My words come out like a puff of frozen steam.

“I love you, London,” he says. “More than you can know.”

And then he’s gone, and I awake with a start.

“London?”

Daddy stands
in my room, just in the doorway. The moon is so bright I can see he wears striped pajamas.

“You okay, London?”

I’m crying, hard. I have to grab at air to speak. “Yes.”

Daddy pads into my room, and I see that he’s put on his slippers.

He sits on the bed, exactly where Zach sat, and I pull the covers to my chin. We’re quiet for a long time. Then I say,

“I think we’re going to make it, Daddy.”

He lets out a sigh, bows his head like he’s praying. “You think so, London?”

My throat closes up, but I manage to say, “Yes, Daddy, I do.” I pull in a deep breath, hoping to Jesus, my good Jesus, that I am right. Then I whisper, “Let me tell you about his little girl.”

CAROL LYNCH WILLIAMS
is the author of more than one dozen books. Ms. Williams holds an MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and she received the PEN American Foundation Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Award for
Glimpse. She teaches writing and helped develop the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conference (read more at her blog,
throwingupwords.wordpress.com
). She lives with her family in Utah. Visit her at
CarolLynchWilliams.com
.