Two days later
Friday night, Christmas Eve
December 24 – 11:35 p.m. MST
Denver, CO
Alex opened the door to their bedroom and smiled at what she saw. John had gone up early to read in bed, but clearly the trip had ulterior motives. He was fast asleep with the babies in the center of the bed. He wore a pair of pajamas that matched the babies’ onesies. The babies wore caps about the color of his dark curly hair. As if they were her puppies, Maggie was wrapped around the twins. They were so adorable; Alex stood in the doorway to watch them for a while.
Alex reached over Maggie to scoop up the girl with her left hand. The baby screeched, and John woke with a start.
“Now you see my difficulty,” John said.
Alex set her daughter down and climbed onto the bed. Maggie yawned and moved over.
“I brought them here for a little snuggle time while I read,” John said. “And then, we were trapped.”
“By the bed?” Alex grinned at him.
“By my inability to let them go,” John said.
“Or carry them together,” Alex said.
“I had to wrestle with Samantha to get them up here,” John said.
She smiled.
“What?” he asked.
“I’m just glad she and Raz are . . . talking,” Alex said.
“Talking is good,” John smiled.
“Come on, you know we’ve been warned about this,” Alex said. “We need to move the babies.”
“Suffocation and all,” John nodded.
John picked up his baby girl and set her in Alex’s left arm. He picked up the boy. They whimpered, but didn’t wake. She checked her girl’s diaper and kissed her forehead before setting her on her biliblanket next to her brother in the crib.
“Tell me the truth,” John said. “You love our girl more.”
“No,” Alex said. “She’s smaller, and I worry about her more.”
John held his arms out and she walked into them. They leaned against each other in exhausted bliss.
“Are you . . . ?” he started at the same time she said, “What . . . ?”
They laughed.
“Tired,” she said. “Sorry. I was looking forward to our usual romp.”
“I was, as well,” he said. “This parenting thing is putting a crimp in our lovemaking.”
She smiled.
“You’re right,” he said. “I don’t care a bit.”
She laughed.
“Are you really okay with . . . ?” Alex asked.
“Please don’t ask me again,” John said. “I learned a long time ago that as long as I have you, the details of everything else are much, much less important. Our children are truly a dream come true for me. Thank you for them.”
“What about controlling everything?” Alex asked.
“What haven’t I controlled?” John smiled.
“Getting the babies,” she said.
“After that,” he said.
“Ahh.”
She leaned against him. He kissed her forehead.
“Did you dream up a name for them?” Alex asked.
“No,” he said. “You?”
“No,” Alex said.
They laughed.
“We need to rest,” he said. “Tomorrow is our babies’ first Christmas.”
He stripped off his pajamas and got into bed. She went in the bathroom. When she came out, he was sound asleep with Maggie tucked up close to him. She went to the babies’ crib to look at them one last time before going to bed.
Standing in the dark, she remembered that her mother had given her some parenting book before they left the Christmas Eve party that night. If she remembered, she’d look at it tomorrow. She took off her ever-present sling, slipped off her clothes, and got in bed.
She closed her eyes and lay in the dark under the warm covers.
Something inside nagged at her.
Her head hammered with pain. A forgotten memory was trying to make her look at her mother’s stupid book.
Jesse hovered nearby.
She got out of bed and grabbed a fleece sweater. She wiggled into the fleece without her sling before taking the book from her bag. Sitting in the stuffed green chair next to the babies’ crib, she clicked on the soft reading light. John didn’t awaken.
Her fingers automatically opened the book. She glanced at Jesse, and he nodded.
She looked down. Shocked, she looked up to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. She was still sitting in her bedroom, next to her babies, while her husband and dog slept.
This was no parenting book.
She was holding Josef Yakovlev’s first printing of The Gadfly.
She was holding the original printing of The Gadfly that Cooper’s father had borrowed.
The fuchsia sticky note stuck on the front read:
I heard you and your father talking about this book on the plane and remembered I had a copy. Love, Mom
Alex flipped through the book. The title pages and margins were annotated in an older, European handwriting. A second person had written detailed notes in a small, tight military hand on the last four pages. Unable to take in what she saw, she looked up at Jesse.
“Is this what I think it is?” Alex asked in sign language.
“The reason they killed everyone,” Jesse said in Spanish.
She gave him a solemn nod. For a moment, she felt an overwhelming sense of relief. She finally knew why she had been targeted.
“You have to admit, Alexandra,” Jesse said. “We’re really going to fuck their plans.”
She laughed.
“Love?” John sat up in bed. “What is it?”
Alex glanced at Jesse. He winked at her and disappeared.
“Just some very good news,” she said.
“Come to bed, and I’ll give you some more good news,” John said.
“Oh yeah?” Alex tucked the book into her sock drawer. “What’s that?”
“I’m quite refreshed from my little nap.”
“That is good news,” she said and pulled off her fleece sweater
He lifted the covers. Slipping in next to him, she caught a glimpse of the clock.
“Look, it’s Christmas,” she said. “Merry Christmas, my love.”
“Oh love,” he moved on top of her. “You’re the best present I’ve ever received.”
F