The Night's Legacy Read Free Page A

out, “ Lois!  Oh, my baby.”
    She almost didn’t recognize her mother.  Other than a few rusty strands, Mom’s hair had turned gray.  The lines in her face had deepened and she had the beginnings of a turkey neck.  Her eyes were the same, though, the same watery blue eyes that had always forgiven her.
    The handcuffs made it difficult to hug her mother back.  Lois had to settle for patting Mom on the back with one hand.  Mom didn’t seem to mind as she squeezed Lois with enough pressure to crack a few ribs.  “I was so worried, sweetheart.  I thought I might never see you again.”
    “It’s all right, Mom.  I’m fine.  More or less.”  She jingled the handcuff for emphasis.
    Mom let her go and then turned the chair around to sit down.  Although she had never raised her voice or hit Lois, she employed a far more subtle weapon Lois had dubbed “the Glare.”  It was simply that, a relentless glare with all of the authority Mom could muster behind it.  Even now at twenty-three, Lois still looked down at her feet as if she had broken the cookie jar in the kitchen.  “What did you think running away was going to accomplish?” she asked.
    “I don’t know.  I just needed to get away for a while.”
    “You could have called.  Or wrote.”  The Glare broke down as Mom began to cry.  “I thought you might be dead.”
    Lois wished at that moment she weren’t handcuffed so that she could hug her mother or at least pat Mom’s shoulder.  There was nothing she could do from the gurney though except to say, “I’m sorry, Mom.  I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
    “I just wish I could understand why you would do such a thing.  You know I love you, don’t you?”
    “Yes, Mom.”
    Mom reached into her purse for a handkerchief.  She dabbed at her eyes until the tears dried and the Glare returned.  “Why would you do something so terrible, Lois?”
    “Like I said, I just needed to get away—”
    “I’m talking about the car you crashed.  You could have killed someone driving like that.  You’re very lucky it was just a sign and a sprained ankle.”
    “I’m sorry, Mom.  I didn’t want them to take me in.  I knew they’d call you and I wasn’t ready for that.”
    “You must think I’m some kind of monster.”
    “No, Mom.  It’s not your fault.  It’s mine.”
    “I’d really like to understand all of this.”  She reached out to touch the tangled hair that was the same color as Mom’s used to be.  “I want to understand you .  We used to be so close, didn’t we?  You used to be my sweet little girl.  Now I don’t know who you are.”
    “Mom—”
    “We’ll talk about it on the way home.”
    “Home?  I’m not—”
    “I’ve talked it over with the police.  You can either be released into my custody or they’ll try you here for resisting arrest.  The maximum sentence is five years in prison.”
    Lois didn’t need long to think it over.  She had no way of winning the case, not when the deputy probably had it all on tape.  The judge wasn’t likely to go easy on her with her record either, especially not in Texas.  “How soon can we leave?”

Chapter 2
    It didn’t take Lois long to pack up her life.  Seven years on the run had taught her how to pack light.  She didn’t keep any mementoes or photo albums of where she had been.  Even her memories of these years had blended together to become indistinct from one another.
    Mom of course couldn’t resist being a mom about the room.  She held up the comforter and stuck a finger through a cigarette burn.  “Did you do that?”
    “No.  I don’t smoke, Mom.”
    “That’s good, sweetheart.”  Mom clucked her tongue.  “When was the last time anyone cleaned up this room?”
    “Probably sometime in the Clinton administration,” Lois said.
    “How could you stay in a place like this?”
    Lois shrugged.  “You don’t really notice after a while.”
    Mom shook her head but didn’t say anything else.