The Son, The Sudarium Trilogy - Book Two Read Free

make-up she’d bought for the wedding, Mischievous Minx, was running badly, which made her weep even more.
    Surreptitiously, Billy slipped her a handkerchief. Perhaps he wasn’t such a schmo, after all.
    “I now pronounce you man and wife,” announced Father Messina, as if to an entire church congregation, and Teri and Billy clapped long and loudly. Seemingly unaware of their two guests, Hannah and Jimmy gazed at one another, until Father Messina finally whispered to the groom, “Uh hum, you may kiss the bride now, Jimmy.” Jimmy leaned forward and pressed his lips against Hannah’s so gently that Teri found herself thinking it was their first kiss ever.
    There followed toasts with apple cider and then Hannah cut a day-old crumb cake that Teri had pinched from the diner that morning.
    “To the newlyweds,” mumbled Billy, dribbling a little cider down his plaid shirt.
    When Jimmy walked his brother to his car a little later, Teri finally had a few moments alone with Hannah, who was cradling the child in her arms.
    “You haven’t told me his name.”
    “I know this sounds silly, but…we haven’t named him yet. We decided to wait until the ceremony was over.”
    “Well, it’s over.”
    “I know” was all Hannah said.
    “I guess there’s still plenty of time.” She watched Billy’s car bounce down the gutted road. “It was all over the news, you know.”
    “What?”
    “The minivan crashing through the ice and into the lake. They called it an accident. It was so much worse in person than they reported on television.”
    “You saw it all happen, Teri?”
    “I was standing there on the shore, praying for you and Father Jimmy to reach the other side first. All of a sudden, there was this … well, it was like a crack of thunder, and the ice opened up and swallowed the minivan that was chasing you. It was pretty horrible.”
    Hannah shivered and pulled the baby closer to her. “Jimmy told me not to turn around and look, but I knew what was happening. I heard the noise…I suppose they all drowned.”
    Teri glanced down evasively at the embers in the fireplace. “That’s what they thought, anyway.”
    “What do you mean, ‘That’s what they thought?’”
    “On the television. They said there were only two victims.”
    Hannah’s mouth dropped open. “But there were three people in that car.”
    “Don’t I know it? I’m not sure you want to hear this now, but the driver survived. The doctor. Somehow he managed to get out of the minivan before it sank. I saw him crawl back onto the ice. I didn’t stick around to see what happened next and the news reports have made no mention of survivors. But I think he’s still alive, Hannah.”
    Disbelief came over the girl’s features and a chalky white color replaced the flush of her cheeks. “No, that can’t be! He wants the baby. He’ll try to take away the baby.”
    “I know he will, hon. That’s why I thought you and Jimmy ought to know. Doctor Johanson never drowned that afternoon in Lake Wintucket.”
    It was all still so recent. The escape from those crazy people Hannah was carrying the baby for, then the terrifying events on the frozen lake. With a shudder, Teri recalled all that had happened just a week ago. “I hope we never lay eyes on that sick fuck again.”

2:4
     
    Dear Monsignor Gallagher,
    It was never my intention to deceive you. Deception is not part of my character and I hope it never will be. All of my life I have felt inexorably pulled toward the Church, my life choice. My older brother once said to me, “How lucky you are to know what you want to do with yourself. I doubt myself every day.” I was surprised to realize he thought me lucky. But perhaps I am. I have always known where I wanted to go.
    I am not sure where that certainty came from. My family is not religious. The attraction to the Church was my own from such an early age that my parents saw it as a “hobby,” a phase I would outgrow. Like long hair and guitar