After Sundown (19 page)

It was too late to find another date for the prom. She felt a little guilty over her anger; after all, poor Jimmy broke his leg. Yet, did he have to be so reckless the day before prom?

"Even our tragedies and mistakes have lessons, you just need to listen." Grandma Sarah spoke as she sat on Alex's double bed and watched her granddaughter hang the prom dress back in the closet.

"And what's my lesson? I should care more about Jimmy than about wearing a pretty dress?"

"Maybe. Your disappointment is natural; disappointment is part of life. It doesn't always go as we expect. But, usually it's for the best."

"I don't want you to think I'm awful, Grandma. Jimmy is okay and everything. He actually thought breaking his leg was cool! He's an idiot."

"So why did you agree to go with him in the first place?"

"Because I'm an idiot," Alex shrugged her shoulders
, sat on the bed
and leaned against her grandmother, "and he happens to be one of my best friends."

An hour later, the phone rang.

"Hi, Alex? This is Ryan, Ryan Keller. Jimmy's brother."

Alexandra thought a moment.
The older brother, the one in college, good looking and smart, and he is also my brother’s close friend.

"How's Jimmy?" Alexandra asked.

"He'll live. Unfortunately," he answered with a chuckle, "I'm visiting home for the weekend, and, well, Jimmy tells me he was to take you to prom. There's a tux hanging in his closet, and I think I can squeeze into it. How about I take you?"

Silence
, A
lexandra was speechless.

"Come on Alex, I missed my senior prom. Tommy told me you have a gorgeous dress."

More silence.
Oh my God! Tommy put him up to this! I’ll kill my brother. Ryan thinks I'm a charity case!

"Please Alex," he asked very sweetly, "I'll be able to torment Jimmy for years over how I stole his good-looking date because he was stupid enough to break his leg the day before prom."

Grandma Sarah was right
;
even bad things happen for a reason. Four years later, after graduating from college, Alexandra married Ryan Keller. Jimmy was the best man, and Ryan never let his younger brother forget how he stole Jimmy's prom date.

Part One

Twenty-Three Years Later

Beneath the frayed patchwork quilt, Alex drew her bare knees to her chest and protectively wrapped her arms around the bent limbs. Her tear-stained face peeked out from the quilt's folds as she rested her head wearily against the paneled headboard. The early dawn's sunlight began to slip in at random points on the covered bedroom window, finding
its
way through the ill-fitting slats of the vertical blinds.

All was quiet. Alex was alone in the dark room. Her eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness. She suspected her sister, Kate was sleeping in the guestroom. It had been hours since she heard any sounds from the house.

Alex closed her eyes and settled down against a warm pile of pillows. She had been awake and sobbing for what seemed like an eternity. Had it only been yesterday morning, when everything was still good and sweet? How could so many lives change in a
n instant
?

Yesterday Morning

Ryan turned off the annoying alarm of the clock radio. Alex stretched, reluctant to leave the relaxing bliss of sleep. Even with her eyes closed, she could tell by his movements that Ryan was already dressed.

"Are you going to sleep all day?" came Ryan's familiar greeting. He delivered the question in his typical playful and good-natured fashion.

"If you join me," Alex responded lazily, opening her eyes.

"Promises, promises," Ryan chuckled, then dropped a quick kiss on his wife’s forehead and left the bedroom to make coffee.

Twenty minutes later, they sat at the breakfast bar, fully dressed and discussing the day's agenda. Ryan was in especially good humor. He usually was in the morning. It was his time of day. While sipping the steaming mug of coffee, Alex fondly observed her husband as he enthusiastically discussed ordinary subjects.

His raspy laugh was infectious, and Alex found the lines around his eyes charming when they crinkled and deepened during laughter. A woman could not get away with those lines, Alex thought with a sigh. His reddish-brown hair had begun to thin in his early twenties, and now in his mid-forties, the top of his head was nearly bald. When combing what remained of his hair, Ryan would shrug and say, "At least I haven't gone gray.” His lack of vanity was one of the many things Alex loved about her husband.

"I’ve some errands to run this morning. Do you want to go with me or take your own car?" Ryan asked as he rinsed his coffee cup in the sink and placed it in the dishwasher.

"I need to get there early. Payroll’s today. I'll just take my own," Alex reached for her purse; it was still sitting on the kitchen counter, where she placed it the night before. She opened it and began searching for her keys.

"Do you think you can pick up some quarters at the bank? We need a couple hundred," Alex asked, her gaze still focused in the open purse.

"No way," Ryan teased. He meant yes. Alex understood. Ryan kissed her goodbye and promised to see her before
noon
. He didn’t keep his promise.

  Later, Alex could not recall the exact words of the police officer. The entire moment was lost in a haze of disbelief and shock.
A senseless car accident. It wasn't Ryan's fault.
Yet what did it matter whose fault it was? He was gone.

At first, Alex refused to believe. It was a mistake, a sick joke, anything but the truth. She didn't cry. She was angry.
This is silly
, she thought. People did not have fatal car accidents in their own neighborhoods.

It was not until she saw his body that reality dawned. The unimaginable had happened. By this time, her sister, Kate, and her brother, Tommy, were by her side.

Alex retreated to her bedroom and began to cry. Then, she began to sob. The tears came without reprieve. Sobs rocked her body until she could not stop them.

At the Lucky Lady Restaurant and Saloon, owned by Alex and Ryan Keller, the grieving staff pulled together. They took turns using the telephone, calling family and friends of their deceased employer. They vowed to stand by Alex's side, protect her when necessary and watch over the business that was the livelihood for them all.

Facing the Dawn

Alex pulled the quilt tight around her weary body. Yesterday morning was part of another world. In some strange way, Adam was still a part of that other world, for he still believed his father was alive. She was glad he was on the fishing trip and could have a few more hours without the sorrow. There would be plenty of time for the grief. In truth, she wanted time to pull herself together. Adam would need her strength and, currently, she had nothing to give.

She closed her eyes, and for the first time in more than twenty hours, she began to sleep. In her sleep, she began to dream. The dream was no more than a ghostly memory of the long-ago first date with her husband, Ryan.

Alexandra
'
s eyes fluttered open and she glanced at the clock:
seven a.m.
She closed her eyes again and thought about Grandma Sarah.
I
'
ll never see a reason for Ryan
'
s death
, Alexandra thought to herself as she drifted back to sleep.

There are always lessons
. Alexandra could hear her grandmother
'
s voice.
Life would be nothing more than random acts if we didn
'
t have the lessons. Ignoring them is what makes senseless tragedies, senseless.

Rumor of a Death

Emily's curiosity got the best of her. Patience was not a virtue she claimed. Tenacity enabled her to become the executive assistant to one of the most powerful men in Coulson. The fact that her employer’s grandfather,
Randall
Coulson, was the town's founder and namesake boosted her feeling of self-importance.

Twenty minutes earlier, her employer, Russell Coulson, instructed her to call Joe Carter, Coulson's Chief of Police. As soon as Carter was on the line, Russell wanted the call transferred to his office.

Emily sat at her large desk in the outer office, restlessly tapping her manicured nails against the plastic outer edge of her computer's keyboard. Her shrewd gray-blue eyes stared at the multi-lined telephone. Ten minutes earlier, she routed Carter's call to Russell's private office. The light to his phone line had gone off five minutes earlier; he was no longer on the
phone
. Russell should have called her into his office by now.

With an impatient shrug, she pushed her chair away from the desk and stood up. She did not intend to wait a minute longer for his summons. Clad in a stylish gray business suit, she marched to the door, which separated Russell’s office from her own. Gently tossing back her shortly cut crop of velvety black hair, she eased the door open.

Russell's back faced her. He stood at the far side of the spacious office, staring out the large picture window that looked out on downtown Coulson. He wore tan slacks, a dark blue golf shirt tucked in at his belted waist, and brown loafers. He stood akimbo, silent and thoughtful. Emily noticed his light brown hair, tinged in gray, had recently been trimmed.