Intrusion: A Novel by Mary McCluskey

Author:Mary McCluskey
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781503953062
Published: 2016-06-30T23:00:00+00:00

Sarah followed through as she had promised: a messenger delivered the adoption charity details later in the afternoon, just an hour after Kat had been driven home in the Mercedes by Sarah’s driver. A card was attached to the package, referencing someone named Elizabeth Brady. Sarah had scrawled a note: Liz Brady was the person for Kat to contact; she should call Mrs. Brady if she had questions, but she must let Sarah know as soon as she and Scott decided to go ahead.

Kat studied the glossy brochure carefully. It was professionally produced with full-color photographs. It seemed that the charity coordinated the adoption process and also, if the mother-to-be had no insurance, helped with medical costs. There were nurses available, doctors on call. It was stressed throughout the brochure that all fees were paid by the charity, all medical costs funded by it, too; there was no cost to the adoptive parents. It was clear, Kat concluded, that this was no buy-a-baby scheme. She wondered if the goal was a donation to the charity. Certainly, she and Scott could afford to contribute something. It seemed wrong to accept so much without making any payment. The coordinator—in this case, Elizabeth Brady—would be on call 24–7 to answer questions and allay fears. A medical nurse would also answer questions by phone. It was an impressive setup.

Kat still had the package open on the coffee table when she heard Scott’s car out front. Heart racing, she gathered the papers together, jogged upstairs, and placed them at the very bottom of her sweater drawer before hurrying to the window to check on Scott.

Yes, there was his car, parked in the driveway. She wondered why he was home so early when the closing was imminent, and she watched him as he climbed out of the car and began to pull boxed files out of the backseat. Something caught his eye then. He paused, leaving the files on the edge of the car trunk, and walked to the hedge. Kat studied him, puzzled, as he lifted an old basketball that had been hidden inside a dried-out shrub. He stood for a moment, twirling the ball absently in one hand. Then, he looked up at the basketball hoop above the garage door, ignored now, unused.

Kat, seeing the shadow that crossed his face, imagined the memories going through his mind, saw them herself, heard the same sounds: the thump-thump on summer evenings as father and son played ball in the driveway while she cooked dinner—their voices, loud, exuberant, floating on the summer air.

She remembered how, finally, tired of calling out that the meal was ready, that it would be cold or spoiled—and annoyed at being ignored, or fobbed off with Two more minutes, two more minutes—she would march out to the yard, try to intercept the ball herself, to call a halt to the game. She had done it once or twice, too. Neither her son, nor her husband, wanting to actually knock her over.

“Dinner!” she would yell, holding the ball high and victorious.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.