seat worn into the surface by decades of sitters , and then she stripped Daniel naked and let him sit in the shallow edges . He dug his fingers into the wet sandy soil , pulled up roots , shouted at the small fish that darted in and out of the little pools . The other boys splashed and jumped and she trailed her feet in the water , a hand on her belly . Curled minnow hiding , a beginning in my middle . The baby was moving now . She had felt the little bubbling feeling a few times . It would be born just before Christmas , Dr . Falconer had told her when she went to see him .

“ Stop splashing me !” Andy yelled . He didn ’ t like to be splashed before he ’ d gotten wet . Sylvie met Scott ’ s eyes and shook her head . Reluctantly , he turned to Louis , who loved to be tackled and splashed and thrown into the water . She smiled , feeling satisfied and happy . For this moment , she was giving them exactly what they wanted and needed . For this moment , they were all where they wanted to be . They must have been there for an hour when she looked up and saw the man . He was standing up on the bank on the other side of the brook , staring down at them , a dark hat pulled down low over his face so that she knew he was male only from his body . He had a straggly dark beard and he was smoking a cigarette ; that was what made the boys look up , the smell of smoke on the wind . Despite the fact that she couldn ’ t see his face , she knew she had never seen him before . He was completely unknown to her . And he had come out of the dark acreage of the forest .

Scott froze where he was standing in the cold water and looked at her . Something in the downward cast of his gaze made her drop her eyes to the man ’ s hand .

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