Chapter 42
It was Sheriff-Mayor Stackhouse’s turn to cook and she made her specialty—Chinese takeout. I returned home as they were setting out the boxes.
Ronnie noticed my face and the six-pack of beer and said, “Uh oh. What’s afoot?”
“Not every case has a good ending,” I told her.
“How so?”
“I just lost our favorite preschool teacher.”
“Mackenzie,” she said.
“I know.”
“We loved her. Kix will be so sad.”
“I know,” I said.
Kix looked up from his toys. I have a teacher? Who?
We set out plates and arranged boxes of food for everyone to take what they needed. As we did, Noelle made a little squeak and dropped onto her chair.
“Oh. Oh. Kicking,” she said. “The baby is kicking!”
She grabbed Manny and Ronnie’s hands and laid them flat on her stomach, which was the size of a volleyball. Ronnie’s eyes grew to be almost the same circumference.
“There’s something living inside of you,” she said. “I mean, I knew there was, but there’s a baby inside of you!”
Stackhouse, Timothy August, and I took turns, feeling for the kick, though I never felt anything. Ronnie made room for us in the crowd around Noelle.
Manny, however, never took his hand off. He stayed beside her with his eyes closed.
The End