The moon rose behind them and threw shadows into the trees. A satellite crossed the sky. Stevie watched as Melissa’s dark eyes followed it higher. And then she noticed the rocker was still moving and realized that she was not the one driving it.
‘‘I’ll get dinner going,’’ she said, reluctantly pulling her hand free. There would be other chances to hold hands; she would make sure of that. She stood, her tingling legs barely able to support her. The rocker continued to move. She backed up slowly across the porch, supporting herself against the shingled wall, unable to take her eyes off that slowly moving chair. A month earlier a rocking chair moving like that wouldn’t have meant anything to her.
She was learning.
CHAPTER 80
Boldt slipped into bed, believing her asleep. He felt absolutely exhausted, and yet his mind was spinning. He wasn’t sure he’d find sleep himself.
She said, ‘‘There’s nothing there.’’
‘‘Where?’’ he asked, his eyes still not accustomed to the dark.
‘‘The tests. They came back negative.’’
Boldt switched on the bedside light. Both he and Liz squinted. He switched it back off. ‘‘You took the tests?’’
‘‘We can exist in separate beliefs,’’ she said. ‘‘There’s nothing wrong with that.’’
‘‘A leap of faith,’’ he whispered, remembering what Daphne had said.
She rolled away from him, but backed up to where her skin met his and together they made warmth. He slipped his arm over her and held her close.
She fell asleep first, her breathing stretching out, her ribs rising and falling against his arm. Her body twitched several times and then she was still again, her steady breathing the only sound.
Boldt dozed off after a while. Pulled down by a weighty fatigue, the darkness claimed him and he found a few hours’ peace.
