Magic Hour

Alice looked up at Julia, who nodded encouragingly. “Okay.”

Alice mouthed: Stay close. Julia nodded, smiling.

The two girls came together, began walking toward the school.

Ellie fell into step beside Julia. “Who’d have thought, huh? You and me walking our daughters to school together.”

“It’s the start of a new family tradition. So, how’s the new bathroom coming?”

“Cal ordered a Jacuzzi tub.” Ellie grinned. “It’s big enough for two. He’s going to start on the addition next spring. Three girls in our old bedroom is a nightmare. They fight every second.”

“Have you met your new neighbors?”

“Yeah. A couple from California. They have two sons who already follow the girls around like lovesick puppies. I find it hilarious. Cal is not so amused. But I think he’s glad Lisa made him sell the house. Too many memories.”

“He always belonged in our house anyway.”

“Yeah,” Ellie said, sounding like a woman head over heels in love. After two expensive weddings, complete with all the trimmings, she’d finally gotten lucky in a tiny chapel on the Vegas strip.

They crossed the street and climbed the steps to Rain Valley Elementary. All around them women were holding onto their children’s hands. Julia noticed the woman beside her, a beautiful redhead with bright, teary eyes. When she saw Julia look at her, the woman smiled. “It’s my first time,” she said. “Walking Bobby to school. I hope I don’t embarrass him by bursting into tears.”

“I know what you mean,” Julia said. It was hard to let Alice go out in the world, but she had to do it.

As they moved down the hallway, a bell rang. Kids and parents scattered, disappeared into classrooms.

Alice looked nervously at Julia. “Mommy?”

“I’ll sit right out front all day, waiting for you. If you get nervous, all you have to do is look out the window, okay?”

“’Kay.” She didn’t sound okay.

“You want me to walk you in?”

Alice looked a

t Sarah, who was motioning for her to hurry, then back at Julia. “No.” I’m a big girl, she mouthed.

“Come on, Alice,” Sarah said. “I’ll show you to Ms. Schmidt’s room.”

Following Sarah, Alice walked down the last bit of hallway to room 114. She gave Julia one last worried wave, then opened the door and went in. The door shut behind her.

Julia let out her breath in a sigh. She wanted to smile and cry at the same time.

“Yours can’t stand to leave and mine can’t wait.”

“Yours didn’t live through what Alice did. Maybe it is too early—”

Ellie looped an arm around Julia, drawing her close. “She’s going to be fine.”

Arm in arm, they walked out of the school and down the stairs and across the street to the park. There, they sat down on the cold wooden bench and stared out at the town that had shaped their lives. The maple tree that had first welcomed Alice was a blaze of bright yellow leaves.

“What are you going to do, now that she’s in school?” Ellie asked, leaning back. “Next year it’ll be all day.”

Lately, the question had arisen in Julia’s mind, too. She’d had to ask herself who she was now, what she wanted. The answers had surprised her. For almost half of her life she’d been driven by her career. It had meant everything to her. Yet, she’d lost it in a heartbeat. Perhaps she’d had some blame in that—she didn’t know, would never know if she could have changed Amber’s future—but the blame wasn’t what mattered; that was the lesson she’d learned. Life was impossibly fragile. If you were lucky enough to have a loving family, you had to hold onto them with infinite care. Never again would she be afraid of love. She turned to her sister. “Max asked me to marry him.”

Ellie shrieked and pulled Julia into her arms, holding her tightly.

“I thought I’d open an office here, too. Work part-time. There are kids who need me.”