Submerged

“You haven’t answered my question, Becca.”

With a heavy sigh, she faced him. “Fine. You can have Colton for the week. But not a day more.” A grin spread across his face and she scowled. “And please don’t go getting any ideas about changing the custody agreement after that, Wesley. The kids need stability.”

“Thanks,” he said.

“You can thank me by making sure you look after him.” She hesitated. “I guess I should tell you I’m going away for a couple of days. The kids will be staying with my sister.”

“When are you leaving?”

“Tomorrow evening. After supper. I’ll be back Monday afternoon.”

“That’s kind of last minute, don’t you think?”

Her eyes narrowed. “I decided to do it today. And I do not owe you any advanced notice. I’m telling you now.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. So where you going?”

“Cadomin. You know I always wanted to see the bat cave.”

“I was going to take you.”

She shrugged and climbed into the car. “But you didn’t.”

“I could.” He regarded her with suspicion as he held onto the door. “Why aren’t you taking the kids?”

“They have school on Monday.”

“Who are you going with?”

“Me, myself and I.” She scowled. “I’m going alone, Wesley. I need a break, so I’m taking a few days off.”

“I’d babysit the kids, but I’ll be busy this weekend.”

She resisted the urge to tell him it wasn’t babysitting when the kids were his own. “It’s already arranged, Wesley. Kelly’s expecting them.”

“Doesn’t she already have her hands full?”

Wesley was right. Her sister did have her hands full. Kelly was happily married with four kids―eight-year-old Evan and five-year-old triplets, Aynsley, Megan and Jacob.

“Kelly can handle it. She’s a great mother.”

Rebecca wouldn’t admit it, but she envied her sister. Kelly was married to the perfect man, an electrical engineer who doted on her and their kids. Steve was highly respected, financially stable and he would never lay an angry hand on anyone. Except maybe Wesley. More than once, Steve had offered to help Rebecca “toss that bastard out on his ass"―or words to that effect.

“Well, I’ll have Colton’s visit to look forward to this summer,” Wesley said.

She was starting to have second thoughts about that.

Grasping the door handle to close it, she eyed him. “We have to go.”

“Have fun in Cadomin.” He didn’t sound too sincere.

She aimed a tight smile at him. “I will.”

As she pulled the car away from the curb, Rebecca peered into the rearview mirror. Wesley stood on the sidewalk, watching her drive away.

“Did you say yes, Mom?” Colton asked.

“Yes.”

In the back seat, her son did a seated jig and jabbed Ella in the side.

“Mommy, Colton’s poking me.”

“Don’t worry, Ella,” Colton said, “I’ll be outta your hair for a whole week.”

Rebecca peered into the mirror. “How did you know it was for a week?”

“Dad told me last weekend he was gonna ask you.”

Her lips curled. “You should’ve said something to me.”

“Nah, Dad said he’d ask you himself. And I didn’t wanna jinx things.”

Colton stuffed two ear buds into his ears, then sat back with a grin. She watched for a minute as he bobbed his head to whatever tune he was listening to on the iPod his father had bought him for his birthday last year.

It was going to kill her to be away from her son for an entire week.

You’ll still have Ella.

As if on cue, her beautiful daughter giggled in the backseat.

Come July, Rebecca would keep busy with Ella and enjoy some real mommy-daughter time. But that wouldn’t stop her from missing Colton. A week was a long time.

Too long.

Depressed, Rebecca pulled onto Whitemud Drive and headed for home, all the time wondering if she should cancel the summer plans with Wesley.

“You can do this,” she whispered. “It’s only a week.”

It would be the longest week of her life. After it was over, she’d convince Wesley to go back to their original summer plan. Alternating weekends during the summer holidays. There was no way on earth she was ever going to be separated from either of her children for longer than that.

Colton and Ella are my life and soul.

“Can we get pizza to celebrate?” Colton asked.

“Sure. Pepperoni and mushroom?”

“Yeah.”

“With double cheese?” Ella piped up.

“With double cheese.”

Somehow, pizza made the world seem right again, and Rebecca smiled. She was in the proverbial driver’s seat, in control of her life again.

She should have realized that life is never predictable.

Chapter Three

Edson, AB – Thursday, June 13, 2013 – 4:55 PM

The afternoon had crawled past at worm speed. Using the Kindle application on his iPhone, Marcus downloaded an eBook on sleep disorders and spent the time between calls reading about somniphobia―the fear of sleeping—something Leo was adamant Marcus had.

He yawned and stretched his legs beneath the cramped desk. Three calls had come in during the first three hours of his shift, and neither had warranted emergency vehicles.