Before Sunrise Read Online Free PDF Page A

Returning her daughter to her yellow-and-black
bumblebee-d --d ecorated bedroom, she carried Mackenzie to her twin-sized
canopy. She laid her down first, then scooped under her legs to
draw the covers over her.
    “ Now where’s this
monster?”
    “ Over there,” Mackenzie’s
tiny voice whispered. She pointed a small finger shakily toward the
closet door that had been left ajar.
    “ You told mommy that he hid
in your bed?”
    Mackenzie nodded. “Yes, but he went into the
closet when you came.”
    “ Ah. I see.” Kennedy’s
turned to look again. She peered at the darkness beyond the door.
To her surprise, tiny, beady eyes peered back out at her. She
approached and reached for the doorknob.
    “ No, mommy! Don’t.”
Mackenzie whined, yanking the covers over her head.
    “ It’s okay. I’m not afraid
of no ugly ole monster.” Kennedy winked. She snatched the door
open. A four-foot tall black Barbie dropped out. Phil had it
especially made for Mackenzie’s third birthday.
    “ Aha!” Kennedy said. “So
here’s the monster.”
    Mackenzie lowered the sheet slowly. She
blinked those long dark lashes over round brown eyes.
    “ Its just Lily. See?”
Kennedy brought the doll to the bed.
    Mackenzie’s smile lit her entire face. She
put her tiny fingers over her mouth to cover her giggles. “Oh!
Sorry, mommy. It’s just Lily,” came more giggles.
    Kennedy shook her head, and her pink satin
headscarf slipped back from her forehead. She reached behind her
and tied the knot down securely. “Somebody has a birthday coming up
soon,” Kennedy said, accepting the doll from her daughter, then
placing it in the rocking chair where Phil usually read to
Mackenzie.
    “ Yes, I’m gonna be five.”
Mackenzie held up her five tiny fingers.
    “ You sure are. On Christmas
Day, no less.”
    “ Do you think daddy knows I
will be five, mommy?” Mackenzie yawned and pointed to the picture
of Liam on her dresser. He wore khaki camouflage pants and a green
T-shirt over a solid, muscled chest. He posed next to a Jeep in the
middle of the desert somewhere. Even now, when her gaze fell upon
his picture, love surfaced and made Kennedy’s heart turn over. The
photo was the last sent by him before he died.
    Liam’s sly grin and clear blue eyes
glistened from under a camouflage cap. If it weren’t for her
friends and Phil, she wouldn’t have survived her grief, especially
since she’d been just three months pregnant when he’d been called
away.
    “ Yes. Daddy knows, silly
girl. Now give mommy a kiss goodnight.”
    “ Eskimo kiss,
mommy!”
    “ You bet.” Mac giggled when
Kennedy rubbed their noses together. She then kissed her brow
lovingly. “Love you, baby. Sleep tight.”
    “ How old is
daddy?”
    Kennedy smiled. “Where are all these
questions about daddy coming from?”
    “ I wanna know. He a hero,
ain’t he? Heroes have birthdays, too? And Christmas? Heroes have
Christmas.”
    Kennedy stared at her daughter. She looked
once more to the picture of Liam. Mac always talked about her
father in the present tense. Her little girl even told a few fables
over their imaginary relationship. But Kennedy never talked to her
about Liam unless Mac asked. She wondered about her daughter’s
curiosity. Phil said it was normal. Maybe it was. Still, it pained
her to think of Liam.
    If she reasoned through it, she could guess
the true source of Mackenzie’s curiosity. A soldier from Fort Bragg
had recently visited Mackenzie’s class and Mackenzie had become a
superstar when the soldier told the pre-K students that her dad had
been a hero. Mackenzie came home and forced Kennedy to pull out
every photo she had of Liam. Even Phil had joined in to tell the
few stories he knew of him, which made Kennedy smile, because she
knew the two men couldn’t stand each other the several times they’d
crossed paths.
    “ Oh, daddy is about 34,”
Kennedy said, smiling down at her.
    “ Ooooooo, he old!” her
daughter said, her eyes round as