On Thin Ice. Linda Hall

looked away. “I can’t do all this. Our son is dead. I’ve had enough pain,” she said.

      His head jerked up at her. He wasn’t sure he had heard her correctly. “Megan?” he said tremulously.

      “Our son was stillborn. There was a heart defect. He never had a chance. I thought you should know.”

      It felt like a punch, as if someone had hit him hard in the gut expelling all of his air. There just didn’t seem to be enough air in the room for him to find another breath. You never told me, he wanted to yell at her. Why didn’t you tell me? Why couldn’t I know this?

      “What…happened?” he asked.

      “I went to live with my godmother in Baltimore and it happened there. The baby was a boy. In my mind I’ve always called him Jack. After my father.”

      He said, “There was nothing the doctors could do?”

      Megan shook her head.

      “Megan.” He looked into her eyes where a tear welled in her left eye and another wandered down her cheek. She brushed angrily at them with her fists. He wanted to go to her, hold her in his arms and never let her go.

      I’ve had enough pain. That’s what she had said. She had lost her parents, his own brother had killed her grandmother and her son had died.

      “Megan,” he said. “I’m so very sorry.”

      How could he have done what he did to her? Oh Megan, Megan will you ever forgive me for putting my family, my brother, ahead of you and the love we had?