Fire and Ice

She sat at the kitchen table, her hands tapping the woodwork, the rain tapping against the window. The kitchen clock across the hall struck twelve. It was midnight.

            Tip-toeing out of the kitchen, the woman padded across the hall barefooted, creeping silently into her daughter’s room. The eight-year-old figure was sprawled across the bed, clutching a ragged teddy bear, a frown on her face, in a light sleep.

            The woman heard a banging noise that seemed to emit from the kitchen, and sighed. She shut her daughter’s bedroom door quietly and walked back to the kitchen.

            She stood in the kitchen doorway, facing the man who now stood there, sopping wet from the rain and gripping a barley sack.

            “You’re late,” said the woman. “Again.”

            “The police were right on my tail,” the man answered. “I had to cut through Vermont to get here.”

            The woman shook her head, the circles under her eyes very prominent.

            The man broke the silence. “Is Jackie asleep?”

            “Yes. Brian, it’s midnight.”

            “I’m…sorry. You know I’m doing this for us.”

            “For us? You couldn’t have worked for the money? You had to steal it?”

            “I’m trying, Kerry, I’m trying! It’s been so ha-“

            “You’re always on the run, not here when your daughter actually needs you, when she’s going through therapy, or when she’s screaming from pain.”

            Kerry did not raise her voice, but Brian felt a lump rise in his throat when he saw the hurt increasing in Kerry’s eyes with every word she said.

            “This will pay for her medication,” he said, nodding at the sack.

            Kerry shook her head again. “That’s stolen money, Brian. I don’t want it.”

            “Daddy?”

            Kerry turned around to see her daughter standing behind her, brown eyes gazing up at her father excitedly.

            Brian craned his neck, but his wife did not budge, blocking his view.

            “Kerry, let me see my daughter,” he said quietly.

            Kerry sighed but obliged.

            “Hey, princess,” said Brian, sweeping Jackie up into a hug. “How are you feeling?”

            Jackie giggled. “I’m not hurting right now! Daddy, you’re all wet.”

            Brian smiled, and gazed into the girl’s brown eyes, an exact copy of his.

            “I sure am! That’s because I was getting money to help pay to make you better!”

            Jackie’s eyes managed to twinkle even in the dim light of the kitchen, and Brian couldn’t help noticing how beautiful she was.

            “You’re gonna make me better?” she asked, with a hopeful expression.

            “Of course you’ll get better!” said Brian, kissing Jackie’s forehead.

            “So are you going to stay with us this time?”

            Brian deliberately averted Kerry’s gaze.

            “I’m sorry, baby, but I can’t stay with you this time. I have to go away again, but I promise I’m going to come back real soon. I promise.”

            Jackie’s face fell, but she smiled bravely, her face contorting slightly.

            “That’s okay, daddy. I love you.”

            “I love you too, Jackie, so, so much.”

            Jackie yawned.

            “You’re tired, sweetie,” said Kerry, resuming her original stance. “Go back to bed.”

            As soon as the child left the room, Kerry rounded on Brian.

            “How can you make promises to come and see us when you’re an outlaw?!” she hissed. “You keep saying that her cancer will go away, that you’ll take her out to these fantastic places!”

            “I know,” Brian started, but his wife interrupted him.

            “Then you don’t show up, and she just gets more and more upset each time. I hold her at night, telling her that you’ll probably be here the next day. I soothe her as she cries to sleep. I haven’t seen you nurture her at all in the six years you’ve been a parent.

            “This is it. I filed for divorce today. The house has been sold. We’re moving tomorrow.”

            Brian’s heart broke, and his eyes filled with tears.

            “No… No, Kerry, please, don’t do this to me! Kerry, I love you! I love Jackie! More than anything else in the world!”

            “If you really loved us, you wouldn’t have let your daughter down!” Kerry spat.

            Brian’s expression crumpled, and the tears that had been threatening to fall brimmed up and spilt over.

            “I’m sorry,” Kerry whispered. “I’m only doing this for Jackie.”

            She wiped a tear from Brian’s cheek, and turned and walked out of the kitchen, switching off the light.

            Brian stood in the darkness, listening to the rain tapping heavily against the small house.