Eyes peacefully closed, he didn’t stir as she gave his forehead a loving stroke. Even as a baby, Terran had been a deep sleeper.A soft light enveloped the bedroom, its source the night-light plugged into the wall. Two dresser drawers remained half-opened, as if Terran had been looking for socks and underwear after his bath. Toys were scattered over the floor: a vibrating and light-blinking astro-man gun, dinosaur card game and the remote-control stingray with a water puddle spread beneath it on the hardwood floor. He must have brought the toy into the tub with him. His ice skates and hockey stick lay where he had dropped them Monday night after practice.As she watched her little boy sleeping, her heart swelled with a sweet, aching love. Life before him seemed a distant memory, and Dana couldn’t help reflecting back upon all the years that had brought her to this moment in time.Everything had happened at once. One life began and another had ended. It had seemed the worst of ironies six years ago.Dana had been earning a decent wage as a checker for the town’s only Safeway grocery store, when Cooper Boyd began regularly waiting in her line.
