by Ken Dean

It was true. He thought back to how she had been with the girls as infants, and she had lacked nothing in her loving care of them.

"Shouldn't you get to work, honey? Wasn't there an important meeting this morning which you've probably missed? Your arm should be fine by now."

He had forgotten the meeting and his arm in all the discussion. The patch had come off his arm at some point, but it felt perfect as he flexed and moved it around.

"Thanks for that. It does feel perfect. I'm going to stay home if you don't mind, and keep an eye on you. I still don't trust you with my children."

"My children too, Sam." Jackie began to cry. "I truly do love them as much as you do."

He reached out to hold her, not having realized that she was capable of having hurt feelings.

"I'm sorry, I keep letting the situation rule my judgment. But you can't blame me if I hang around for a while."

"No," her sobbing was easing up, "I understand. But you have to understand that one thing you can expect from me is consistency. The way I've been the past year is the way I always will be."

"Okay. Okay, you can stop crying. I realize you care for the children as much as I."

"Thanks. I really need to be getting them up. They are used to their routine."

"Sure."

Sam wound up taking a whole week off work, keeping an eye on Jackie as often as possible. Her treatment of the children was exemplary. After the next couple of months had passed, he truly felt he could trust her.

They were alone in the kitchen one evening talking about finances when Sam brought the situation up.

"Jackie, I've come to the point where I feel as though I can trust you."

"Sam, that's wonderful," she said, giving him a big hug, "I knew you would eventually come around. I'm sure you'll find that it's actually a benefit having me around."

"Well, I feel that I have no choice. But I also feel that you may be right."

"Okay, I can accept that. But as time goes by, I feel that you will become totally used to the situation."

Of course, she was right.

***

A couple of years passed. Sam had become used to the idea and was almost totally accepting of Jackie. He had even overcome his mental block about her being a machine and was able to finally make love to her again. She had been totally patient with him until he was ready. After that, it was pretty much back to normal. Jackie did inform him one night in bed that there could be no more children, because of what she was.

"I hope your not upset, were you planning on more? It's one thing we couldn't anticipate."

"No, Jackie. It's okay. Jackie and I had already discussed this and were going to stop at two."

"Oh good, that's a relief," She said as she hugged him, "I've been worrying about telling you."

***

The two girls were growing fantastically, and were going to start preschool in about a year. They had their mother's beauty which was also reflected in Jackie's face. Sometimes he was utterly amazed at their growth and Jackie's solid influence.

Sam was moving higher in his firm and his income was matching the rise. Jackie and the girls wanted for nothing. He was becoming quite proficient in the stocks and bonds industry and would like to start his own brokerage someday. Jackie had agreed and was enthusiastic about his ideas, urging him on.

Four years had gone by. Sam's memories of his discovery had managed to sink far back in his mind. It seemed so real that he let himself think that it was. Blissful ignorance.

Then there was the visit to the zoo. They had been making the trip to the Central Park Zoo a couple of times a year. The girls loved it and, frankly, there always seemed to be something new to see. They had just finished their latest visit. It was a beautiful Saturday fall afternoon that was to die for. There was a good breeze blowing and it was about sixty-eight degrees. Perfect. They had crossed Fifth Street and were walking up Sixty-Fourth off Central Park. A friend of his owned a building a few blocks away and they had been able to use the parking garage.

"Jackie, do you and the kids want to stop at Joe's and get some coffee and ice cream?"

The girls answered as one, "Ice cream!"

"I take that as a yes." He said while grabbing all three of them in a bear hug.

Joe's had some of the best flavored iced coffee in the city and made any trip to Manhattan more enjoyable. They had started to cross Madison Avenue on the way to Sixty-Third. Jackie and Katy were in the lead crossing Madison. Sam was still in the crosswalk with Ruthy as the wind whipped up and blew something into his eye. He had to stop for a second, his eyes closed, hurting and watering. His lost his grip on Ruthy's hand and she began to weave her way back to the corner they had just come from. Sam fumbled for her hand and was finally able to open his eyes in time to see a metro bus coming fast down the curb lane directly towards her.

"No!" Jackie screamed from the far curb. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. Jackie was suddenly in front of him, handing Katy to him, and just as quickly gone. He looked up just in time to see a blur come between Ruthy and the speeding bus. Jackie grabbed her up in her arms just as the bus hit her square in the back. The bus stopped cold, the back end raising ten feet in the air from the impact. It settled back to the street as Sam turned his eyes back to where Jackie and Ruthy should have been. All he saw was a blur snapping down Madison turning on Sixty-Third and was gone. Impossible, he thought. He took Katy back to the far corner, away from the bus. Looking back he saw the ruined front end of the bus. It looked like it had wrapped itself around an invisible telephone pole and there was a fire starting to burn in the rear. Luckily all the passengers had gotten off; he could hear sirens coming from the south and north.

"Bus went boom," Katy said. "Where is Mommy and Baby?"

Katy always called Ruthy baby.