Comes a Horseman Read Online Free

see his son looking over his shoulder at him. The boy was all Karen. Besides the hair, his eyes, like hers, were the dark brown of polished coffee beans. Zach also possessed her not-quite-full lips that made a sudden jaunt upward at the corners, forming a smile even when it wasn’t intended. It was that faux smile—on the mother, not the son who was at the time still seven years from conception—that had caused Brady to break away from his friends in line for a movie to ask the dark beauty if she’d mind if he held down the seat next to hers, seeing that he was a great movie companion, laughing in all the right places and sharing his popcorn. Never mind that she was in line to see something other than The Untouchables ; he didn’t know what and didn’t care. It was only after they were engaged that he learned she hadn’t been smiling at him after all. But his boldness in approaching a girl without the slightest hint of an invitation had made her say, “Sure, who in her right mind would turn down free popcorn?” Funny how things work. They had both been seventeen.
    Brady leaned over the boy, propping himself up with one arm. “Hey, I thought you were asleep,” he whispered.
    â€œDo you think she thinks of us?”
    â€œAll the time.” He leaned closer. “More than that. She watches us.”
    Zach smiled. A real smile, not a trick of his lips. Brady didn’t know how the boy did it. Here Brady was, thirty-three and feeling constantly on the brink of some chasm, some breakdown whose torments he couldn’t imagine and from which he probably wouldn’t return. At nine, Zach was holding it together much better. Lots of tears, sure, and times of melancholy no kid should experience. For the most part, however, he was functioning well, with healthy bouts of giggles and curiosity about babies and electronics and airplanes and only an occasional, if precocious, question concerning death, dying, and the afterlife. Ignorance is bliss? Or was it something else that enabled Zach to get on with his life? Whatever it was, Brady was glad for it.
    â€œShe watches me when you can’t? Like when I’m at school and when you . . . go away?”
    Brady’s business trips were a painful subject. In fact, Zach’s eyes were still red-rimmed from an earlier bout of tears over the trip Brady was going on the next day.
    â€œRight,” Brady said. “All the time.”
    â€œIf she sees something bad happening, can she stop it?”
    Brady thought for a moment. “I think she sort of whispers in our ears. ‘Don’t step off the curb yet. Wait for that car to pass.’ And ‘Don’t climb that tree. There’s a broken branch up there.’”
    Zach nodded. Well, of course Mom would do that. He said, “Will you pick me up from school tomorrow?”
    â€œNo, Mrs. Pringle will do that.”
    Zach made a sour face. At the foot of the bed, Coco whined in his sleep, as if agreeing with his master’s opinion.
    â€œWhat? You like Mrs. Pringle.”
    â€œYeah . . .” He hesitated. “It’s just that she drives so slow, by the time we get home, Scooby-Doo’ s over.”
    â€œYou should be doing your homework then anyway. Or playing outside while the sun’s hot.”
    â€œYeah, but, Dad . . . Scooby-Doo .”
    Brady knew how the boy felt. Time was when he and Zach would rent old episodes and spend an evening cracking up at Scooby and Shaggy’s misadventures with ghosts, goblins, and other assorted spookies. Karen never saw the attraction, and since her death, Brady hadn’t felt like yukking it up, even with Zach. So the boy watched reruns on his own and always got down to the business of being an energetic fourth grader after the show was over. Before Brady could respond, Zach continued, “And she’s so old , like a hundred and something.”
    â€œNot quite, but even if she were, what