Children of the Fog

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Book: Read Children of the Fog for Free Online
Authors: Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Tags: Suspense fiction, Kidnapping
head.
    "Then he didn't have a great day," he said with a scowl.
    When the bathroom door closed behind him, she slumped on the edge of the bed. She didn't understand what was going on with him. Why was he so distant, so cruel?
    Sliding between the cool sheets, she stared at the spackled ceiling, wondering how much more indifference she could take. Philip had always been driven by his passion for success. He handled multinational corporate trials with ease, winning his fair share of high-profile cases. He kept long hours and often slept on the sofa bed in his office.
    Or so he said.
    The bathroom door creaked.
    She rolled away, just before Philip turned off the lamp and climbed into bed beside her. A whiff of floral perfume emanated from his body. The perfume wasn't hers. It had traces of honeysuckle. Sadie hated honeysuckle.
    Feigning sleep, she waited for his breathing to slow. Or for the snoring to begin. For a long moment, she wondered whether she should say something. Then she felt heavy breathing in her ear, and a hand fumbled beneath the t-shirt and stroked her thigh.
    "I need you to help me with a little problem, Sadie."
    You haven't needed me for a long time, she itched to say. Now you want sex? What about my needs?
    "I need to talk," she said when Philip reached higher.
    His hand froze. "What about?"
    "You know what. I think we need help."
    He snatched his hand away as if her words had burned him.
    "If you want to see a shrink, go see one."
    "Both of us," she insisted.
    The mattress shifted.
    She sat up, turned on the lamp.
    Philip stood beside the bed, wearing nothing but a rapidly dwindling erection. He sent her a piercing stare, glaring at her as though she had lost her mind.
    Had she?
    "I don't need a goddamn shrink, Sadie. I'm not the one with the problem."
    "Our marriage is in trouble," she said, scrambling from the bed. "We need counseling. If you won't do it for me, then at least do it for Sam's sake. Please!"
    "Sam's sake? Jesus Christ, Sadie! Everything lately has been for Sam's sake. We moved out of the apartment into this house for him. Now I have to drive almost an hour instead of fifteen minutes to get to the off—"
    "That apartment wasn't suitable for raising a child."
    Philip stabbed a finger in the air. " You once thought it was the perfect place for us. Until your meddling friend got her nose out of joint."
    "What's that supposed to mean? Leah had nothing to do with why I wanted to leave that apartment."
    "She's changed you, Sadie. So has Sam. If you can't see that…" He shrugged.
    She stared at him, baffled. "Of course having a child changed me. What did you expect? There's someone else to consider now, not just the two of us."
    Philip's jaw flinched, but he remained silent.
    "My God," she whispered. "You're jealous of him? Of Sam?"
    Philip let out an angry huff, grabbed a pillow and stalked toward the door. "I am not jealous of my son. I just don't like the changes I see in you." Cursing, he stormed out of the room.
    "And I don't like the changes I see in you," she mumbled, slumping on the bed. Why am I still with him?
    That was a stupid question, of course. She stayed because of Sam. Because a small part of her still believed that Philip could change. Would change.
    She recalled the night her life began to crumble.
    "I don't want kids," he'd told her. "I'm happy with the way things are. I don't understand why you'd want to jeopardize everything."
    "What would be jeopardized?" she'd asked, stunned. "You'd still have your career and I'd have mine. But I want children too."
    "Well, I don't."
    That was the end of that discussion.
    Believing he'd change his mind and feeling she had no other choice, she secretly went off the pill. Bad move. When Philip discovered the unopened prescription box, he refused to speak to her for the rest of the day. A week later, she found out she was pregnant. She was ecstatic. Philip was pissed. He screamed at her, calling her a conniving bitch.
    She miscarried the next

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