I placed my hands on her biceps, felt her firm, muscular arms beneath the soft material. I looked her over—face, head, everything—searching for signs of injury. For blood, rips in her clothes, or bruises on her skin, but I saw nothing out of order.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“I’m sure.”

I started for the stairs. “I want to see Henry. I need to see that my son is okay.”

“He’s fine, Ryan. He’s asleep. He slept through everything.”

“Everything? What everything? I want to see him, okay? I want to make sure my son is okay.”

Amanda understood. Any parent would. She nodded, and I started up the stairs. As I went, I heard Amanda and Sam talking, hugging, and commiserating.

When I reached the top of the stairs, I turned right and went into Henry’s room. My eyes ran over the dark blue walls, the jungle wallpaper. A pile of stuffed animals in one corner, the changing table in another. I caught the sweet scent of baby powder I so strongly associated with the space.

I crossed the room and leaned over the crib. He was there, splayed out beneath a blanket. He breathed perfectly. He looked perfect. Fresh and safe and clean and new.

I wanted to pick him up, to clutch him to my chest, but I couldn’t wake him. Better to let him sleep, oblivious to whatever had happened in the house and to Amanda. Oblivious to everything the adults were wrapped up in.

I went back down the stairs, moving more slowly with less frantic energy. Amanda and Sam were still in the kitchen. I heard the sound of water filling the teakettle, their voices sharp and focused. When I came into the room, Sam was listening to Amanda with her hand clutched to her chest.

Amanda placed the kettle on the stove, turned the burner on with a soft whoosh of igniting gas, and turned to me.

“Okay,” she said. “I started telling Sam, but I’ll back up a little so you can hear everything. It started just about half an hour ago.”

CHAPTER FIFTY

Amanda leaned back against the counter, the blue flame glowing next to her. Sam and I remained standing, waiting to listen.

“I’d just finished giving Henry his bath. I was about to get him ready to go. To get us both ready to go. I was going to head over to my parents’ house since that’s what you wanted me to do. I thought you were overreacting.” She shivered. “I guess I was wrong.”

“Why did you want her to go over to her parents’?” Sam asked.

“Someone was sneaking around outside the house last night,” I said, not adding that it might have been Blake. “Amanda thought she heard them trying to get in the door.”

“Oh.” Sam’s hand remained at her chest. “Wait. That guy broke into our house today. That’s what you said.”