“I know.”
“You scared the shit out of me.”
He nodded. “I know.”
She took Erik by the shoulders and shook him. Hard. Like he was seven and had run into the street without looking. “You could have been killed,” she said, her voice a razor-edge hiss through her teeth. “My God, Erik, what were you thinking?”
He let her do it. He had surpassed her in height years ago, he could have easily disengaged. But she was angry and frightened and he let her.
“Never again,” she said. “Don’t you ever…” She held him away, a finger held up by his face. “If I lose you, I will die. Do you understand?”
He nodded, closing his palm around her pointed finger and pulling her hand toward his face.
“Never again,” Christine whispered as he pressed his mouth into the heel of her hand. “You see someone with a gun, you hide or get the hell out of there. Don’t you ever…” She closed her eyes. The moment of fury passed through her. She shivered and drew a long breath in through her nose. Her eyes opened. Both her hands touched his face. “Oh my God,” she said, her voice worn down to a thread. “Honey.” Then her arms gathered Erik up and he crumpled into their grip. Together they sank on a pair of leather chairs and she held him tight. Her hand strong on his head. Her mouth on his hair.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“It’s all right,” she said, rocking him. “You’re all right.” Her voice was unwavering. “I’m here now.” She took his head in her strong hands. Her brown eyes swept his face. She seemed to be looking for something. Erik stared back, defenseless, without guile. Christine smiled, her eyes bright with tears. She kissed his face. “I’m proud of you,” she whispered and pulled him to her again.
She took up a firm position behind Erik’s back, keeping a gentle hand on his shoulder through the hours and days. She took David under her wing as well, shocked nobody had come for him.
The truth was, David didn’t have many to come. At the time of the shooting, his Aunt Helen was clear across the country, visiting friends in California. David spoke to her on the phone, but Erik didn’t know if an offer to come to New York was made and declined, or if the offer hadn’t been there. Either way, David did not seem to need her presence.
“You don’t want her to come?” Erik asked. As he was practically sitting in Christine’s lap at any opportunity, he couldn’t understand it.
“No.”
“Why not? I mean, she’s all you have.”
David shrugged, squinting through the smoke from the cigarette he never seemed without these days. “What could she do?”
Erik was bewildered but he didn’t press it. All his own resources were reserved for getting through the days and being strong for Daisy. He had none to spare. David shadowed him nearly everywhere, somehow drawing whatever sustenance he needed by appointing himself Erik’s bodyguard. Erik was glad to have him. But he could not take care of him.
Erik and Christine stayed in the suite at the Sheraton for two days and then moved back to Colby Street. Erik took Will’s bed and gave his mother his own. They stayed because funerals lay ahead.
Four funerals in three days.