Inger Cartwright listened to the clock chime. Benjamin will be home soon! She smiled at the thought of her husband. Benjamin will be home soon. My husband will be home soon! Only three weeks married, the thought of him striding into her house filled her with both contentment and excitement. We’ll have supper; we’ll talk about the preparations; we’ll put Adam to bed, and then…” She felt the blush rising in her cheeks and turned to find a distraction. Her eyes settled on the boy kneeling in a chair at the kitchen table. My son! A husband and a son. How can I thank you, Lord, for giving them to me? She watched the child as he moved pencil over paper with the utmost concentration. His left hand came up to brush his curls back from his forehead as his brow furrowed. Then his tongue appeared and moved across his lips as if assisting the small fingers.

“What are you drawing, Adam?” Inger wiped her hands on her apron as she walked to stand behind her son.”

“A picture.”

“Of what?” she inquired peering over his shoulder.

“Us,” Adam answered still focusing on his task.

“May I see?”

“Sure.” Adam straightened, and Inger slid onto the chair next to him. “I’m doing me now.” He pointed to the smallest figure.

“I see, and you are doing so very well. It looks just like my beautiful boy.” Inger’s arm slipped around Adam’s waist as he kneeled on the kitchen chair. He shifted to lean against her. “And that is my handsome Benjamin.” She pointed to the figure of a tall man.

“Yeah, that’s Pa, and that’s you, Mama.”

“Is it now, but she is much too pretty to be me.”

Titling his head to gaze up into Inger’s face, Adam stated softly, “You’re pretty, Mama; you’re the most pretty lady of all.”

Inger squeezed him closer and dropped a kiss on his forehead. “And you are the most special boy.” She gazed at the picture again. He draws so well for one so young. We must see that he has the things he needs to draw. Paper and pencils, pens and inks. None of those weigh so very much nor will they take much space in a wagon. Leaning over to study the picture more closely, she noticed a fourth figure. “Who is that behind us?”

“The lady in the shadows.”

Surprised at the reply, Inger loosened her hold on the boy. “The lady in the shadows?”

“Uh huh.” Adam settled onto his chair.

A small twinge of concern turned down the corners of Inger’s mouth. “This is a lady you have seen?”

“Mm, uh huh.” Adam picked up his pencil and focused once more on the paper before him.

“When? When have you seen her?” Adam failed to notice the edge that had sharpened his stepmother’s voice.

“Lots.”

“Lots?” Inger repeated his answer. “You have seen her lots?” Adam’s small nod prodded her next question. “Where? Where have you seen her, Adam?”

“In the shadows.” It was a simple statement of fact that was followed by another. “I need to do my feet.” He began drawing again.

“The shadows where, Adam?” Inger’s hand went hesitantly to his head and gently touched the dark curls.

“Lots of places. We’ve been lots of places, Mama; you know that.” A slight hint of irritation tinged the words, but a second caress from her fingers wiped it away.

“I know you and your father have been many places, Adam.” Inger sighed and bit her lower lip. “When is the last time you saw the lady, Adam?”

Adam’s hand paused for a few seconds. Then his lips drooped as he replied, “Sunday.”

“Last Sunday? When Sunday?” We went nowhere but to church Sunday. No one new was at church Sunday. 

Adam dropped his chin and shifted. “When Pa and you found me.”

Inger’s mind flashed back to that morning. As she and Ben were talking to folks after church services, Adam had wandered off. The remembered terror made her stomach flutter even five days later. The church was on the edge of town, the boy too young and the area too new to him. It had taken near ten minutes to find the child. That had been more than long enough for irritation to turn to fear. They had found him alone in the woods behind the church. He said he followed a cat, a stray cat, but…

“This lady was there?” Her hands had gone to Adam’s waist and turned him to face her.

Adam nodded.

“But…”

“She was sad ‘cause I got a spanking.” His chin dropped, and when he spoke again, he peeked shyly through his bangs. “You were sad too; wasn’t you, Mama?”

Inger’s hand caressed Adam’s curls. She bit her lip at the memory of Adam’s head buried in Benjamin’s chest, his shoulders shaking with sobs. “You must never go off like that again, Adam.”

“I won’t, Mama; I promised, and I won’t.”

“Of course, you did, so I will worry no more about it.” This time her fingers caressed his cheek. “This lady, though, what does she look like?”

“She’s not tall like you, Mama.”

“She is not?”

Adam shook his head.

“Her hair?”

“It’s dark.”

“What else, Adam?”

The boy shrugged. “She’s pretty; that’s all. She is in the shadows always, so that’s all.”

“How long has she been in the shadows, Adam?” Inger’s voiced held a forced calmness.

Her tone made him look up. “Always.”

“Wherever you and Pa went?”

Adam nodded.

“Do you know the lady’s name?” For a moment she held her breath.

He shook his head. “Nobody ever said it.”

“And she never told you?”

“She don’t ever say nothing. She just watches.”

Her teeth sunk deeper into her lip. Ben had told her once, “She was a small woman with dark hair and eyes.” Elizabeth! Inger stared down at the drawing and chewed her lower lip. The opening of the door startled her, and then both she and Adam turned to see Ben enter the house.

“Pa!“   Adam scrambled to the ground and dashed toward his father. Inger rose watching as her husband caught his son in his arms and swung the child toward the ceiling. Slowly her eyes turned back to the drawing on the table. She picked it up and quickly placed it in the drawer of the sideboard before going to her new family. She was very glad when Adam failed to mention the picture ever again.