Savage Art Chapter Three

"Aaron, I said stay with me," Elizabeth Weisman snapped, grabbing her son's hand and yanking him away from the Tommy's Toys window.

"But, Mom," he whined, resisting her pull.

Elizabeth spun around, Emily propped on one hip. "Aaron." She gave him a hard stare, hoping he wouldn't put up a fuss. Emily started to whimper and Elizabeth bounced on her toes as she turned and started to walk away. "Enough, Aaron. We have to go."

"Mom, I just want to look. Mom, pleeeaaase."

Elizabeth felt her body numb in anger. Why was he doing this? She spun back to Aaron and crouched over, sticking her finger in his face. "Stop your whining. We're not shopping for toys today."

Aaron looked back at the toy store window, ignoring her.

She grabbed his arm and shook him. "We need to get a present for Daddy's secretary. That's it. Then, we have to get home. Emily needs to be fed and Mommy needs to start dinner."

Elizabeth wondered if James was with his secretary now. He certainly hadn't made much of an effort lately to be home before his daughter went to bed. His secretary got more of her husband's damn attention than she did. Now, Elizabeth was buying her a present for her birthday. Ironic.

Dragging Aaron by the arm, she pushed through the crowd toward Nordstrom. What did she get a woman she suspected was sleeping with her husband? She pictured her hands wrapped around the woman's neck. That was it, she'd buy her a scarf.

Aaron pouted as she pulled him onto the escalator. Putting her free arm around him, she gave him a hug and pointed to the lights strung from the ceiling high above.

Her son's eyes grew wide as he took in the bright lights. "How do they get the lights way up there, Mom?"

She smiled. "Maybe really tall ladders. What do you think?"

Aaron nodded slowly. "Really, really tall ladders."

She smiled and rubbed his curly blond hair. "Or maybe they fly."

Aaron looked back, wide-eyed and serious.

She grinned and raised her eyebrows.

He shook his head and laughed. "No, Mom. They can't fly."

"How come?" she countered as she led him off the escalator. Emily's head rested on her shoulder and Elizabeth could feel the wetness of the drool that had soaked through her blouse. Thankfully, it wasn't silk. She had given up silk when she'd stopped working. Had it already been six years?

Aaron took her hand and stopped at the banister at the top of the escalator, his grip tight in hers as he peered over the edge. "What would happen if you fell, Mom?"

She clenched his hand tighter. "You'd be in trouble."

He nodded slowly.

With Aaron's hand in hers, Elizabeth backed away from the banister. Before she could focus, she was knocked forward. A strong arm grabbed her arm and helped her balance. She shook her head and regained her step.

"I'm so sorry," a man's voice said.

Elizabeth looked around and found Aaron. She pulled him against her leg as she righted Emily on her hip.

"I wasn't even looking where I was going," the man continued.

Elizabeth eyed the man before her and took a step back, smoothing her blond hair and wishing she'd taken more time getting dressed today. "It's no problem, Officer."

The man's gray eyes flickered as he smiled. "Not like me to be so clumsy." He tucked his forefinger under Emily's chin. "What a doll."

Elizabeth smiled at Emily, sleeping like an angel on her shoulder. She was thankful the officer hadn't caught Emily during one of her tantrums. "Thank you." Her eyes found his badge as she settled on his name. A. Obsgarten. She pointed to the badge. "How crazy. That's my maiden name."

The man looked down at his badge. "Obsgarten, really?" He pronounced it Obs-garden.

She nodded. "Only we say 'Oh'bs-garten."

"Hmm." He nodded. "Well, I ought to be going. Got to get this little one back to Mom."

Taking Aaron's hand again, Elizabeth thanked him. She gathered herself and thought about the coincidence. Obsgarten was such an uncommon name; she would have liked to find out where he was from.

Only then did Elizabeth notice he held the hand of a girl about Aaron's age. Glancing back, she watched him walk away. The girl looked over her shoulder. "Wave good-bye, Aaron."

Aaron hesitated.

"Wave, sweetie."

Aaron frowned and waved slowly, but the little girl wasn't looking back anymore.

Elizabeth rubbed his head and took his hand. "Let's run our errand and get home. I'm making your favorite tonight--yellow chicken." Since he could talk, Aaron had called her curry chicken 'yellow chicken.'

But Aaron didn't answer. He was still looking back at the little girl.