Free His Wounded Light by Christine Brae Page A

arrive at the temple with Maddy in her arms and Eddie in front of us. We all pause at the top of the steps, just as amazed as we were the first time we visited.
    “Baby, what’s wrong?”
    “Trying to find a place to leave a piece of us again.” She dips her hand into her purse and shows me a little white ribbon with a small charm engraved with “A&I.” “It doesn’t look like we can leave anything—it’s so clean here!” She sounds cheerful but discouraged.
    “I think I have an idea.”
    We take the children inside the structure of Buddha and walk the exhibition halls to observe many paintings and teachings about Buddhism. Before leaving, we pay for an offering to leave by the ancient relic. The ribbon is too conspicuous, so Eddie and Maddy choose a place to leave the charm by itself next to many other gifts that believers have placed upon a tray filled with incense.
    “There,” I say.
    “Here,” she agrees happily.
    Our jovial mood is interrupted by the loud ringing of the large, intricately-carved bell. The bell is designed to chime every seven minutes, 108 times a day, to symbolize the release of 108 worries. The four of us hold hands as we stand for a moment in silence.
    “Free me from my troubles, venerable sir,” I hear her whisper.
    ***

 
     
    “The tragedy of life is not that it ends too soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.”
    —W.M. Lewis
     
     
    “Sir, Mrs. Ailey’s on line one.” Penny sticks her head in my office two days after I arrive from Hong Kong.
    My stay was delayed for another week, which kept me away from my family for a total of twenty-one days. I’m taking a few days off next week, but for now, I’m trying to wrap up the remnants of the deal before we can all rest easy.
    I press the button on line one even before hanging up on Penny and swivel my chair around so I’m looking out the window. “Hi.”
    “Hi. I just called to say I’m sorry we didn’t finish what we started last night. Darn Maddy!” She starts out in a hushed tone but ends up with a giggle.
    “If she wasn’t so cute, climbing out of bed, rolling over Emmy, and crawling into our bedroom, I’d be so pissed at her right now.” A picture of Maddy curled up right by the door flashes in my mind.
    “They’re sleeping over at Ali’s tonight. I called to let you know that.” Her voice sounds inviting; I will myself to focus on the papers in front of me before my mind gets carried away with all sorts of salacious thoughts.
    “How’d you pull that off?”
    “Ali wants to take them to the beach house on Saturday, so I agreed to just have them sleep over there. Emmy will go with them, one driver, and one car. You and I will drive down there tomorrow if that’s okay with you.” She pauses to wait for my response.
    “Absolutely.”
    “Leigh and Betty will be there too. He says he’s going to call you about going for a dive on Sunday.”
    “Yeah, I have to call him anyway for a number of things. I’ll make plans with him for that. In the meantime...can’t wait to finish what we started tonight.”
    “Me too. I love you, A.”
    “Love you, baby. See you soon. I’ll head home right after my one o’clock meeting.” I’m about to hang up the phone when I hear her voice on the receiver.
    “Oh, hey, A?”
    “Yup.”
    “Can we talk about this large transfer that hit our bank a few weeks ago? I just need to verify with the bank that it’s good. Not a big deal, just update me about it tonight.”
    Shit. “Okay. I’ll bring the paperwork home.” She trusts me so much that she doesn’t even question it. She’s never suspicious, never mistrusting. I love her so fucking much.
    I walk into our home a few hours later and know just where I’m going to find her. She’s curled up on the couch in her office, papers everywhere, laptop on the floor while she takes a little nap. My wife still loves to get her beauty sleep. Mindful of the confession I’m going to have to make today, I figure a drink