Rain fell all night.

Drip. Drip. Steady and relentless.

Jeremy Hale lay on his back, one hand tucked behind his head. He'd slept lightly, finally drifting off sometime after midnight, and had no idea when the rain stopped.

When he woke, pale light was bleeding through the heavy curtains. The room was quiet. Early morning, the world still half-asleep.

He rolled onto his side and looked past the bed frame at the small crib. Flora was awake — the little thing ...