Saving Elijah

reading him a story about a prince who rescues a princess from the clutches of an ogre. Sam had been gone for almost two weeks. Thirteen days and twelve nights.
    "Kevin Sherman asked me out," Kate said into the phone. She listened for another few seconds. "Oh, Daddy!" she said. She listened again, then took the cordless phone out of the room. I heard her ask him if he was going to take her for her driving test.
    "Don't hang up, Kate," Alex called after her. "We want to talk to him, too. Right, Elijah?"
    "Right." Elijah pointed to the book. They'd come to the part of the story where the ogre tells the prince he'll let the princess go but only if the prince grants him two wishes.
    '"I have no power to grant wishes,'" Alex said, reading the prince's words in his own voice. " 'Only witches and fairies can grant wishes, I'm just a prince.'"
    " 'Then I won't let her go,'" said Alex, reading in a low and growling voice, for the ogre. " 'She's mine.'"
    Elijah listened carefully while Alex finished the story. It ended with the prince returning to the ogre's castle and finally winning the princess with the help of a whole army, slaying the ogre in the bargain.
    "He could have just granted the ogre's wish," Elijah said as his brother closed the book.
    "How could he do that?"
    "He could have if he thought he could," Elijah said.
    I turned away. If only that were always true, that you had only to believe in something hard enough to get what you want.
    Kate came back and handed the phone to Alex, who talked and listened for a few minutes. "Dad never goes on a business trip for this long," he muttered, handing the phone to Elijah.
    "When are you coming home to play horsy?" Elijah said.
    At least two of my trio weren't buying the business-trip routine. Elijah? I had no idea what Elijah was thinking anymore. And as much as it hurt, I knew Sam and I were going to have to tell these children something. And soon.
    I took the phone into my bedroom. I'd removed the sheet from the mirror after Kate saw it, and just didn't look when I passed.
    "Do you want to talk about this, Sam?" I said. "At least talk?"
    "I want to come by tomorrow and pick up my gray suit." His voice was shot through with anger, tension, hurt. "I have a meeting on Friday and I need to wear it."
    "Of course."
    "I'll be there around eleven. Make sure the kids aren't around."
    "Sam—"
    "I've never gone near another woman."
    "I know, Sam. I don't know how to—"
    He hung up on me before I could finish my sentence.

    *    *    *

    That night, I heard Alex and Kate whispering in Kate's room, late into the night. I decided Kate had told Sam about the mirror, and was now informing her brother.

    *    *    *

    On Thursday morning Sam did pick up his gray suit, along with his khaki pants, another pair of sneakers, and enough other items to fill a roomy suitcase. I stood in the doorway and watched him pack, the stone that was my heart sinking lower with every piece of clothing he folded. I was the newscaster, giving him the family bulletin. Since his call, Elijah's class had gone to the zoo, which he'd loved, and Kate had gone out with her new beau, pronounced him hot, though she wouldn't give me an explanation, except to say she was going to go out with him again. Sam looked exhausted, and spoke only to answer my questions. He initiated nothing other than to say he'd taken a monthly lease on an apartment in Manhattan, and didn't want the children to know anything until he'd had more time to think.
    I saw some hope in that. Not much.
    Three days later, Sam called to say he thought we had to tell the children. I told him I loved him again, but he was unmoved.
    We filled in the children together on a Sunday afternoon. We said very little about why we were separating, just that sometimes adults have conflicts that are difficult to resolve. Sam said we felt it best not to share the substance of our conflicts with them because they might feel compelled to take one side or the other, when what we wanted was for them to go on loving both of us. Considering how I'd hurt him, the way Sam handled it made me love him and want him back even more.
    "Oh, this is just great, just fine," said Kate. "You guys split up and we don't know why? I suppose you'll tell us when you sign the final papers."
    "This is a separation, Kate. It happens." Sam put his arm around her shoulders and drew her in. "I know how hard this must be for you and I'm sorry."
    "Sorry?" Alex said. "Our whole lives are