Between sobs she got out, “I don’t know if I know how to take care of a baby.”

He looked down at the coffee table.  There lay the home pregnancy test showing a blue plus.  He held her and finally she stopped crying.  They ate out at the best restaurant in town that night.  The pregnancy was uneventful and their son was born just two days late.  It was a wonderful time for the new family. 

Six weeks later Jeff dropped Sandra at 2:45 for her doctor’s appointment and took Jeremy to the mall next to the office to pick up some things.  When her appointment was over she looked for him but Jeff was not there.  She sat down in the waiting room for a few minutes.  She couldn’t understand why he should be late but maybe he had run into some friends.  It would be like him to be showing off his new son.  A few minutes later a white-faced clerk came over followed by a police officer. 

The young Police Officer’s face was streaked, like he had been crying.  “Mam, are you Mrs. Marks?”

“Yes.  Why.”

“Is your husband Jeff Marks?”

“Yes.  What’s wrong?”

He took a deep breath, “I need you to come with me.  Your husband has been shot and is in the hospital in serious condition.”

She got up and started with him, “What about my baby, he was with my husband.”

“Mam, I have no information except your husband is in serious condition.  We must go quickly.”  He helped her into the car.  She shuddered as she remembered how she had notified family several times as an MP when someone on the base had been seriously hurt.  He put on the flashing lights and they were at the emergency room entrance in four minutes.  He helped her from the car and hurried her inside, the urgency he displayed made her aware he probably knew more than he was telling and this was serious. 

He took her to the desk.  In less than a minute she was taken to a treatment room.  Jeff was still alive but it was obvious his condition was grave.  They had prepped him for surgery and would be taking him there in a few minutes.  She held his hand and kissed him then they transferred him to a gurney and took him away.  She asked to see her son.  The nurse led her to another room.  There lay her son on the table with a bloody hole in his head.  He was dead.  Sandra would have collapsed on the floor had it not been for the police officer.  He took her and carried her to a chair outside the room and held her hand and head.  When the nurse arrived with help he was kneeling in front of the chair, her head on his shoulder and both were crying. 

Within an hour Jeff died while in surgery.  Her husband and son were victims of a bank robbery gone terribly wrong. In addition to her husband and son, three police officers, three other civilians and all four bank robbers died in the gunfire in front of the bank.  Six more officers and five other civilians were wounded.  More than three hundred bullet holes pock marked the halls of the mall.

• The First Family: Chapter 1 – Introduction
• The First Family 2: Checking the Hotel Room
• The First Family – Chapter Four: Sandras Family is Ends in Tragedy