After the Silence by Rula Sinara

Author:Rula Sinara [Sinara, Rula]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-05-02T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Dear Diary,

Some kids at school were saying that being good means you’ll go to heaven or get presents from your parents—not from Santa, since we’re too old to believe in him. I know Mommy’s in heaven. Everyone says so. But if I go to hell for making her die, I’ll never see her again.

HOPE PICKED UP the pewter frame from the fireplace mantel in Ben’s house and held it closer for a better look. Zoe was so pretty. Judging by all the other photos Hope had seen on the inset shelves, she’d been great with the camera, too. Ben said she’d taken them all. That she’d been a photography major before quitting college. She certainly knew how to capture moments...and emotion. Hope picked up another photo of the three kids together, surrounded by flowers. She recognized the front steps to the house, where the picture was set up. In it, Maddie cradled a newborn Ryan. She was beaming. Hope’s chest ached. They’d lost more than just a beautiful person. They’d lost their glue, the one person who had held them all together despite Ben being so far away all the time.

I’m sorry for what happened to you, Zoe.

She heard Ryan gurgling through the baby monitor and waited a second to be sure he wasn’t waking up. Silence. Chad was also taking a nap. That little guy could harness energy like a wind turbine. She looked around the room to be sure she’d tidied up all the toys he’d been playing with. Here on out, she was setting rules for Chad picking up his own toys. If he had that much energy, he could direct it, use it for the greater good of mankind, like cleaning so she wouldn’t have to.

This nanny thing was giving her some perspective on parenting. No wonder her parents had set so many rules for her and given her so much structure. Kids were exhausting. And her mom always said that a parent never stops worrying, even when their children become parents themselves. She thought about the pain Nina and Eric were in over Zoe and how much they, and Ben, worried about Maddie, Chad and Ryan. She worried, too.

She wasn’t expecting Ben back from the hospital for some time, and with the boys in bed for naps, Maddie at school and everything tidied, she needed to do something other than take a nap herself. She didn’t feel comfortable doing that while on kid watch.

She tiptoed into Chad’s room, her room, and brought out one of the medical texts her dad had insisted she take along. So far, bringing them was proving to have been a big waste of luggage-weight fees. But if she dug into a few pages, then she wouldn’t have to lie if he asked if she’d done any reading.

She started to settle onto the couch, but then jumped up, remembering to set the kitchen timer. She didn’t want to miss Maddie’s bus, and it wouldn’t be too long now.

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