Stay a Little Longer by Dorothy Garlock

Author:Dorothy Garlock [GARLOCK, DOROTHY]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: FIC027000
ISBN: 9780446569040
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2010-04-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

HER FATEFUL WORDS had no sooner been spoken than Rachel could clearly see the painful hurt spreading across Mason’s face. His still brilliant blue eyes widened as they searched her face for some sign, some explanation for what she had said.

“Alice is… dead?” he managed in a strangled whisper.

Rachel walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. Gingerly, she took his callused hands in her own. She had felt so much anger toward him, resentment for his having left them to fight a war when his draft number had not even come up. She had condemned him for refusing to come home as soon as he was released from the hospital, but the wounded way that he looked at her softened her heart, if only a bit. Telling someone such news as she needed to report to Mason was no easy task. She felt tension growing in her own chest; she knew that nothing she would say to him this day would make him hurt any less.

“Mason, there is something that you need to hear, something that is going to be very difficult for you to bear,” she began, carefully choosing her words as she tried to prepare herself for the emotional battering that was to come. “Alice… Alice died in childbirth,” Rachel explained as gently as she could. “Alice died… giving birth to your baby.”

Immediately, Mason’s hands clenched hers tightly.

“What… what are you saying?” he asked, his already confused face growing incredulous. “Baby… but… Alice and I weren’t expecting a child…”

“Alice only found out about her pregnancy after you had already left,” Rachel explained. “By her own count of months, she determined that she must have conceived just before you set out, but it was only after you had arrived in France that she knew for certain.”

Even as she recounted the story, Rachel could not help but remember just how excited Alice had been. For her, the very idea that she and Mason would create a life, that she would be a mother, was as great a gift as she could ever have been given. When she had finally confided in her sister, tears of joy sliding down her soft cheeks, her smile had been brighter than the summer sun.

If only it had managed to stay that way.

“At first, she didn’t know whether she should tell you about the baby or not,” she continued. “She was afraid that you would have been distracted or would have worried about her. But in the end, she decided to write you a letter telling you that you were to be a father. Alice waited and waited, but weeks went by without a reply.”

“The mail… was erratic… we were never sure when it might arrive,” Mason haltingly explained. “I… I only ever received a couple of Alice’s letters, ones she had… written in the first days… after I left.” Wistfully, he looked over Rachel’s shoulder at the worn coat draped over a chair in the corner. “I… never… received that

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