The Perfect Christmas by Kate Forster

Author:Kate Forster [Forster, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781474008501
Publisher: MIRA
Published: 2014-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

Read on for an exclusive extract of Kate Forster’s new novel,

Picture Perfect

released in April 2015.

Prologue

West Virginia

11 May 1996

The girl shivered and hugged her new baby closer to her chest. It had been a restless night in the hospital room; and her friend shifting uncomfortably in the hard plastic chair, while the baby snuffling in the little crib beside her bed.

The last time she had been in a hospital was when her Grammy had died, and she had trusted that stupid social worker. Social workers couldn’t be trusted, no matter how much they pretended they cared.

She felt sick, but she wanted it done. Every second she was with the baby was another second that might change her mind.

Her friend sat watching her, her slim legs in skintight jeans, chewing gum and drinking Mountain Dew from the vending machine down the hall. She was swinging one foot while she spoke, a habit that her friend knew came from nerves, not restlessness.

‘She’s gonna have a real nice life,’ her friend said for the millionth time.

‘I know,’ she answered numbly.

‘Better than anything we ever had.’

The baby stirred and she felt her breasts ache. She was bottle-feeding, as they had all agreed, but her body yearned for the feel of her baby on her skin.

Skin hungry, she thought, her mind blurred as she picked up the baby from the crib.

Was this what love felt like, she wondered, and then she felt the let down of her milk, soaking her one good T-shirt.

‘Goddammit,’ she said and stood up from the bed. ‘Take her, I have to dry this,’ and she handed the warm bundle over.

Her friend took the baby with the confidence of someone who had grown up around younger children.

‘Hush now, little one,’ she said to the babe, and started singing about Jesus.

All her songs were about Jesus, thought the girl as she went into the bathroom and plugged in the hairdryer from the cupboard under the sink. This was a real nice hospital, with fancy toiletries and hairdryers and little dryers in each room. Better than the apartment she shared with her friend. She waved the hot air over her milk-stained T-shirt. She saw the milk had left a shadow of two eyes on her front.

Proverbs 15, 3, she thought. The eyes of the LORD are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.

What was he thinking as he watched her now?

A knock at the door made her jump and drop the hairdryer.

‘Give her to me,’ she said, rushing out and snatching the baby back. Time is precious, don’t waste a moment, she heard the preacher say in her head.

Her friend walked to the door and opened it. ‘Hi there,’ she said, like she was about to serve them at the Pick ‘n’ Mix candy store.

She heard the woman’s breathless voice answering and she walked to the window and stared out unseeingly at the parking lot.

If the Lord was watching her, and he knew how she was feeling, then he would have found

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.