A Cry In the Night by Mary Higgins Clark Read Free Book Online

off you; he’s crazy about the kids. Let me tell you there’s got to be something wrong. He’s gotta be a gambler or a drinker or a bigamist.”
    She’d almost told Erich that and then decidedagainst it. She knew Fran’s brash humor didn’t go over very well with him. What was he saying?
    â€œIt’s just that I am a rather—wealthy—man. . . . My lawyers weren’t happy about the way things have moved so rapidly. This simply says that if we were to break up before ten years have passed the Krueger interests will remain intact.”
    She was taken aback. “If we broke up, I wouldn’t want anything from you, Erich.”
    â€œI would rather die than lose you, Jen. This is just a formality.” He laid the papers by her plate. “Of course you may want your lawyers to go over these carefully. In fact I was instructed to tell you that even if you or they are satisfied with all the clauses, you should not mail them back before you’ve held them two days.”
    â€œErich, I don’t have a lawyer.” She glanced at the top page, was aghast at the legal jargon and shook her head. Incongruously she remembered Nana’s habit of carefully checking the grocery tape, her occasional triumphant, “He charged me twice for the lemons.” Nana would scrutinize any document like this before she signed it.
    â€œErich, I don’t want to wade through all this. Where shall I sign?”
    â€œI’ve marked the places for you, darling.”
    Quickly Jenny scrawled her name. Obviously Erich’s lawyers feared that she might be marrying him for his money. She supposed she couldn’t blame them but even so it felt uncomfortable.
    â€œAnd, darling, besides that one provision, this sets up a trust fund for each of the girls which they’ll inherit at twenty-one. It goes into effect as soon as the adoption is complete. It also provides that you will inherit everything I have on my death.”
    â€œDon’t even talk about that, Erich.”
    He put the papers back in his case. “What a terriblyunromantic thing to have to do,” he said. “What do you want for our fiftieth anniversary, Jen?”
    â€œDarby and Joan.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œThey’re Royal Doulton figurines. An old man and an old woman sitting contentedly side by side. I’ve always loved them.”
    The next morning when Erich came to the house he had a gift box under his arm. The two figurines were in it.
    Even more than the ring, they made Jenny sure about the rest of her life.

4

    I appreciate this, Jen. Three hundred bucks is a big help. You were always a good sport.”
    â€œWell, you and I collected this stuff together. The money is rightfully half yours, Kev.”
    â€œGod, when I think of how we’d go around late at night to pick up the furniture people were leaving out with their garbage. Remember how we just beat someone to the love seat? You sat on it before the other guy could get to it.”
    â€œI remember,” Jenny said. “He was so mad I thought he’d pull a knife on me. Look, Kevin, I wish you’d come earlier. Erich will be here in a few minutes and I don’t think he’ll be pleased to run into you.”
    They were standing in the dismantled apartment. The furniture had been taken out—Jenny had sold everything for just under six hundred dollars. The walls, now bare of the cheerful prints, looked soiled and cracked. The basic shabbiness of the apartment was cruelly revealed without the furniture and carpetto hide its nakedness. The handsome new suitcases were the only items in the room.
    Kevin was wearing an Ultrasuede jacket. No wonder he’s always broke, she thought. Dispassionately she studied him, noticing the puffy lines under his eyes. Another hangover, she guessed. With guilt she realized that she felt more nostalgia at leaving this tiny apartment than she did at the prospect of