One True Love by Barbara Freethy Read Free Book Online

Mary Bea asked, her eyes welling with tears.
    “Because Mommy needs time to relax, so she can stop yelling so much.”
    Maggie squatted down and drew her two younger children into her arms.
    They hugged for a long minute. Then Maggie opened one arm and motioned for Roxy to join them. After an awkward, reluctant moment, Roxy shuffled forward and hugged her mother.
    This time when Maggie drew away there were tears in her eyes. “I love you guys, very, very much. But I have to get away—just for a little while.”
    “Are you coming back?” Mary Bea asked.
    Maggie drew in a sharp gasp of breath. “Of course I’m coming back.”
    “Daddy didn’t.”
    “She’s not going to die, stupid,” Roxy said sharply.
    “I’m not stupid.”
    “Yes, you are.”
    Maggie sent Lisa a helpless, desperate look. “I—I can’t do this. It’s too selfish, irresponsible. The kids need me.”
    “They need you healthy and happy and strong.” Lisa picked up the overnight bag Maggie had set by the front door. “We’ll see you on Sunday.”
    “Will you be okay?” Maggie asked.
    “We’ll be fine. Don’t worry about a thing.”
    Maggie kissed each one of her children, then fled.
    For one long minute the house was filled with disbelieving silence. The children looked from one to the other, confused, unsure of what had happened.
    Lisa couldn’t blame them. She might be Aunt Lisa, but in truth she was a stranger. She hadn’t spent any time with these kids. She was Roxanne’s godmother, but aside from sending her a Communion gift and cards on birthdays and Christmas, she barely knew the girl. And Mary Bea had been a baby when she’d last seen her. As for Dylan, Lisa remembered when he’d been born, just a month before Robin.
    Robin would have been his age now, his size. Lisa’s breath caught at the thought. How could she bear to be around Dylan, Roxy and Mary Bea, to see their joy, to feel their love, when it would only remind her of Robin? She wanted to call Maggie back, but she was long gone, and Lisa was alone.
    “What are we going to do now?” Dylan asked.
    Three pairs of eyes turned to her.
    “I was going to ask you the same question.” She tried to sound cheerful and confident. “I’m sure we can have a great time together.”
    “Maybe we should call Uncle Nick,” Roxy said.
    Lisa put a hand on her arm. “Don’t be silly. We’ll be fine. There’s no need to call your uncle—Nick.”
    Mary Bea looked at Lisa and began to sob, her cries growing louder with each passing second. Her little face turned red as she screamed. “I want my mommy.”
    Lisa put her arms around the little girl, trying to draw her| close, but Mary Bea would have none of that. “I want Uncle Nick,” she said this time.
    “It will be okay. I’ll play a game with you. We’ll tell stories.
    We’ll watch television.”
    “Uncle Nick, Uncle Nick,” Mary Bea yelled.
    “Honey, calm down,” Lisa tried again.
    Mary Bea screamed louder.
    “You better call Uncle Nick,” Dylan said. “She might never stop screaming.”
    Lisa’s anxiety level rose with each cry. Mary Bea’s face turned blotchy, and she began to cough in between her cries as if she couldn’t catch her breath. Lisa felt suddenly terrified. What if something happened to Mary Bea? What if she couldn’t get Mary Bea to stop
    crying? What if she fainted? What if she stopped breathing? Lisa drew in a long breath of air, as memories of the past hit her in the face. Robin in her crib, screaming, her tiny face turning a blotchy red as she pounded her little fists against the sheets. Then hours later, Robin, so still, so lifeless, her skin so cold. Oh, God! How could she do this?
    “Aunt Lisa,” Roxanne said.
    Her voice sounded far away. Lisa could barely focus on Roxy’s face.
    She kept thinking of Robin. The baby had cried so much at first. In the middle of the night, after two and sometimes three trips to the nursery, Lisa had begged and prayed and pleaded for one long night of