Point Hope by Kristen James Read Free Book Online Page B

turned abruptly, rushing back into the house. Trey stared after him for a few seconds before he moved.
    Inside, it was quiet. Rosette hung up her sweater and walked through the kitchen. The kids had eaten and had left cereal bowls in the sink. She listened and heard their muffled voices. It sounded like they were playing in Jake’s room.
    She didn’t see Trey but went up to Alex’s door and knocked. There was a noise so she opened the door. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, bent over so she couldn’t see his face. She sat down and rested a hand on his back, wondering if there was anything she could say. There wasn’t. Not right now. Instead she sat with him, watching the minutes go by on his alarm clock, until she heard Candice and Jake running down the hall, calling for her.
    “I’ll need to talk to them too.”
    She knew she was operating in a sleep-deprived haze but there was no way around it. Rosette had done this many times after staying up with Candice. They’d been through lung infections, ear infections, and sinus infections many times in her seven years. She’d been hospitalized three times. Then Rosette began researching two years ago and started trying a gluten-free diet. To their amazement, it helped decrease Candice’s asthma symptoms and lessened the severity of her colds. Still, it made Rosette nervous to think she might be dealing with both a sick daughter and a newborn baby shortly. Spring was the worst season for allergies and asthma.
    The kids had run into her bedroom. She found them sitting on the bed with Trey. She sat down with them just as an ugly question settled over her. Actually, it was more of a questioning feeling than actual words. Who were they anymore? They had been ready to call it quits before getting news about Ricky. Then they’d agreed to put off any decisions. Now there was a baby in the mix—how could they make any kind of decision about anything right now?
    But there were more immediate issues to deal with today. Trey did the talking, calmly and slowly telling Candice and Jake that Aunt Amanda got hurt in a car accident and went to heaven.
    Jake asked a lot of questions. How did she die? Did it hurt? How come the baby is alive if Amanda died? It was just an interesting topic for him. He wasn’t old enough to really understand it all. Candice was quiet as she thought about it, and that worried Rosette. She pulled them both close and held onto them. She looked up and saw Alex standing in the doorway, his hands in his pockets and tears rolling down his face.
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    Sarah Molvik sat in her car in the hospital parking lot, wiping her nose and tears with a sweater. It was gross, but she’d been crying so much. The tissues she kept in her glove box were all gone.
    It was Tuesday afternoon, two full days since the accident on Saturday night. That didn’t make any of this better. Each passing minute seemed to make it worse. It was more time to think about it.
    She thought they’d be leaving with the baby soon. Unless the baby wasn’t okay. She had seen Trey and Rosette Sinclair, the brother-in-law and his wife, come and go a few times. Sarah knew their names from the news. The newspaper and local TV channel had covered Ricky Sinclair’s death. He was a huge local hero now.  The biggest article had also described how Trey had served and been wounded. It’d been titled, “A Family of Sacrifice.”
    More like a family of tragedy and loss. Maybe she’d write a paper on it—how life was out to take so much from them.
    This morning’s paper had a new article. “Mom-To-Be Dies on Night of Husband’s Funeral.”
    Sarah picked up the newspaper on her lap: “In an already tragic situation, Amanda Sinclair, pregnant with her first child, died in a one-vehicle accident on Seven Devils Road Saturday night, only hours after her husband’s funeral. Doctors confirmed the baby is alive and doing well, and is in the care of family members.”
    The article went