The Awakening by Lorhainne Eckhart Read Free Book Online Page B

pursed her lips, her face taking on a hardness he didn’t want to see.
    “Aida, I went to Laura’s today. And she was gone.”
    “Gone where?” She kept rolling the dough and then lined a pie plate. There were seven lined up.
    “I don’t know. That dump she lived in, the scumbag who owns it was there. He threw her out, said she couldn’t pay the rent. The lady upstairs said Laura loaded her car last night and she hasn’t seen her since.” Andy rested his hand on the counter, waiting for the woman to start yelling, to say she quit, to call him a pig. Anything.
    But instead, she calmly laid down the rolling pin and looked up at Andy with a hint of sadness in her eyes. “Did you know that girl is from Arlington? She got herself in trouble at fifteen, pregnant. Her parents threw her out when they found out, as they didn’t want her influencing her siblings with her seedy behavior, as they worded it. They said she was a bad influence, and they didn’t want her around as a role model. But all that girl did was have a momentary lapse and, unlike many teens, she got pregnant. The boy, the father, treated her like a leper and would have nothing to do with her or the baby. So, with no money, she lived in a shelter in Arlington during the day, working part time at a fast food restaurant until the baby was born. But the social workers were sniffing around, looking to take her baby, and when she went into labor, the hospital notified social services because she was so young, and the social workers flocked in like vultures.
    “She called her parents, but her mother said to her that if she wanted to come home, she’d have to give up the baby. Less than twelve hours after she gave birth, she walked out of the hospital with her baby and never looked back. She’s been living here ever since. Do you know what that kind of fear whispering in your ear does to a person? Gabriel is hers. She is young. She is honest. And that girl works harder than anyone I know and don’t complain about nothing. Working for a pittance, barely getting by, I think. Oh, she’d not speak of it. But I knew. I had eyes and could see the strain, the stress that she’d always cover up with a smile. But she was also beaten down. She had to shake off your daddy’s advances more than once.”
    Aida watched him closely, but Andy was speechless and didn’t know what to say. Hearing that his dad had hit on Laura had a rage building to a slow boil inside him. He wanted to hit something. Maybe that was what she saw when he swiped his hand roughly over his face.
    “Andy Friessen, maybe there is hope for you. But there is a difference, too, between being angry about someone wronged and doing something about it. So what do you plan on doing?”
    She watched him closely, her arms crossed, and at any moment Andy half expected her to toss her apron and stomp out the door, telling him to shove this job. He could see the stubborn stance written all over her. All the years she’d worked for his family, he’d never really known her, which was a pity. He liked her and all of her “Right is right, and wrong is wrong” stance. It was refreshing.
    “I’ll find her,” he promised. Unsure of where to start and unwilling to admit it even to himself, he needed to find her for his own peace of mind.
    Aida nodded. “Then you’d best go find her.” She picked up the rolling pin and set about making her pies. “Now get out of my kitchen, Andy Friessen.”

Chapter Eleven
    It had been a long, cold night. Gabriel had whimpered off and on as the rain pounded the roof of the car. After their breakfast with Diana, Laura had been overwhelmed by her generosity and the fact that she had a full stomach. But that wouldn’t keep Gabriel satisfied for long. As far as food, she didn’t have much left. Gabriel had finished off the last of the bread and crackers. Laura nibbled on a cracker, hoping that would keep the hunger at bay. It was difficult finding places to use a bathroom