The Dreamstalker by Barbara Steiner Read Free Book Online

explanation for the way someone left Gordon.”
    â€œYou mean—the paint—the flowers?” Karen said.
    â€œUh-huh. They’ve ruled the death accidental unless some other facts come to light. They don’t think the flowers choked him. They think it was the asthma. The flowers were put there afterwards. I guess a guy with asthma would have a fear of suffocating.”
    â€œOf course he would. I don’t want to talk about it.”
    â€œIt’ll help you get rid of the dream.”
    â€œNo, it won’t. It just keeps reminding me.” Karen lifted the heavy coffee mug with both hands. The hot liquid didn’t warm her. She pulled her robe tighter.
    Kerr was silent, reading again. The house was quiet, too quiet. Karen guessed her mother was still in bed, reading if not sleeping. Outside the kitchen nook window, the blue spruce were clothed in white blankets. Sun sparkled the tops of drifts, leaving the undersides in blue-gray shadow. The incredible beauty was wasted on Karen. She had something else on her mind.
    She took a deep breath. “Kerr, stop bugging me and Jesse. You’re being silly.”
    â€œAre you in love with him?” He stared at her, his dark eyes searching hers for an answer.
    â€œI don’t know. I like him a lot. I’ve never been in love before, so I’m not sure what it feels like.”
    â€œWould you marry him if he asked you?”
    Karen shook her head. “I’m not ready to get married. I have to finish high school, go to college, find something I like doing. If Jesse is still in my life after that, then I’ll make a decision.”
    â€œI’m not going to get married. Look at the mess Mom and Dad are in.”
    â€œThat doesn’t have to be the way things turn out, Kerr. Look at the Coles. And Alysia’s parents. They’re happy. I wish you’d ask Alysia for a date.”
    â€œShe wouldn’t go. She hates me.”
    Karen had to laugh. “Hates you? Whatever gave you that idea?”
    â€œThe way she looks at me. Maybe she thinks I’m good-looking, but she doesn’t like me the least bit. I can tell.”
    She knew there was no talking Kerr out of his idea about Alysia. Over the years, he’d often gotten it into his mind that someone didn’t like him—kids, teachers, people they knew. She had never been able to budge his opinion once he settled on it. It was some kind of funny quirk he had.
    â€œMom and Dad hate me, Karen,” Kerr played with his spoon in a cereal bowl, not looking at her now. “They just wanted you. I was as afterthought, an accident of nature. You’re the only one I can count on to love me. I guess I do get jealous sometimes. I can’t help it.”
    Karen took both Kerr’s hands in hers. “Kerr, I’m not going to stop loving you just because I love Jesse. I’ve got enough love for more than one person. I love Alysia, and I love Mom. I guess I even love Dad, even though he’s hardly ever around. I just don’t like him much. I think that’s okay, don’t you? You don’t have to like people in your family. It’s an accident of birth that you ended up with them.”
    â€œI read that you chose the parents you want to be born to.”
    â€œThat’s hard to believe. I really don’t think I’d have chosen Mom or Dad. Do you?”
    â€œOf course not. I’d have chosen someone who wanted me.”
    She left the subject alone. There was really nothing to be gained by talking about it. “I have to get dressed. Alysia and I are going to mess around in town.”
    â€œYou need the car?”
    â€œNo, she’s coming for me. What do you have on tap for today?”
    â€œI don’t know. Maybe I’ll go downtown, too, and sit and watch people. See if I can find out what they’re thinking. Practice my psychic powers.”
    Karen laughed. But she realized she didn’t know how