Die Before Nightfall. Shirlee McCoy

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СКАЧАТЬ didn’t have credit cards. Didn’t use her real name most of the time. It was hard to track you down. Once I found you I tried to call. You didn’t want to talk to me. At least that’s what your husband told me. So I wrote a year’s worth of letters. And at the end of that year, I got those—” Ben gestured to the folder Raven held.

      She wanted to offer an explanation, to tell him the truth about her life with Jonas, but she wouldn’t. Her past was something she didn’t share. “I’m sorry Jonas lied to you.”

      “Don’t apologize for your husband. Let him do that.”

      “He died three years ago.”

      “Now it’s my turn to say I’m sorry. I lost my wife over five years ago. I know how much it hurts.”

      “Were you married long?”

      “Two years. Not nearly long enough.” There was sadness in his eyes, but he smiled anyway. “At least I have some wonderful memories. How about you?”

      “I have memories.”

      He eyed her for a moment, his gaze intense. Then, as if sensing her reluctance to discuss her marriage, he stood and held out a hand to pull her to her feet. “You left your lemonade in the other room. Let’s go get it.”

      The phone rang as they walked back into the living room, the answering machine greeting cutting in after the second ring. Then Raven heard, “Hey, Ben. It’s Ray. Mom and Dad said you were flying in tomorrow. Said I should pick you up. What time’s good?”

      Mom? Dad? She ran the words through her mind as Ben reached for the phone.

      “Hi, Ray. Listen, my sister’s here—Yeah. I can’t believe it, either. Can you tell Mom and Dad I can’t make it this year? I don’t know. Maybe. Listen. I’ll call you tonight and tell you more. Bye.”

      He hung up the phone and smiled at Raven. “Sorry about that. My foster family has a reunion every year. Ray’s in charge of coordinating it this time.”

      “It starts tomorrow?”

      “Yes. Two weeks at Camp Remington. Fifty adults. Dozens of kids. Lots of food.”

      “You’re not going to cancel because of me?”

      “I’m going to cancel because I want to.”

      “Ben, no.”

      “I see my foster parents every few months, the rest of the family a couple of times a year. They won’t miss me.”

      “Please don’t cancel. I just arrived, I’m still settling in. I’ve got unpacking to do. A job to find.”

      “I can help you with all that.”

      “I need to do this on my own. Go to your reunion. Enjoy yourself. When you come back, we’ll talk more.”

      He was going to refuse, Raven could see it. A memory flashed through her mind. Ben, much younger, but just as determined, begging the grocer to give Raven a sandwich from the deli. He’d been tenacious. Unwilling to take no for an answer.

      The boy lingered in the eyes of the man.

      But time must have tempered Ben’s will. He nodded. “I can see you need some time. I’ll give it to you. But just the two weeks. Then we talk. And I want your phone number, so I can call. Otherwise I’ll think this was all a dream.”

      Raven smiled at his words, some of her tension easing. “You’re still bossy.”

      “And you’re still my little sister. Which gives me the right to boss you. Come on. Let’s go into town. There’s a great diner there. We’ll get some lunch and I’ll show you around.”

      He flung his arm around Raven’s shoulder, the gesture so right, so natural, that for a moment she could almost believe they’d never been apart.

      Chapter Three

      By the time Raven returned to the cottage, daylight had given way to evening shadows. She stood on the front porch, her gaze drawn to the horizon, watching as the last rays of light disappeared. Her time with Ben had been easy and comfortable, their reunion much like she’d always hoped it would be. Still she wondered—at the family he was so much a part of, at the wife he’d loved and still missed.

      His path through life had been much different from Raven’s. Not easier, but perhaps more filled with love. She didn’t envy Ben, she only wished she’d made better choices in her own life, and that she were as content and at peace as her brother.

      Somewhere in the distance a dog barked, the sound breaking into Raven’s thoughts and jarring her mind away from regrets and disappointments. A good thing. Life was too short to waste time worrying about things that couldn’t be changed.

      It was only later, as she lay wrapped in spring-scented sheets, that the questions she’d shoved to the back of her mind surfaced again. Was Ben really happy to have her in Lakeview? Or was she a bump in the smooth road of his life? His reaction had been open and loving, but still Raven couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d intruded on his well-ordered and contented existence. Perhaps leaving Lakeview before Ben returned from his family reunion was the best thing she could do for both of them.

      She took a deep, calming breath. She’d spent so much time praying about this, so much time wondering if finding her brother was the right thing to do, she wouldn’t second-guess her decision, wouldn’t torture herself with the possibilities. Only God knew what the next few months would bring. All Raven could do was wait and see.

      With a frustrated sigh, she pushed the sheets off and went into the living room. Her Bible lay on the coffee table and she picked it up, opening to the Psalms and losing herself in words of comfort, in promises of hope, until finally, her eyes closed and she drifted to sleep.

      She was there again. In the room at the top of the stairs. Already decorating. Jonas said she was silly and frivolous. That twenty-three weeks was too soon to plan for the new life that grew inside her. She didn’t care. She was so happy. Finally, a baby! She’d begged, pleaded for so long to have this chance.

      Something creaked outside the door. A loose floorboard that Raven knew meant he was awake. Her heart beat heavily. Would he be angry that she’d left the bed and come here to finger tiny baby booties? The door crashed open and a baby’s cry filled the air.

      Raven started awake, biting off a scream before it took wing. Sweat beaded her brow and layered her skin, seeping into the cotton of her nightgown and making it cling uncomfortably. She needed to get up, to move. To run from the memories that haunted her dreams. The high-pitched wail of an infant followed her as she fled across the room and opened the bathroom door. She’d take a shower. Cool her skin, ease her tension and block out the sobs that echoed through the night.

      She paused with her hand on the faucet. Sobs. Not wails. Loud, bitter, hopeless. Definitely not a baby, but someone…Not a dream, but reality.

      Heart in her throat, Raven stepped out of the bathroom and strained to hear the sound again. There it was, faint but still audible. She hurried to the front door, hesitating with her hand on the knob. Was this a trick? Some bizarre scheme to get her to come outside? She grabbed the long-handled СКАЧАТЬ