Emily's Choice Read Online Free Page A

the sisters were driving down the road in Hope’s rental car,
heading to the airport in Santa Fe. Emily had taped a note to her bedroom door
telling her parents not to worry and that she’d call later that morning with an
explanation. And knowing her best friend slept like the dead, she didn’t
hesitate to send Gina a quick text telling her the wedding was off and she’d
talk to her later in the day.
    Emily leaned
her head against the passenger window, hands resting lightly on her belly, her
pregnancy weighing heavily on her mind. She’d be alone now. A single mother.
The weight of responsibility would rest solely on her shoulders. Would she be
able to handle it?
    *****
    The earliest
flight from Santa Fe to Boston wasn’t until 7:52 a.m. As Emily paced the gate
area waiting for their seats to be called, she second-, third-, and
fourth-guessed herself. Was she doing the right thing? Was running the answer?
What if it had been a mistake?
    Then for the
second, third, and fourth time, she reminded herself that she hadn’t mistaken
what she’d seen. The memory wouldn’t leave her in peace, and she knew without a
doubt that she needed space and time to decide what to do about it.
    When their
seats were called, Emily gathered up her purse and ticket and breathed a short
sigh of relief. She knew she’d feel a little better once she was on the plane.
    Landing in
Denver, Emily settled on one of the chairs by the windows. Fingers shaking, she
dialed her parents.
    “Are you
okay?”
    Emily did
her best to keep the tears at bay, but hearing the concern in her stepmother’s
voice was almost more than she could bear. She considered herself extremely
lucky to have Grace. Emily’s mother, Sara, had died when she was two. She didn’t
know all the details just that it had been complications from scarlet fever.
She couldn’t remember much about her mother but knew Sara had been well loved
and respected in the community, and people were always eager to share their
stories and memories. Mama G never discouraged it either. She herself had been
happy to help ferret out information. When she’d married Clint, it had been
something she’d been adamant about. She wouldn’t let Emily forget her mother,
and Mama G never sought to replace Sara. Instead, she had tried to be a friend,
a mentor, a guiding influence to mold Emily into an adult her mother would have
been proud of.
    Her father
was a man, down to the marrow of his bones. What he knew of hairstyles,
fashion, and girl stuff wouldn’t fill a thimble. When Emily had needed her hair
done, school clothes shopped for, the first time she’d gotten into a war with
Gina, the first day of her period, the first time Jason had kissed her, when
she left for college, having Mama G in her life had been a godsend. And
hopefully, despite the distance Emily was putting between them, she would be
there for the birth of her baby, too.
    Grace may
not be her biological mother, but she was her mother as far as Emily was concerned.
And Emily sorely needed her mother right now.
    “Not really,
no,” Emily said through her tears. She turned her back to the gate and stared
unseeing out the window. She told Mama G the sordid details.
    “You’re
going to Hope’s then?”
    Emily heard
her father in the background and listened as Grace explained the situation to
him. It was rare for her father to swear, and Emily was a little taken aback at
what she heard through the phone line.
    “Are you
sure of what you saw?” her father growled.
    “Yes, Daddy,
I’m sure.” Emily said, clearing her throat. She could imagine him stomping down
to his den to pick up the phone in there and Mama G rolling her eyes at his
intrusion on their phone conversation.
    “He’s gonna wish he’d never been born,” Clint threatened.
    “Daddy!”
Emily yelled. “Don’t hurt him.”
    “You’ll do
no such thing,” Grace said shrilly. “Get off the line before you upset her
more.”
    Emily heard
her father mutter,