The Reckoning Stones: A Novel of Suspense Read Online Free Page B

She reached for the door, wanting to postpone whatever he was going to say.
    “I’m not thirsty.” He caught her hand and tugged her back. Looking with great earnestness into her face, he massaged his earlobe between his thumb and forefinger. “It came to me while I was praying, Jolene, that we should welcome my father into our home when they release him. It made sense that Esther should care for him before, and that when she got sick he should go into the care center, because we didn’t have the room and you had all you could handle with the kids. Without a job or family, my sister was the obvious choice as caretaker. Besides, she wanted to. She might be a bit overbearing at times, but no one can deny her devotion to our father. But now, with Aaron moved out, we’ve got a spare room and you’ve got more time. Since he’s awake and will be able to eat normally, his care won’t be so difficult, and the doctors haven’t ruled out the possibility that he’ll learn to talk better and maybe even regain some mobility, with time and therapy.” Zach beamed at her.
    The world tilted under Jolene and she steadied herself with a hand on the door jamb. “Here? I’m not—I can’t—” Revulsion rose in her and she wanted to shout that she wouldn’t allow that man in their house. She closed her lips over the words, knowing she couldn’t explain them to Zach. No more could she tell him she’d just begun to sight a kind of freedom on the horizon, with Aaron moved out and Rachel already taking her PSATs. She still had her students, and her wife-of-the-pastor responsibilities in the Community, but she’d begun to think about the benefits of life as an empty nester. The thought of caring for anyone new, much less her father-in-law, made her feel like someone had chained cinder blocks to her feet and tossed her into a lake. She could almost see bubbles drifting toward the surface far, far above her.
    “We can’t decide something like this on the spur of the moment,” she said, trying to sound calmly rational.
    “We’ll need to discuss it with Esther, of course,” Zach said, opening the door and standing aside for her to enter, “but I can’t see why she’d object. The important thing is that he be cared for by family. Praise the Lord that we have the blessings of food and shelter and love to share.” The door banged shut behind them.
    “Praise the Lord,” Jolene echoed hollowly, wondering how her husband could be oblivious to the tectonic plates shifting beneath the surface of their oh-so-placid and insufficiently-appreciated-un til-just-this-moment lives. Why couldn’t Matthew Brozek have had the decency to die twenty-three years ago?

four
    iris
    It started to drizzle shortly before Iris left Jane’s Wednesday afternoon and she biked home in a steady rain, compiling a mental list of reasons not to go back like Jane suggested. With rain and damp hair obscuring her vision, she coasted almost to a stop in front of her house before she saw the pickup parked at her curb. It was dark blue, heavy duty, with yellow script that read “Lansing Landscape” on the door. She disentangled herself from the bike, wondering if the landscaper had the wrong address. A man stepped from the cab holding up a familiar leather jacket and Iris relaxed her grip on the bicycle, which she had automatically swung in front of her.
    “Greg. How did you know where I lived?” Lassie had told him, she realized.
    “You forgot your jacket,” Greg said, handing it over, clearly pleased with himself. His fingers brushed hers, transmitting warmth. He looked older in the daylight. The rain made his dark blond hair curl around his face and he smiled, inviting her to share in his pleasure that he was here, that he had been attracted enough to find her.
    Iris realized she was chilled. She regarded him through wet lashes. He was a ready-made distraction from her thoughts. She’d planned to bring him home last night, after all. “I need a shower