Abound in Love Read Online Free Page A

was something I
could do for her.”
    “Do you
have any idea what happened between her and Dan?”
    Macy
sighed.  “I believe their problems started after her miscarriage, but I could
be wrong.”
    Laura
gasped.  “Candace … was pregnant?”
    Macy
appeared stricken.  “I’m so sorry.  I thought you knew.  Candace didn’t tell
you?”
    Laura
collapsed against the too-soft cushions of the well-worn couch.  She shook her
head. 
    “Laura,
forgive me.  Candace probably wanted to tell you herself.  I shouldn’t have
assumed you knew and blurted it out like that.”
    She
only nodded in reply, but her heart was breaking.  Both for her sister’s loss,
but also for the sad reality that Candace hadn’t bothered to tell her about
something so important.  If Candace hoped to rebuild a relationship with her,
keeping her out of the loop about a traumatic, life-changing event seemed to
suggest otherwise.
    Laura
noticed Macy looked sick with worry.  “It’s all right, Macy.  I’m sure you’re
right.  She probably intended to tell me in person.”
     

Chapter Three
     
    L ater
that evening, after the children had gone to bed, Laura and Thomas sat together
in the living room.  Macy had gone home, and Laura was relaxing, while Thomas
had a pile of papers splayed out in his lap, grading them.
    “Wouldn’t
that be easier at a table,” Laura observed.
    He
looked up and grinned.  “This works fine.  And, I’m almost…”  He briskly wrote
something on a paper with a red pen.  “Done.”
    He
hurriedly straightened the sheets into a neat pile and put them aside.  When he
scrubbed a hand over his eyes, Laura knew he was exhausted.
    “Are
you all right?” she asked.  “You seem tired.”
    He
forced a smile.  “I’m all right.  Just have a lot on my mind, I guess.”
    “You’re
worried about Candace.”  It was a statement, not a question.
    He
nodded.  “Macy told me she told you about Candace’s miscarriage.  She feels
awful.  She figured you already knew.”
    “Why
would Candace tell me?” she said sarcastically.  “I’m only her sister.”
    “I know
she meant to tell you.  She told me she wanted to tell you in person.  She
mentioned ‘needing’ to talk to you.”
    “Did
she say why?”
    He
pinned her with weary eyes.  “She said something about ‘atoning’ for her
sins.”  He sighed.  “Our sister is in a bad way, Laura, and for the life of me,
I don’t know what to do for her.  Dan is at a breaking point himself, wondering
what happened between them.”
    “How
long have they been separated?”
    “Oh,
several months, I guess.  Not long after Candace miscarried.”
    “Had
they been trying to have a child for some time?” Laura asked.
    “That’s
my understanding, though neither Dan nor Candace is particularly communicative
these days.  I don’t know—Macy thinks maybe Candace is experiencing a sort of
depression…”
    “I can
imagine,” Laura cut in.
    “But to
be honest, I think it’s more than that.”
    She gave
him a questioning glance.
    “Our
sister may be a lot of things, but one thing she is, is a wonderful mother. 
I’ve always been proud of her for that.  Young mothers don’t always have that
natural maternal instinct—particularly when they’re barely nineteen when they
have their first child.  Candace always loved and cared about her
children—first and foremost.  These days, she rarely spends time with them. 
She’s taken a job at a store at the mall and works six days a week.  Then, at
night, she takes off, and none of us knows where she goes.”
    “Are
you telling me she leaves the kids every day and evening?”
    “She’s
home the occasional evening, but she leaves them more often than not.  And
since Dan is picking up any shift he can—probably as a means for dealing with
his marital problems—the kids are left with…”
    “You.” 
Laura sighed.  “Thomas, how are you managing?  You have a job, a fiancée, a
wedding to