Dream a Little Dream (Chicago Stars, #4)(22)

“Nothing fancy. I wasn’t sure what you’d like.” She handed him the sack. He opened it, and his eyes widened. “A book! A new book!” His features clouded. “Is it really for me?”

Rachel’s heart felt as if it were breaking. There had been so much bad in Edward’s life, he couldn’t believe anything good was happening.

“Of course it’s for you. It’s called Stellaluna, and it’s about a baby bat. Would you like me to read it?”

Edward nodded, and the two of them settled on the couch as Kristy began to read. As Rachel watched, a lump grew in her throat. He interrupted Kristy with questions, which she patiently answered, and as they continued reading, her plainness disappeared. She laughed at his chatter, her eyes sparkled, and she looked pretty.

Their interaction continued through the supper she insisted they share. Rachel ate sparingly, not willing to deprive Edward of even a bite of the chicken casserole he was devouring. With a feeling of pure pleasure, she watched the food disappear into his mouth.

After dinner, Rachel insisted on cleaning up, but Kristy wouldn’t let her do it alone. While Edward sat on the front porch with his precious book, the two women worked in awkward silence.

Kristy finally broke it. “Have you thought about putting Edward in day care? There’s an excellent facility at church, with a nursery school attached.”

Rachel’s cheeks burned. Edward needed to be around other children, and it would have done him so much good to be separated from her for a little bit. “I’m afraid I can’t afford it right now.”

Kristy hesitated. “It won’t cost you anything. There’s a scholarship I’m sure he’ll qualify for.”

“A scholarship?”

Kristy wouldn’t quite meet her eyes. “Let me take him with me when I go to work tomorrow morning. I’ll get it all straightened out.”

There was no scholarship. This was charity, and more than anything, Rachel wanted to refuse. But she couldn’t afford pride where her son was concerned. “Thank you,” she said quietly. “I’d appreciate it.”

The compassion she saw in Kristy’s eyes filled her with shame.

That night, after Edward was asleep, she let herself out the back door and down the wooden steps. They creaked as she turned on the flashlight she’d remembered to take from the Impala’s glove compartment before the car had been towed. Even though she was so tired that her legs felt boneless, there was something she needed to do before she could allow herself to sleep.

Keeping the beam low to the ground, she swept it along the line of trees behind the house until she found what she was looking for, a narrow path that curled into the woods. She walked toward it, picking out obstacles so she wouldn’t trip.

A branch brushed her cheek, and a night bird cooed. Having been raised in the country, she liked being outside at night when she could be alone with the quiet and the clean, cool smells. Now, however, she could barely concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other.

Annie Glide’s cottage was set high on Heartache Mountain, less than half a mile from Rachel’s destination, but she had to stop several times to rest. In the end, it took her nearly half an hour to reach the notch. When she got there, she collapsed on a small outcrop of rock and looked down the other side of the mountain. Down toward the house where she had lived with G. Dwayne Snopes.

It sat brooding in the valley below, built on blood money and deception. The windows were dark now, and moonlight picked out the structure’s shape but not its details. Still, Rachel didn’t need light to remember how ugly it was, how overly grandiose and phony, just like Dwayne.

The garish monstrosity had been his idea of a Southern plantation. A pair of black wrought-iron gates decorated with gold praying hands blocked the bottom of the drive, while the exterior of the house held six massive white columns and a balcony decorated with ugly gold grill-work. The interior was filled with crypt-like black marble, ostentatious chandeliers, swags and tassels, mirrors and glitz, all of it capped off by a marble fountain in the foyer featuring colored lights and a Grecian maiden with showgirl breasts. She wondered if Cal Bonner and his wife possessed the good taste to remove the fountain, but then, she couldn’t imagine anyone with good taste buying the awful house in the first place.

It was a steep descent into the valley, but one she’d made many times during the four years she’d lived there as she’d escaped the oppression of her marriage on her morning walks. The impatient part of her wanted to make that descent tonight, but she wasn’t that foolhardy. Not only didn’t she have the strength, but she also needed to be better prepared.


Soon. Soon, she would descend Heartache Mountain and claim what belonged to her son.





After the incident in the snack shop, Rachel dreaded having to face Gabe again, but for the next few days, he did nothing more than bark out orders, then ignore her while he performed his own jobs. He spoke little, never met her eyes, and in general, reminded her of a man doing hard penance.

At night, she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep brought on by exhaustion. She had hoped the regular exercise would make her feel better, but the dizziness and weakness continued. On Friday afternoon while she was painting the interior of the ticket booth, she fainted.

Bonner’s pickup turned into the drive from the highway just as she dragged herself back to her feet. Her heart thudded as his truck slowed. She tried to figure out how much he’d seen, but the inscrutable expression on his face gave her no clue. Grabbing her paintbrush, she scowled at him, as if he were interrupting her work, and he drove on.