Read Online Heart on a Chain by Cindy C Bennett - Free Book Online

tears running silently down my cheeks. Sleep was a long time coming.
    He did go to the hospital the next day to bring my mother home. When she arrived her stomach was strangely flat, and she did not bring a baby. I was so happy she was home I threw myself against her, wrapping my arms around her waist. But she didn’t hug me back, or even seem to notice I was there.
    “ Leave off,” my father commanded roughly, a phrase both of my parents began to use with me quite often. I dropped my arms, looking up with a question. She didn’t even look at me, and I noticed how sad she looked, the corners of her mouth turned down deeply, eyes red and swollen. She walked into the house and lay down on the couch, turning her back toward us, pulling the blanket which hung on the back of the couch over herself, covering her head.
    “ Mommy?” I questioned, calling her by the name I hadn’t used in a long time. She ignored me and then I heard her soft cries coming from under the blanket. I looked at my dad, accusingly, which seemed fair since he had been the cause of all her other tears for the last few months.
    He looked at me and I saw guilt flit quickly across his face again, then he looked away and replaced it with his usual scowl.
    “ Your mom lost the baby,” he told me.
    Lost it? Shouldn’t we be out looking for it? He must have seen the confusion on my face because he clarified.
    “ The baby died. Your mom will be sad for a while so go outside and leave her alone.”
    I was stunned. The baby had died? How did that happen? He glanced at me briefly again, saw the questions on my face and turned away.
    “ I’m going out,” he called over his shoulder as he pushed out the front door. I stared after him, tears pricking my eyes. I looked back at the huddled lump on the couch that was silently shaking and did as I had been told; I went outside where my trusty friend the swing waited to take me away.
     
    “ An only child, huh? Bet you’re spoiled.” Henry’s comment jars me back from my bitter memories as we walk. A cynical laugh escapes me at his comment. I’m the furthest thing from spoiled there could be. He looks sharply at me.
    “ How was the game?” I blurt out, the first thing I can think of to change the subject. He watches me for a few moments longer, though I’m looking at the sidewalk, as if he might read my mind and see the truth.
    “ It was okay, I guess. Typical, lots of screaming kids not watching the game at all. It’s more social than anything. I doubt more than a few of the people there could tell you the difference between a touchdown and a field goal.”
    I feel mortification color my cheeks, wondering if he knows that I don’t know myself.
    “ I think most of the guys go to watch the cheerleaders, and most of the girls go to watch the football players.”
    He has no idea how great the whole thing sounds to me.
    “ And we lost anyway. Next week should be better, though. We play Jefferson.” Jefferson High School is our schools biggest rival, though I never could figure out why they should be a rival more than any other school. “You should come.”
    Sensing the refusal I’m about to issue, he hurriedly jumps in. “Before you say no, just promise to think about it. If it’s an issue with your parents not wanting you to go with a boy, you could just meet me there. I’ll make sure there are girls with us so that you won’t have to lie. I can even get someone to come pick you up—a girl I mean. It doesn’t have to be like a date or anything, if that’s a problem. Just friends, just for fun,” he holds up a hand in supplication. “Just think about it? Please?”
    I don’t want to argue, or have to try to make up an excuse, so I just nod, knowing I’ll have to say no on Friday afternoon. He smiles triumphantly, and I feel bad thinking about having to take away his perceived victory.
    I have to admit, for the rest of the week, I fantasize about it. I imagine telling him yes, see again how it