Read Online Lost Innocents by Patricia MacDonald - Free Book Online Page A

went over to the door. “Everything will be all right,” she said.
    Bonnie nodded grimly and patted the back of her baby, whose little sobs echoed off the walls of the quiet lobby.
    Maddy led the way up the stairs to the bedrooms. She opened the door to the guest room. There were twin beds and a bureau. In the corner was the crib, which Amy had outgrown. Maddy had put it there so that they would be prepared for visits from friends or family who also had young children. Bonnie looked around the room, and for the first time she brightened. “This’ll be great,” she said.
    Maddy nodded, feeling pleased at the sight of the pale yellow room with its hooked rug and wildflower quilts. She remembered the day last spring when she and Doug had painted this room. Doug had started out griping that he wished they had the money to hire someone to do it, but in the end it had been fun. They had painted while Amy danced happily around with her doll.
    “Maybe we can get a house,” said Bonnie. “If the job works out. Before this we’ve lived in apartments. But now that we have Sean…”
    “How long have you been married?” Maddy asked.
    Bonnie frowned. “Oh, not too long. A few years. It took me a while to get pregnant. Then when I did, it was easy as pie. I worked up until the week I had him.” She placed the baby into the crib and took off the knitted booties on his feet.
    Maddy leaned against the door frame. “Where did you work?” she asked.
    “What?” Bonnie asked, turning around. “Oh, at the library. As an assistant.”
    “Well, you shouldn’t have any trouble getting a job around here. Seems like they’re always short staffed at the library.”
    “I’m not going to go back to work,” she said. “Not now. Terry wants to support us. Once I get this little one off to school, I’ll be able to go back,” she said dreamily. “Terry and I have discussed it and we both feel that it’s important for the mother to be home with her child.”
    Maddy smiled and gave her an assessing glance. She wasn’t young, probably mid-thirties, and she was not especially attractive. But she had found herself a husband and she had her first child. Having this baby must have been a dream come true to her. No wonder she wanted to stay home. And it would probably work out fine for them, except for this little nightmare glitch of the breadwinner being in the hospital, minus his spleen.
    Bonnie walked over to the bed and began to rummage in the diaper bag. She pulled out a pair of pajamas and set them gently on the bed. “Good thing these weren’t in the suitcase,” she said. She removed a bottle of baby oil, powder, and a plastic soap container.
    “I’ll drive you around to the garage tomorrow and we’ll get your bags,” said Maddy.
    Bonnie returned to the side of the crib and unsnapped the baby’s little corduroy pants. He began to make fretful noises.
    “Maybe you should let him sleep in his clothes,” Maddy suggested, “so you don’t wake him up.”
    Bonnie looked up at her indignantly. “And let him go to bed all dirty and sticky like this? I wouldn’t think of it.”
    Mind your own business, Maddy reminded herself. Every mother has her own way of doing things. “Well, I’m going to leave you two. I’ll see you at breakfast in the morning.”
    “No fruit,” said Bonnie.
    “What?” Maddy asked.
    “No fruit for breakfast. Sean is allergic to most fruits.”
    Maddy smiled. “Well, my Amy won’t touch them anyway. Good night.” Bonnie resumed undressing the baby as Maddy pulled the door shut quietly.
    She went down the hall to her bedroom, tiptoeing so as not to wake Doug. As she approached the door, she thought she heard the murmur of his voice. She opened the door and saw him sitting on the edge of the bed, his shoulders slumped, a pained expression on his face.
    “Doug, what’s the matter?” she asked. “Are you feeling all right?”
    “I’m all right,” he said.
    “Maybe you better take one of