Read Online The Baby Snatchers by Chris Taylor - Free Book Online Page B

and hear her crying
through the night. The truth is, I’m not sure what else I can do to
help her. I was hoping you might have some ideas.”
    “Poor Cynthia! She’s so young to be dealing
with this kind of stuff! It would get an adult down, let alone a
teen! It sounds like you’re doing all the right things. It’s only
been a fortnight. It’s going to take some time.”
    “So a fortnight’s not too long to still be
completely in distress… Is that what you’re saying?”
    “Grief is a personal thing,” the woman on
the other end of the phone explained in a gentle voice. “Some
people take longer than others to find their way back to the way
they used to be. Give her time. Other than the things you’re
already doing, that’s all you can do.”
    Cam swallowed his impatience. “I get that, I
really do. But I’m a guy. We fix problems by doing things.
It’s the only way we know how. But Cynthia isn’t interested in any
of my suggestions to do things and I was hoping that you might have
some of your own… Being a woman and all…”
    His words drifted off and he cursed under
his breath. Heat crept across his cheeks. But when she spoke again
she didn’t sound offended; rather her tone was amused and he was
relieved.
    “Well,” she began, “being a woman and all,
I’d probably want to be left alone. It’s what we do to fix
problems. We turn inward and examine the issue from every angle,
analyzing, dissecting, going over it again and again. It’s probably
not the best way to deal with grief. In fact, it’s probably the
worst thing we can do, but that’s the way it is for many of
us.”
    “That’s exactly what Cynthia’s doing!” he
exclaimed. “She spends hours in her room with the blinds drawn,
sitting alone in the dark. I try and talk with her, to engage her
and interest her in other things, but she just keeps shutting me
down.”
    “You’re giving her everything she needs
right now. A safe place to live, food in her stomach, unconditional
love and support. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Losing a loved
one, particularly a baby, is tough on everyone. Don’t forget, she’s
only sixteen. Like I said, you’re going to have to give her
time.”
    “And then what?” he pushed, needing
something more concrete to focus on. “Can you suggest anything I
can do to help? I can’t stand by and watch her in distress
without doing something.”
    Georgie chuckled quietly in his ear. “There
you go, wanting to do something again. Men and women are different.
We don’t think about things the same way, but if you really do want
to do something, how about taking her to the movies, or to a
concert given by her favorite local band? What are her hobbies, her
interests? What did she do in her spare time, before the baby,
before her life took such a tragic turn?”
    Cam frowned and tried to think of anything
his sister enjoyed. The truth was, he didn’t know. She’d been a kid
when he’d left home and if he were honest, he’d been shocked at the
changes in her since he’d last seen her. The physical signs of her
grief were difficult to take, but the other signs of the life she’d
lived beforehand jarred him even more.
    The first time he’d seen her, her hair
looked like it hadn’t been washed for longer than he cared to
think. Her fingernails were chipped and broken and stained with
what looked like years of dirt, despite the fact he was almost
certain she would have been given a shower prior to giving birth.
She’d worn a clean white hospital gown that day, but still the
unmistakeable stench of body odor had permeated the air. Apart from
her big blue eyes that had filled with tears upon seeing him, she
looked nothing like the little girl he remembered from his
unsettling past.
    Though he was burning to know what had
happened in the years since he’d been tossed out of their family
home, he accepted her need for solitude and for time to come to
terms with the death of her child. The little information