Free The Color of Destiny (The Color of Heaven Series Book 2) by Julianne MacLean Page A

cracked. Her complexion was the color of ash.
    I leaned over her and studied her face. “What a fighter you must be,” I softly said, “but really, what’s the point?”
    She offered no reply.
    “Are you even in there?” I asked. “Can you hear me?”
    “I think she’s in there,” a voice said from the doorway, and I jumped.
    Swinging around, I locked eyes with a slender blonde-haired woman who looked to be about my age. “I’m sorry,” I replied, mortified by the questions I had just asked. “I didn’t mean to intrude.”
    She glanced down at my uniform. “It’s fine. You must be the paramedic.”
    I nodded, and she walked toward me. “I’m Jen, Sophie’s sister.”
    “It’s nice to meet you.” We shook hands, and an awkward silence descended upon the room. “I’m sorry about what happened to her,” I said. “The roads were really bad that night.”
    Jen backed up to lean against the windowsill. “That’s what they tell me. But listen... thanks for what you did. For bringing her back. We’re very grateful.”
    Again, I waved a dismissive hand through the air. “All I did was warm her up in the ambulance. It was the trauma team that brought her back, here at the hospital. They’re the ones you should thank.”
    Jen shrugged, as if it was all the same to her. “What do you think her chances are?” she asked me.
    “I honestly can’t say,” I replied, not wanting to crush this woman’s hopes, even though I had very little faith of my own that Sophie would ever return to the world of the living, much less to the woman she once was, for I had quit believing in miracles a long time ago. “Every case is different.”
    “That’s what the doctors tell me,” Jen said, “but it’s hard, you know.”
    I glanced at Sophie and remembered exactly how it felt to wake up in a bed just like this one, then hear the news that my baby was dead. And my sister. And my aunt.
    Was there any life left inside of me ? I wondered. Any hope? Sometimes I felt like a crazy person. I wanted to run screaming down the street, calling out for Mia and my baby.
    Sometimes I woke from a dream where I heard my child’s laughter, just as I had in the hospital that day when I chose not to have the abortion. I wanted so badly to go to her.
    Did that mean I wanted to die? That I wanted to go to heaven to be with her?
    There were times when the answer was yes. Glenn had certainly given up on living. Once he said, ‘I’d be better off dead. I just hope that when it happens, our daughter will be there at the pearly gates to greet me.’
    It had become my task these days to try and prevent the loss of Glenn, too. Maybe that’s why I became a paramedic. Maybe I knew I would one day need these skills to save his life. I certainly didn’t want to lose anyone else that I loved.
    I was always looking for the reason behind things. The purpose.
    Why, this? Or why, that?
    It had been almost twenty years since my accident, but I was still haunted by it—by all that I had lost that night. What was the purpose of that? Of all the suffering? Had I done something to deserve it? Or was it some sort of test?
    “Yes, I know.” I quickly shook the memories away and faced Jen. “I really should get going. My husband’s waiting for me at home. It was nice to meet you. I’m sorry about your sister. I hope she’ll be okay.”
    Jen appeared startled by my sudden compulsion to leave, but I just couldn’t stay in that room any longer. It was too close to death.
    When I arrived home, it was the usual scene. All the lights were off, but the television was on.
    I set down my purse and keys and walked through the kitchen. Glenn was passed out on the sofa with an empty bottle of vodka on the floor beside him. I saw the disturbing telltale signs of a cocaine binge—the hand mirror on the coffee table, the straw, and the credit card.
    God...!
    A sudden violent rage rose up within me. Why was Glenn doing this? I understood that life hadn’t been