Free Waiting for Morning by Karen Kingsbury Page B

telling everyone how that drunk driver killed your family . So who cares if I stay up here? I’m not your family.”
    Her mother shrank back, a pinched look around her eyes.
    Jenny sat up and forced her face closer to her mother’s. “I guess you’re right, Mom. Our family is dead. Now there’s just you and me, and that’s not enough, is it? We’ll never be a family by ourselves.”
    She threw herself back down on the bed and rolled onto her side. She couldn’t stand looking at her mother for another second.
    “Jenny …”
    She flinched at her mother’s tentative touch on her shoulder. There was a pause, and when her mom went on, her voice was cold.
    “I’m sorry I said what I did about my family being killed. Of course we’re a family. But there’s a lot to do now, and I can’t spend my time sitting up here rubbing your back and helping you get over this. That man, that drunk driver , is about to be charged for what he did to your dad and Alicia. When he is, I want to be there. I want to make sure he’s locked up for a long, long time. I’m sorry, honey … but I’ll probably be very busy these next few months.”
    Jenny remained silent, unmoving, studying her fingers as they moved slightly, back and forth, across the wall near her bed.
    “Honey, what I’m trying to say is I’d like your help in this. We owe it to Daddy and Alicia to make sure that man doesn’t ever kill anyone again. It won’t help for us to hide away in bed and miss them. Not now, anyway. There’s too much to do.”
    Jenny felt tears burn her eyes and couldn’t keep her shouldersfrom trembling. What was her mother talking about? I’m just a kid! she wanted to scream. How can I possibly do anything that would help send that drunk driver to prison?
    For that matter, what difference could her mother really make? None at all. Besides, who cared, anyway? Alicia and Daddy were gone. Nothing could bring them back now.
    “Jenny.” Her mother’s voice was flat. “Are you listening?”
    Jenny rolled over and faced her mother. “If you’re asking me to get up, put a smile on, and help you make some kind of plan to lock up drunk drivers, I won’t do it.”
    Her mother’s face grew a shade paler. “Why are you lashing out at me?”
    Because I hate you. Because you hate me for being alive . “Because. You think you have to get back at that guy. Seek revenge or something.”
    “Well, Jenny, what do you want to do?” Her mother sounded exasperated. “Ask the judge to let him go?”
    “I don’t know!” Jenny’s whole body shook, and she couldn’t make it stop. “The Bible says to forgive, and you always taught us we should live our lives by what the Bible says, right?” She watched her mother closely. Please, please, be my mom again. You believed in God … in the Bible.… You used to smile and hold me and tell me he would always protect us. …
    But there was no smile on her mother’s face. She stiffened, and she wouldn’t meet Jenny’s eyes. “That’s different. The man who did this needs to be punished. Don’t you think so?”
    “I think we should forget about him!” Jenny clenched her fists. “Going to court and fighting him won’t bring back Daddy and Alicia. I think we should stay home and remember the happy times.”
    Her mother stood up abruptly, and Jenny suddenly felt so cold she thought she’d shatter into a million pieces. “That won’t bring them back either.” Her mother’s words were like pieces of ice. “Forget I said anything, Jenny. Stay up here as long as you like. And when you’re ready to deal with whathappened, I’ll be downstairs trying to get on with life.”
    Her mother walked out of the room, and Jenny turned once more toward the wall. Hot tears filled her eyes, and she sobbed softly into her pillow. “Alicia, where are you? I need you so badly.”
    Through her tears she remembered how they had dressed alike as little girls, walking hand-in-hand to their Sunday school class