Free Just Believe by Anne Manning Page B

the cup and waited, she wondered how to break the
news to her mother that Erin's missing lover was in the
basement.
    "Annabelle?" her mother's sleepy voice
drifted into the kitchen through the midnight silence.
    "Mom, you should be in bed."
    "I thought I heard voices. Were you
talking to yourself?"
    With a start, Annabelle realized her
mother had heard her and Lucas.
    Pinning up a smile, she turned to
Susan. "With all this going on with Erin, I guess I just needed to
talk to someone, and I didn't want to wake you."
    "What are you making there?" Mom peeked
around Annabelle's shoulder.
    "Just some tea. Want some?"
    "Thanks." Her mother stepped away and
leaned on the counter. "Is that cinnamon?" She sniffed the air.
"Ummm."
    Annabelle sprinkled some cinnamon into
the second cup she took down from cabinet. Then she poured the hot
water into the cups. Handing one to her mother, she wondered how
she'd get back down into the basement.
    "When did you start drinking tea?" Mom
asked, daintily raising the cup to her lips. "I thought you didn't
like it," she smiled, "unless it was iced and heavily
sweetened."
    Annabelle sought an explanation. "I've
heard it's soothing. After tonight, I need some
soothing."
    "Uh-huh. Me, too." Mom took her cup to
the small trestle table in the breakfast nook and sat down, gazing
out on the back lawn.
    "Mom, why don't you go back to bed?
It's still so early. You need your sleep."
    "Maybe I can finish my tea first?" she
replied, her lips curving. "You know, Annabelle, I can decide for
myself if I need to go to bed."
    It was the first time Annabelle could
remember her mother declaring her independence. She
smiled.
    "Of course you can. I'm just worried
about you."
    Her mother's rueful smile faded. "Poor
Annabelle. So many people to look after." Like so many times
before, Annabelle watched her mother's attention wander, her eyes
lose their focus. Her hands ached to grab her mother's shoulders,
shake her, bring her back. But she was powerless, and could only
watch, as her mother slipped away again.
    Mom sat silently, hands wrapped around
her cup, sipping gently.
    "What do you think of what Erin said?"
The question came out of nowhere.
    "Don't worry about her," Annabelle
said, trying to be supportive and strong. Deciding to try her
fictional account out on her mother, she added, "They just had a
tiff and Erin let herself get worked up about it. She probably did
look crazy to the cops when they got there."
    She stared into the cup steeping on the
counter, as though she could find answers there. Suddenly, her neck
began to tingle as she felt a pair of eyes on her. Turning, her
gaze locked with her mother's.
    "That's not kind, Annabelle." Her
mother's softly spoken chastisement sent a blade of shame into
Annabelle's heart.
    "I didn't mean I thought so," Annabelle
said, by way of apology. She stood by the counter while her mother
drank her tea, very slowly.
    "Mom," Annabelle began, "what do you
think? Do you think Lucas abandoned her?"
    "I don't know. How can we ever know
what another person is capable of doing?" Mom drained her tea and
rose slowly from the table. "I guess, if Erin has faith in him, we
have to trust her feelings. We'll just have to believe she knows
him as well as she thinks she does."
    Believe. Funny how many times today
that word had been spoken.
    "Goodnight, dear. I'll see you in the
morning." Her mother stopped at the door and turned back with a
smile. "Thanks for the tea."
    "Goodnight, Mom."
    Annabelle stood in the kitchen,
listening to the soft footsteps of her mother as she went back to
bed. In the silence, the gentle click as the bedroom door shut
sounded loud enough to wake the dead and was plenty to snap
Annabelle out of her stupor.
    Taking the cup of tea, she opened the
door to the basement stairs and carefully descended. A soft rattle
echoed through the rec room.
    Lucas was sprawled across the sofa, his
long legs dangling off the edge, his left arm crooked over his
eyes. His mouth was