Free Mama Rocks the Empty Cradle by Nora Deloach Page B

did, it confirmed my own thoughts—something in Rose’s voice betrayed that she was scared. Did she suspect her family’s prayers
wouldn’t
be answered? Or did she know it?
    Mama touched Rose’s hand again. “You sound like you know something more than you’re saying,” she said softly.
    But again Rose stubbornly remained silent.
    A slight look of exasperation crossed Mama’s face, but it was brief—I really don’t think Rose saw it. “Rose,” Mama said, “I want to help you. I really want to help you.”
    Rose’s hands trembled, but the rest of her body became rigid. It was as though if she moved, she feared she’d break. “There are wicked people in this world, Miss Candi,” she whispered. “People who do evil things to innocent little children.”
    “You know those kinds of people?” Mama asked.
    Rose didn’t answer.
    “I want to find Morgan,” Mama said. “If you don’t have her, perhaps you can help me find her.”
    Rose still didn’t say anything.
    “I’m thinking,” Mama now said, “that Timber might have taken Morgan to stay with one of his other girlfriends. Did Cricket ever mention that she suspected Timber of messing with anybody else?”
    Rose’s body loosened. “What?” she asked, as if she was coming out of a trance.
    “Did Cricket ever tell you that she suspected that Timber might steal Morgan and give her to another one of his girlfriends?”
    Rose shook her head. “Cricket never thought—” Rose’s voice trailed away. Then she sat fixed again, like she was determined that she wasn’t going to talk freely.
    Compassion was clear in Mama’s face. I suspected since she was having her own pain, it was easier for her to identify with Rose’s. “I don’t think little Morgan is dead,” she said gently. “Somebody in Otis has kidnapped Morgan and is hiding her. And Timber knows that she’s here. It’s the only reasonable explanation for him to be still hanging around Otis if he did in fact kill Cricket.”
    “Timber loved his baby, all right,” Rose whispered.
    “We’ve got to find Morgan before it’s too late, before whoever has her takes her away from Otis,” Mama continued. “If you know anything that can help me, anything at all—”
    Rose looked like a little girl, scared of a particular villain. “Miss Candi,” she said through choked tears, “I don’t know where Morgan is at.” She sounded confused, like she didn’t understand the connection between Cricket’s terrible murder and poor Morgan’s kidnapping.
    Mama decided not to push for more information. She gestured for Rose to join her on the sofa. But instead, Rose kneeled on the floor beside her. Shethrew her arms around Mama and began sobbing uncontrollably. “Don’t you worry yourself none,” Mama whispered, holding Rose gently in her arms. “We’ll find Morgan, I promise—we won’t stop until we find her!”

CHAPTER
TEN
    M ama had to spend all day Thursday in bed—her poor feet were very sore and swollen. A complete day of total bedrest was absolutely necessary.
    As Mama ate the breakfast I’d brought her the next morning, the look on her face was distant, like she’d spread pieces of some puzzle in front of her mind’s eye. The last thing she’d said before I left her to take her tray to the kitchen was, “Where
is
Morgan Childs?”
    I shrugged and didn’t answer. I knew the creep who’d tried to scare me on Cypress Creek road had Morgan and I knew that his motives weren’t fatherly.
    I cleared the table and stacked the dishwasher. The smell of Irish cream coffee, the second pot of themorning, filled the sunny room. It was peaceful and I felt glad to be home, glad to be with Mama when she needed me. I jumped when I heard the doorbell ring. It was a long siren like somebody’s finger had gotten stuck on the bell. Once before I’d heard that kind of a desperate ring: That incident ended with Mama almost being killed. That memory made me swear to myself and peek through the