Free The Deadline (The Friessens: A New Beginning) by Lorhainne Eckhart

the clock beside the bed . The white glow of “5:59 am ” had burned into her eyes as she watched the time tick by slowly. Even though she was so tired, she couldn’t sleep, and she’d tossed and turned most of the night after feeding the babies and putting them back to sleep. When she crawled back to her own bed, she slid her hand to Andy’s side, over his pillow, wishing he could be here so she could rest her head on his shoulder, feel his arms around her. Maybe her head, her mind, her thoughts could then stop racing to every nightmarish scenario she was trying to hide from.
    She wondered if her sleepless night wasn’t just about her sweet little boy being so sick but also about her husband, who was the life force of their family, the man who held them together and took care of everything. She loved Andy so deeply, and she couldn’t get her head around the fact that her little boy, whom she loved more than her next breath, was so gravely ill, and Andy was there with him. In that moment, she wished that Andy could be Gabriel’s true, biological father. She wished a lot of things through the night, crying into Andy’s pillow until she had no more tears, beating herself up, letting herself wonder whether she was responsible for this. Maybe everyone had been right, and she should have given Gabriel up when he was a baby, but she soon became angry at herself for thinking that way. How could she not, though? Until a year ago, she’d lived in nothing but dirty, unhealthy places because she couldn’t afford anything else.
    “Stop it ,” she muttered as she pressed her palms against her forehead and rubbed. She reached for the cell phone beside her on the nightstand, hoping Andy would have phoned in the night. She wanted to talk to him, to hear his voice. She only wondered for a second whether he was asleep as she pressed the number he’d programmed into her phone. That was just what he did: He set things up, organized them, showing her only what he felt she should know. As she listened to the ringing, she knew Andy would censor any news.
    “Hello ?” He cleared his throat and sounded half asleep.
    “Hi. I woke you.” She sighed. Just hearing him breathe on the other end helped.
    “Everything okay?” Of course, he was instantly alert.
    “ I couldn’t sleep, between worrying about Gabriel and you not being here. It was a long night. How is Gabriel?” she asked.
    “He’s been asleep all night. You have to get some rest, Laura, or you’re no good to the babies.”
    “ I know, Andy, but I can’t rest here when I’m worrying about what’s going on there.”
    He sighed on the other end.
    “As soon as the babies are awake, I’m coming in,” Laura said. At the same time, she wondered how she could divide her time between her two babies and Gabriel. At times like this, she wished for family, for some support for her and Andy. Maybe she could talk him into calling his cousin Jed and his wife, Diana, who was Laura’s friend and the closest person she had to family. Diana had always been there for her, even taking her in for a time.
    “I called Neil ,” Andy said. “He’s flying in with Candy to help. I know you want to be here, and…”
    He stopped talking , and she realized then how tired he was. Whatever he was holding on to, he had almost let it slip. So there was more. She knew it deep inside her as she sat up in bed and strode over to the window, shivering in the cold as she brushed back the curtain and stared out at the trace of snow on the ground just as the sun touched the horizon. She swallowed, irritated that Andy had called Neil without talking to her first. He had just made all the arrangements, which was what he did all the time.
    “It snowed last night , Andy. You could have mentioned you were calling your family,” she snapped. The minute she said it, she wished she could take it back.
    “Laura, you need some help, and I can only do so much. I need to be here, and it’s best if Chelsea