Precedent: Book Three: Covenant of Trust Series Read Online Free PDF Page A

divorce kept them from being totally plastic.
    The way it looked to her, either God couldn’t save Brad, which meant He wasn’t as great as everyone said, or He wouldn’t save Brad, which was worse. Why would anybody worship a God who just dropped you? Where was He last night when Mom needed Him, when the rest of them needed Him?
    The phone rang, and she rushed to the handset in the study, hoping it was her mother. The caller ID showed Kara’s number. Probably calling for Aunt Rita. Figures.
    “ Shannon, it’s Katelyn,” Rita called from the kitchen. “Do you want to talk?”
    To someone who would understand? Definitely. “Got it in the study, thanks!” Shannon picked up the handset and slouched into her mother’s loveseat. “Hey, Kat.”
    “ I’m so sorry about Brad. Mom just told me.”
    “ It’s a nightmare. Mom passed out and had to spend the night in the hospital. Dad stayed with her. They still aren’t home yet. Jack was there with Brad, but he didn’t see anything.”
    “ And you’re stuck there with Granny.”
    “ And Uncle Gavin.” She lowered her voice, mocking her uncle. “ ‘God’s got a plan in all this.’ ”
    “ He said that?”
    “ Pretty much.”
    “ You want to go somewhere? Or we can just hang out here at my house. Mom’s at work, so it’s just me and Natalie and Mia. I can come and get you.”
    “ Maybe later. I want to be here when Mom gets home.”
    “ Yeah, just text me or gimme a buzz and I’m there. We’re praying for you guys.”
    “ Don’t bother,” Shannon said as she hung up the phone.
     
    * * *
     
    Bobbi spotted Jack as soon as Chuck turned on to Danbury Court. A young man, a kid really, with his baseball hat pulled down low and his hands deep in the pockets of his baggy shorts. He never looked up as the car eased past him.
    “ Let me out,” Bobbi said, unbuckling her seatbelt. Jack raised his head when her car door opened. In his eyes, she could see the six-year-old Jack once again, stunned by a loss, unsure what to do next. When she reached him, he collapsed on her shoulder, but this time she didn’t have any comfort for him. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” she whispered. “I’m sorry you had to do this by yourself.”
    “ It’s okay,” he said, then sniffled. “You’re home now. It’ll be okay.”
    She wished that were so.
    She held tightly to Jack’s arm as they walked the rest of the way up the sidewalk to the driveway, where Chuck was getting out of the car. She let go of Jack long enough for Chuck to hug him tightly.
    “ I’m sorry, Dad,” Jack said quietly. “I’ve been trying to remember. . . . It was dark. . . . It all happened so fast. . . .”
    “ Jack, don’t beat yourself up over this. Your first priority was Brad. I would have done the same thing.”
    Bobbi leaned on Jack as she walked up to the porch. “How long have you been gone?”
    “ I don’t know. Since about eight, I guess. I wasn’t sleeping anyway.”
    “ Hey, we’re home,” Bobbi announced once they got inside the front door. Rita and Gavin came into the entry hall from the kitchen, and Shannon tromped downstairs.
    Rita hugged her sister. “Are you all right, really?”
    “ Yes.” If being robbed of your son then abandoning your other children makes you all right, then she was in tip-top shape. “Shannon.” Bobbi held her arms out and Shannon fell into them. “I love you, baby,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here for you.”
    “ I know you wanted to be,” Shannon said in a fragile, little-girl voice.
    Bobbi wanted to spend the rest of the day, the rest of her life maybe, holding her children close, drawing strength from them as they tried to regain some sense of security and order.
    But there were arrangements to be made. She owed that much to Brad, and she couldn’t leave Chuck to handle it alone. Should she take the kids with her, perhaps? Would it help them to be involved, or was it better to shield them? In the middle of the