The Edge of Heaven Read Online Free PDF

even if he was the right Sam.
    If Rye had any sense at all, he'd get in his truck and keep driving.
    But as he stood there across from the house, thinking about Emma inside and all alone, he decided he could give it another day. See if her phone rang again, and if she had a better idea of when her family would be back.
    A woman like her...
    He thought again of the slight puffiness of her cheek, the bump on her head, thought of all the things that man might have done to her that she refused to admit. He thought of her being scared every time the phone rang or someone came to the door.
    He could wait another day.
    * * *
    Emma lay on the sofa, wrapped up in her blanket, staring at the fire and afraid to go to sleep. But at some point, she must have drifted off because she jerked awake much later, when the room was dark and cold. The sun had gone down, the fire died down, too, and the phone was ringing.
    For a minute, she wasn't sure she could so much as pick it up and look at the Caller ID box to see who was calling, but she finally did, seeing that it was Rachel.
    She snatched it up. "Rachel. Hi."
    "Hi, Em."
    She was so glad to hear her voice. Rachel who was kindness incarnate, so supportive, so loving. Sometimes like an older sister to Emma, and, when Emma let her, the mother Emma needed so much.
    "You okay?" Rachel asked. "You don't sound like yourself."
    "I was napping. I couldn't sleep last night on the train, and I just crashed this afternoon," she said. "How's Ann and the baby?"
    "Ann's scared, but hanging in there. They've got her on some medicine to try to stop the contractions, but they're just not sure if they'll be able to."
    "And if they can't?"
    "Then she'll have a very premature baby," Rachel said.
    "But the baby will be okay?"
    "Well... Honestly, they're not sure."
    "Oh."
    Neither one of them said anything for a moment. They didn't have to. Emma knew how hard this would be. She took her strength from them, had always thought they could get through anything together.
    "Do you want me to come up there?" she asked, thinking maybe they'd take the decision out of her hands. It sounded so easy, just to go up there.
    "No, sweetie. Not yet. Let's give it a day or two and see what happens. Besides, Sam said you looked all wiped out. Finals and all, huh?"
    "Yes." She hated lying about it, but she was still thinking there might be a way to hide from it, maybe to pretend it never happened. How silly was that?
    "What happened to Mark and his parents? You sounded so excited about meeting them," Rachel asked.
    "Well..." And then she got all choked up. Darn. She had to say something. "We broke up."
    There. That was easy. And true. It would have to be enough for now.
    "Oh, sweetie. I'm sorry. Sam didn't tell me that."
    "I didn't tell him," Emma confessed. "If I had, he would have felt like he had to stay, and I know he was worried about getting up there. I just told him things had been crazy and that I was looking forward to a little peace and quiet, which is true."
    "Do you want to tell me what happened?"
    "I will when you get home. I'll tell you everything."
    "Okay, but... You sound a little shaky, Em. And I thought if you were going to meet his parents, things must be getting serious between you two."
    "It wasn't like that. Really." At least, not on her part. "His parents were coming to Chicago on business at the end of the semester, and I haven't had nearly as much time as I'd like to see the city. We were going to catch a show, do some Christmas shopping, some tourist things. That's all."
    "All right, but if you need us—"
    "I'll call," she promised.
    "Okay. We should have a better idea of what will happen with Ann and the baby tomorrow. I was going to ask you to make another round of calls—"
    "I'll do it." She'd rather make the calls than have them call here looking for news. It would save her from worrying every time the phone rang. Rachel gave her the hospital phone number. Emma dutifully wrote it down. "Sam's at Ann