The Other Child Read Online Free PDF Page A

Karen.” She felt a little better now. At least Janet Wilson didn’t seem to be staring at her outfit.
    “Rob says your husband’s a photographer. Isn’t that nice! Is he planning on setting up a business here in town?”
    “No, Mike works for Homes magazine,” Karen replied, opening her purse to find her wallet. “We’re remodeling the house so he can have a darkroom and work right here.”
    “You have a little girl, isn’t that right?” Janet shook open a brown grocery bag as she talked. Everyone who came in this afternoon would ask about the new family, and she meant to find out as much as she could.
    “Leslie’s nine. Do you have children, Janet?” Karen was doing her best to be casual, but she’d never been asked so many questions in a grocery store before.
    “I have just the one—my boy, Gary. He’s going on twelve. And do you model for your husband?”
    “I used to model, just for fun, when Mike was getting started,” Karen answered. “Then I worked for an interior-decorating firm in the Cities until we found out I was—” Karen stopped and blushed a little. “We’re expecting our first child in December,” she confessed.
    As Janet’s eyebrows rose, Karen almost groaned aloud. She wished she hadn’t phrased things quite that way.
    “I—I was married before,” she hesitated to say. She could feel the heat rise to her face in a wave, but the little white lie was easier than trying to explain the truth. It wasn’t Janet Wilson’s business anyway, and she didn’t want to start small-town gossip.
    “I just love our new house,” Karen hurried on, flustered. “It’s a good thing I’m an interior decorator, though. Fixing up the inside would cost a fortune if I couldn’t do it myself.”
    “An interior decorator . . . my, my!” Janet shook her head. “Nobody here could afford to hire a decorator to do their houses—except for the Comstocks, of course. The people here aren’t fancy—just plain, honest folks who believe in saving their money.”
    Karen smiled self-consciously. “We can’t afford to hire anyone, either. I’ll do most of the interior work myself.”
    “You’re going to have a real job on your hands with that old Appleton house.” Janet shook her head. “I wouldn’t tackle it for love or money! Now listen, Karen”—Janet reached out to grasp her wrist—“don’t let anybody scare you with those old, tired ghost stories. I’ve always said they were a lot of nonsense anyway. You know how it is, a big old house is empty for a while and people start talking about how it’s haunted. I don’t believe a word of it, personally. Stories have been going around for years and no one’s actually seen anything, so just don’t pay any attention to the things you might hear. People here just like a little excitement and the Appleton place gives them something to talk about.”
    Janet released Karen’s wrist and smiled. “Cold Spring’s a nice town and you folks are going to love it here. We’ve got the finest dude ranch in the state right outside of town. They call it El Rancho Mañana, and it put us on the map. City people come for miles to ride the horses and camp out by the lake. And there’s snowmobile trails for the winter. Then there’s our school; it’s the absolute best. My husband’s on the board. Progressive and growing . . . that’s what Cold Spring is. That’ll be fourteen dollars and fifty-three cents.”
    Karen handed over the money and took her change. She hurried out of the store, feeling as though she’d just gone through an inquisition. As she looked back through the plate glass window, she saw the two women shoppers hurry to the checkout stand. Janet Wilson gestured widely and the women bent closer to hear. Karen sighed and shook her head. By the end of the day everyone in town would know exactly what she’d said.
    “Looks like a nice store,” Mike said conversationally as she got into the passenger side of the truck. “Did you get