When Morning Comes Read Online Free PDF

back.”
    Kara cursed the night Burt followed her home after she caught him and one of the nurses at the hospital on the couch in the doctors’ lounge. The betrayal had slapped her hard. She’d thought Burt was “the one.” He’d proven her wrong. Worse, many of the staff members at the hospital knew it.
    â€œBurt and I are over, Mama,” Kara told her, and turned back to the stove to check the boiling pasta. “I could never forgive a betrayal.” She didn’t add, especially not when she was subjected to the smirk of the nurse she’d caught him with each time they saw each other in the hospital. Thanks to an understanding supervisor, she didn’t have to work with any of Burt’s patients.
    â€œYou’re making a mistake, but it won’t be your last,” her mother said sarcastically.
    Kara felt the sucker punch to her soul, as her mother had intended. No matter what, she’d never been able to please her. The more she tried, the more she failed.
    The doorbell rang. Her mother’s lips pressed together as she stood. “It’s time for my stories.”
    â€œI’ll bring your tray to your room,” Kara said, well aware her mother would hear the relief in her voice and annoy her further. Her mother kept walking. Shortly, Kara heard the simultaneous close of the bedroom door and the doorbell.
    Shaking her head, she went to the door and opened it. Seeing the beaming expression on Sabrina’s face for some odd reason made Kara want to cry.
    â€œWhat’s the matter?” Sabrina asked, stepping inside and closing the door after her.
    Kara shook her head and willed the useless tears not to fall. “Nothing. Dinner is ready.”
    Sabrina glanced down the hallway leading to the bedroom. “Is there anything I can do?”
    â€œYou’re doing it.” In the kitchen, Kara drained the pasta.
    The loud pop of a cork sounded in the room. “You look like you could use this.” Opening the cabinet, Sabrina picked up two wineglasses, filled one and handed it to Kara, then inhaled over the skillet. “Smells delicious. I told my mother this morning that, if I didn’t love you, I might hate you. You do everything so well.”
    â€œExcept please my mother.” The words were out before Kara knew it. With anyone else she might have tried to retract them, but if anyone understood ambivalent feelings about your mother, it was Sabrina.
    Kara wasn’t surprised to feel Sabrina’s arm around her for a quick hug just before she nudged the glass to her lips. “My adoptive parents helped me find my birth mother when I was eleven,” Sabrina said. “She was thirty-one, looked sixty, and tried to proposition my dad in front of me. She had no remorse for what she’d done to me. She only wanted money to buy more drugs.”
    Sabrina took the wooden spoon from Kara’s unmoving hand and began to stir the pasta and shrimp. “I cried for days. It was my grandfather, my mother’s father, who helped me realize that I was giving more thought to my birth mother than the people who had raised me, the people who had loved me, saved my life after I developed an infection in the hospital. If Mama hadn’t been volunteering in the hospital and heard me crying, I might not be here today. Life has balances, if we look for them.”
    Kara picked up the bowl of fresh-cut vegetables and added them to the shrimp. “My daddy was the best there was. No matter how tired he was or how busy, I always knew I could count on him.”
    â€œBalances.” Sabrina looked at Kara. “I’ve had friends before, but none who understood me or didn’t freak when they saw the scars from the burns.” She grinned. “You were the first until this afternoon.”
    â€œWho? What happened?” Kara asked with open curiosity.
    â€œI’ll tell you as soon as we fix your mother a plate and make sure