Her Brother's Keeper Read Online Free

Her grief still came in waves, and today the tide was high.
    â€œOkay. Thanks.” Mary smiled, and Hannah chose not to question Mary about her use of so much Englisch . And she promised herself she was going to try to have a good attitude about their cousin’s visit. Maybe Mary would provide a nice distraction and eventually become a friend. She gave a quick wave, then hurried to her bedroom.

    Charlotte sat down on the bed and fumbled through her purse until she found her cell phone. She scrolled through her contacts until she found Ryan’s number. He answered on the first ring.
    â€œYou there, all settled in?”
    â€œYep. I’m here.” She spoke softly as she pulled off the prayer covering and tossed it beside her on the bed, then she pulled out the bobby pins holding her hair in a tight bun. She shook her head, her blond waves falling to the middle of her back. “And it’s pretty much like I thought it would be.” She sighed. “Hot, no air conditioning. But they seem nice, I guess. It’s hard for me to imagine that these people choose to live like this, though.” She eased out of her black loafers, then her black socks, wiggling her toes. “And it’s even harder for me to imagine that Ethan wanted to live like this.”
    As her brother’s best friend, Ryan was just as anxious to find out what happened to Ethan. When she was younger, Charlotte had a crush on Ryan, but he was a few years older than her, and he and her brother had run around with an older crowd. Since Ethan’s death, Charlotte had met Ryan for lunch a few times, and they’d put their heads together trying to figure out what would cause Ethan to take his life. A couple of times, Charlotte caught Ryan staring at her in a way that could have been mistaken for romantic interest, but she was pretty sure he would always see her as Ethan’s little sister. She thought about how Ethan would have turned thirty this year.
    â€œMaybe you’ll get some answers while you’re there.”
    â€œI’m going to try,” Charlotte said as she propped the pillow up against the headboard. “Right now, I just want to take a nap.” She sighed. “Although, it’s so hot in here, I’m not sure that’s possible. But I’m pooped.”
    â€œOkay. Well, glad you made it there safely. Keep me posted if Hannah or the others shed any light about what happened.”
    Charlotte swung her legs on to the bed and closed her eyes as she thought about her brother. They’d had a hard life growing up, and Ethan had battled depression over the years. But she’d thought he had found happiness here. It wasn’t the ideal situation—him living with the Amish—but all she’d ever really wanted was for Ethan to be happy. Obviously, something had gone terribly wrong.

Two

    H annah shifted her weight to her left knee as she packed dirt around the tiny Tiger Eyes that she and her mother had seeded indoors weeks ago. She allowed her eyes to drift in Mary’s direction. Their cousin didn’t seem to know much about gardening, and she’d been whining all morning about the heat. Her dress was a wrinkled mess even though Hannah had put an iron in the guest bedroom. And once again, her cousin’s kapp was lopsided.
    â€œAch , much deeper, dear.” Mamm lifted herself up off the dewy soil and walked to where Mary was pitifully trying to plant the flowers. “Like this,” Mamm said as she lifted the plant from its shallow burial, then dug a hole half the depth of her spade.
    â€œSorry.” Mary hung her head for a few moments before she looked up. “I guess gardening was never really my thing. Y’all are much better at this.”
    No kidding. And there was that strange word again— y’all . Hannah didn’t harp on it, but let her thoughts slip back to a year ago, when Ethan had helped her put the garden in and plant flowers