Читать книгу Murder In The Heartland - M. William Phelps - Страница 36

Although Lisa’s second oldest daughter, Alicia^*, hadn’t been there when Kevin and Lisa arrived home with Rebecca, Ryan, and the baby, one of the kids called her at work and shared the good news with her. Alicia wanted to rush home “to see the baby,” but had to wait until the end of her shift. “She was all excited,” a family member recalled. “Really looking forward to holding the baby and sharing in her mother’s happiness.”

When they got settled at home, Lisa dressed the child in a cute little white T-shirt with pink lettering: I’M THE LITTLE SISTER.

“It was very busy that night because Kevin was so proud and he wanted to tell his family,” Ryan said later.

So while Lisa marveled at the child, with Rebecca and Ryan by her side, passing her around, playing with her, holding her, showing her the nursery she had spent weeks converting from an old bedroom, Kevin called family members with the good news: It’s a girl.

Lisa then called her aunt. While she was brimming on the phone with excitement, describing the child’s features (“How cute is she? Beautiful little girl, huh?”), Kevin’s aunts, uncles, mother, and father showed up to share in the celebration.

Later on, Ryan called Kayla in Georgia. Like Kayla, Ryan was puzzled over the events of the past few hours.

“Kayla, how many people are in our family?” Ryan asked. His tone was stoic, as if he knew the answer, but wanted someone else to clarify it for him.

“I don’t know,” Kayla said. She was even more mystified now than she had been throughout her mother’s last failed pregnancy. “What are you talking about?”

“Well…we have a new addition, you know.”

“What?”

After that brief conversation, Kayla questioned Alicia, who had just gotten home from work. Kayla believed Alicia would know more about the child than anyone else.

“What time was the baby born?” Kayla asked.

“I don’t know.”

“How much did she weigh?”

“Not sure.”

“How long is she?”

Alicia didn’t know. In fact, when Kayla asked the same set of questions later that night and the next day, Ryan and Rebecca didn’t have any of the answers.

“Where was she born?”

“I have no idea.”

“That, in and of itself,” recalled Kayla, “gave me a bad feeling. I told Auntie M I thought it was weird that they couldn’t answer any of my questions.”

Lisa remained calm throughout the evening. When she complained about pains in her stomach from the delivery, family members gathered around and comforted her. Kevin was seriously concerned about his wife and the pain she was experiencing and did everything he could to comfort her.

“You okay, Lisa?”

“I’m fine,” Lisa said. “I’m okay. Don’t worry about me.”

For the infant’s first night, Lisa put her to sleep downstairs. “It was warmer than it was upstairs.” The baby cried only once, Rebecca recalled; otherwise, mom and baby slept soundly through the entire night.