The Way to Yesterday Read Free

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understand that his parents needed to be a part of Hope's life, too. After all,
they were her grandparents. He knew that Mary had grown up without any family
of her own, and would have thought she'd be elated to share his. But it was
just the reverse. Daniel wanted to believe that her reluctance to be with his
family was nothing more than needing to recover from giving birth. But Hope was
three months old now and things weren't getting better. They were getting
worse. He went to bed with a knot in his belly and woke up the same way.
Without knowing why, he was losing his wife, and it scared the hell out of him.
And because he was so afraid, his fear often came out in anger.
    He heard Mary banging pots in the kitchen and sighed. He wasn't fooled. She
did that to cover up the sound of her tears. He looked down at their baby, his
heart full to breaking and felt like crying himself.
    They'd made this baby with so much love-where had it gone?
    Mary squirted a dollop of dishwashing liquid into the sink, filled it with
hot water and put the dishes in it to soak for a few minutes as she went to
start the laundry. Her back ached. Her head throbbed. But it was her heart that
hurt the most. Last night she had turned to Daniel in her sleep and awakened as
he rolled over and shrugged out of her grasp. She knew it was only a matter of
time before he told her he wanted a divorce. She couldn't really blame him.
    He didn't know what was going on between her and his family and she didn't
know how to separate his love for her from his love for them. It was all a
horrible mess.
    She shoved a load of Hope's baby clothes into the washer, added laundry
detergent and started the machine, then went back to the dishes in the sink.
Without thinking, she plunged her hand in the water and at once, felt a sharp,
piercing pain.
    "Ooh!!" she cried, and yanked her hand back. It was dripping
blood.
    "Mary! What's wrong?" Daniel called. "Nothing," she
said, then grabbed a hand towel and quickly wrapped it around her slashed
finger before dashing toward the bathroom.
    Daniel looked up from feeding Hope in time to see Mary bolt through the
living room and then down the hall. Hope was almost through with her feeding
and already half-asleep. Concerned, he laid her down in her bassinet and then
went to see what was going on. He walked into the bathroom just as Mary started
pouring alcohol over the wound.
    "My God!" he cried. "Honey…are you all right? What
happened?"
    "Obviously, I cut my hand," Mary snapped. Her anger sideswiped
him, leaving him frustrated and hurting. And because he hurt, he lashed back.
"I can't win with you, can l?" he muttered, yanked the alcohol bottle
out of her hand and began ministering to her himself. "No matter what I
say, it's wrong." Then he peered a bit closer, assessing the cut. "I
don't think it needs stitches, but maybe we should go to the emergency
room…just in case."
    "We can't afford a trip to the emergency room," she said.
"Just give me some Band-Aids. They'll do just fine."
    Daniel froze.
    Mary felt sick. Daniel looked as if she'd just slapped him. But if she went,
Phyllis O'Rourke would find out and she would find a way to say something
hateful about the money an emergency room visit would cost. She couldn't face
another one of Phyllis O'Rourke's tirades. He didn't know that his mother had
been sniping at Mary for weeks about the fact that her son was having to work
too hard on his own and that she should be doing her part by going back to
work, too. No matter how many times Mary had tried to explain that she and
Daniel had made the decision together that she should stay home with their
child, it never seemed to matter. Phyllis blamed Mary for everything wrong in
Daniel's life. Mary sighed. "Daniel… I'm-"
    Hope started crying. Daniel took a deep breath and momentarily closed his
eyes, as if trying to make himself calm. When he looked up, Mary actually
flinched and took a step backward. That hurt him most of all. Dear