We Didn’t See it Coming Read Free Page B

brilliant sunlight. Before she went and hung up her dress, she glimpsed lots of water from her window—the placid lake and the pool with a cascading waterfall.
    Alana made her way up the stairs. Milandra kept talking, holding Noelle up from making her one phone call.
    Milandra looked at her mother. “Mother, take your heart pill,” she reminded her.
    Alana reached the top of the staircase and took a deep breath. She made her way down the long hallway to her bedroom, located in the east wing of the house.
    Reaching for the door, she discovered her husband’s arms stretched out on the floor into the hallway. Startled by the sight and fearful for her husband, she dropped her black-and-white clutch purse on the floor near his hand. She tried to belt out a loud scream, but her vocal cords seemed numb.
    Holding on to the wall, she backed up all the way down the hallway until she reached the top of the staircase. Her daughters noticed the flushed look on their mother’s face. They noticed that she tried to speak, but no words came out of her mouth.
    â€œWhat’s wrong, Mother?” they asked.
    Alana tried desperately to hold on to the banister. She took one step, and like a falling model, unable to prevent the fall, she tumbled down the stairs. Her head crashed against the hardwood floor with a bang. The girls screamed, running to their mother’s aid.
    Kenley came out of her room, looked down the staircase to see her mother spread out on the floor below. “Mother, Mother!” she screamed.
    â€œCall an ambulance,” Milandra suggested.
    Noelle reached into her handbag and pulled out her cell phone. She keyed 9-1-1 into the dial pad.
    Maintaining her composure, Milandra looked up at Kenley and ordered: “Find Father quick. Go find Father!”
    Noelle, busy on the phone, tried to speak to the operator between shedding tears. “They want to know if Mother has a pulse,” she cried.
    Milandra placed her fingers on her mother’s wrist; she felt no pulse. She screamed, “I don’t feel a thing. Tell them to stop asking so many questions.” She was losing her cool. “Just hurry and send an ambulance. We need help.”
    Kenley ran to the east wing of the house. “Father! Father!” she bellowed. “It’s Mother! She’s fallen and she’s unconscious.”
    One shock was too many. When Kenley reached her parents’ bedroom and saw her father laid out on the floor, her scream became like a siren. “Aw…!” Kenley now realized what had made her mother fall down the stairs. “Mother discovered Father on the floor.” Full of tears, she ran to get help. She looked down the stairs at her sisters and pointed toward the east wing. “It’s Father! He’s unconscious, too, just like Mother.”
    â€œStay with Mother, Noelle. I’ll see about Father,” Milandra said, taking control back, making her way up the stairs.
    Kenley sat down on the hall floor against the wall. She placed the cell phone on the floor. She buried her head between her knees and became a human waterfall. Tears dampened her dress.

Chapter 3
    R eared back in his seat, Baron wondered how Rupert had found out about his brief encounter with Noelle. He had told him the truth, but Houston insisted that he still was a liar.
    Rupert was protective of his daughters, but to have one of them followed was a bit too much to believe. He concluded that Rupert had had a private investigator follow and photograph their brief kiss.
    Now Baron was losing his biggest client because he had challenged the Houston Rule for a second time.
    The first time was because of Tessa Sanchez. He remembered walking up to the front door of the Houstons’ home years ago. Tessa appeared at the door—as beautiful as ever—with gorgeous, long dark hair. She wore a black maid’s uniform with a white apron that hugged her slender waistline. She gave him the biggest