she stood in the cold , which she did not feel anymore or which she felt all the time , she stood outside the house that her mother had bought in 1989 with the insurance money after laura 's father , harvey mccabe , had passed on , a heart attack while straining on the can , and she was staring in , her cold hands pressed against the glass , her breath not fogging it , not at all , watching her mother , and her sister and her sister 's children and husband in from texas , home for christmas .