A Long Tall Texan Summer: Tom Walker Read Online Free PDF

totally out of hand.
    Tom was kept busy for the rest of the week, and Elysia took a back seat in his mind as he dealt with one financial crisis after another. By Saturday, he was ready for some rest and recreation.
    He decided that
    fishing might be a nice way to relax, and a local man had a stocked private pond where he rented poles and bait for a small all-day fee.
    He put on jeans and went on his way. Fortunately
    the fish were biting, since he did love a nice fried
    bass. It brought back memories of his youth in South Dakota, when he and Kate had gone fishing with Jacob Cade on the older man's sprawling ranch.
    His boots were worn, but serviceable, like the old beige Stetson he'd had for years. Dressed like that, he looked every inch a cowboy.
    Kate had always wondered why her only brother had chosen city life.
    She'd never realized
    that the very anonymity of a big city was kind to his ego. In a small town, his alone-ness would have been so much more noticeable.
    In fact, it worried him here. He hadn't considered
    how curious small-town people were about strangers,
    or how gossip, though kind, ran rampant. It was rather like being part of a huge family, having everyone
    know all about you. The comforting thing about it was that, also like family, people tended to accept each
    other regardless of human frailty.
    For instance, everyone knew that old Harry was an alcoholic, and that Jeff had been in prison for killing
    his wife's lover. They also knew that a local spinster bought copies of a notorious magazine that contained vivid photos
    of nude men, and that a certain social worker lived with a man to whom she wasn't married. These were open secrets, however, and not one person ridiculed these people or treated them as untouchables. They were family.
    Tom began to understand that even the talk about Elysia wasn't vicious or brutal.
    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html In fact, as Tom spent more time around local
    people, and heard more gossip about her, he learned that
    Elysia's marriage had been looked upon more as a charitable act on her part, despite her husband's wealth.

    "Took care of him like a nurse, she did," old man Gallagher had said, nodding with approval as he filled
    Tom's order at the office supply store the week before, when talk had turned to Elysia's similar taste in stationery for her boutique. “Never shirked, not even at the end when he was bedridden and needed around-the-clock nursing. She had a nurse, but she stayed, too." He smiled. "She may have inherited a lot of money, that's true, but most people feel like she earned it with the care she took of old Fred.
    Never
    doubted that she was fond of him. And that kid doted on him." He sighed. "She mourned him, too, and so did the kid. Nice young woman. Most folks remember her dad." His eyes had darkened and narrowed.
    Tom frowned. "In a kind way?" he asked, because the old man's voice had shaded a bit.
    "Hardly. Old man Craig drank like a fish. Beat Elysia's mother and Luke. Day came when Luke was old
    enough to realize he had to do something. He called the police, even though his mama wouldn't. Swore out a warrant
    for his dad and signed it, too." He chuckled.
    "They put the man away. He died in prison
    of a heart attack, but I think it was a relief to all of them. Would never have stopped beating her, if they'd
    ever let him out. I reckon they all knew it."
    That had sounded painfully familiar to Tom, who'd had his share of beatings. His and Kate's father had never touched alcohol, but the brain tumor had made a monster of him. The two of them had been
    "disciplined" frequently
    by their unpredictable parent, especially
    if they ever showed a flicker of interest
    in the opposite sex.
    Tom threw his line into the water and leaned back against the trunk of an oak tree with a sigh. He wasn't
    really interested in fishing,
    but it was something to do. His days had been empty for a long time. In the city, there was