Bonds Of The Heart Read Online Free PDF Page A

be many years in the future, but she thanked the Lord every day for the time she was given with her husband. She was sad that her daughter didn’t have as much time as she had.
                  “Okay,” Brianne said. “I want to bake a pie for Mrs. Hamilton and her family anyway. But you hurry back. I don’t want you getting caught up in the storm.”
                  “Yes, mom. I’ll be back soon.” Erika kissed her mom on the forehead and took the list from her. Brianne watched as Erika grabbed her keys, rain jacket and headed to her Jeep.
     
     
    ***
                  Blake had parked across the street from the small plot of land with headstones aged by time and weather, but couldn’t bring himself to cross the street to the entrance of the cemetery. Instead, on frequent visits, he would park the truck on the side of the gravel road and, if the rare occasion called for it, get out and lean up against the hood and just stare. Like he did today.
                  The dark clouds were coming in fast. He could see and smell the rain in the distance. Fresh and clean. It fell in sheets—no, waves—soaking the trees and grasses. The air was heavy and cool, exactly as Blake felt on the inside. So when the black Jeep came to a quick jolt in front of him on the other side of the road, with white smoke barreling from under its hood, he couldn’t understand why he was even remotely intrigued to find out what the delicate woman behind the wheel was going to do about it.
                  Blake watched as she stormed from the Jeep and rounded to the front, popping open the hood with ease. She only winced once, from the obviously overheated hood of the Jeep. He couldn’t hear her muted words, but he could imagine that the stream of profanity he could read on her. He watched as she bent over the front of the Jeep trying to determine what was wrong with it. She seemed to check the engine and the battery. She looked as though she knew nothing about the Jeep. Blake flicked his cigarette to the ground and extinguished it with his boot. He watched her for another minute, then stuck his hands in his pockets and crossed the road in long strides.
                  “You need help?”
                  “No,” she said without looking up.
                  “Seems like you overheated.”
                  Now she looked up. “You think, genius?”
                  Amused, though he’d have to figure out why later, Blake shifted his stance to a more casual one. He wasn’t happy that she had interrupted his routine. “You got enough coolant in there?” He nodded with his chin toward the engine coolant basin.
                  Clearly annoyed that she didn’t think about it, she turned back to the engine. “It appears not, Einstein.”
                  “I have some in my truck.”
                  Before she could protest, he had already retreated to the beat up old truck to fetch the coolant. He could feel her give his back a quick study. When he returned back to her Jeep, he bypassed her, took out a rag from his back pocket and carefully opened the coolant basin. He poured the fluid and never said a word to her.
                  “Crap.” She felt the first drips of rain on her skin and looked up toward the dark sky.
                  Blake looked at the woman who'd spoken the one-word expletive and narrowed his eyes. “You in a hurry to get somewhere?”
                  “No,” she said. “I just had…plans.”
                  “Hmm” was his only response. He topped off the coolant and replaced the cap before shutting the hood. “That should do. You gotta let it cool for a bit now.”
                  She narrowed her eyes at him. “I guess I should say thank you.”
                  “Perhaps.” He shrugged