Dorothy Garlock - [Dolan Brothers] Read Online Free PDF

her first pony, with her daddy holding the reins. Her thoughts were not on the picture. They were focused on her father and what the doctor would tell her when he came from the room. Thank heaven, Mr. Dolan had gone straight to his office, despite the objections of his snippy wife.
    Isabel was shelling peas on the back porch. Henry Ann wished that the girl weren’t here—wished that she had never brought her and Johnny to their home. She wished that she and her daddy were alone, here in their house as they had been for all those years that she was growing up.
    Her daddy was dying. She had read it on the doctor’s face when he came in the door. Daddy had been sick, maybe for months, and hadn’t told her, wanting to spare her the worry. He’d carried the burden by himself as he’d always done—taking care of her without complaining or even making a derogatory comment about the woman who had abandoned them.
    Whatever would she do without him!
    The door opened. Doctor Hendricks moved the flatiron that served as a doorstop to hold it back so the air could circulate.
    “He’s sleeping. Let’s go out into the yard.”
    He opened the screen door and she passed through. With a heart heavy with dread, she went down the porch steps and out to lean against the trunk of the huge old pecan tree, where a piece of rope, what remained of her childhood swing, still dangled.
    “He’s dying, isn’t he?” The words came from stiff lips.
    “Yes. It won’t be long now.”
    “Can’t you do . . . something?” There were tears in her voice, but she held her head up and looked him in the eye.
    “All I can do is keep him from suffering. He has a cancer in his stomach. When he came to me two months ago, he told me he was spitting up blood. I thought it could be an ulcer. Later I came to realize he had a cancer. I gave him laudanum. It’s addictive, but I knew that he had only a short time left. Now he must have something stronger. I gave him morphine.”
    Henry Ann turned away and allowed the tears to trickle down her cheeks.
    “I wasted a whole week up there when I could have been here with him.”
    “He wanted you to go. He told me so. He said that you needed to do what you could for your mother—for your sake, not hers.”
    “He’s like . . . that.”
    “Is there someone you want to come stay with you?”
    “My . . . half sister is here.”
    “You have no other relatives here?”
    “None that I want.”
    “There’s something else I want to tell you. Last week Ed came to town. He drew some money from the bank. He had me figure what my fee would be right up to the last and he paid me. He also paid Elmer over at the funeral home. He said he figured that the bank was due to go busted, and he wanted his bills paid before it went under.”
    Henry Ann choked back a sob. “He knew his time would be soon, didn’t he?”
    “Yes. He worried about you being left with Johnny and the girl, if you brought her back. I see that you did.”
    “I must tell him not to worry—”
    “You need to see a lawyer, Henry Ann. Those two kids carry Ed’s name even if he didn’t father them. You may have to share the inheritance with them.”
    “Daddy already thought of that, Doctor. He put the land in my name long ago. What little he had in the bank was in his name. I doubt there’s any of that left.”
    “He was making it as easy for you as he could. Your daddy was quite a man.”
    “I know—”
    “I’m going to have to leave for a while—”
    “Oh, but—”
    “I’ll be back in a couple of hours. He should sleep while I’m gone.”
    “Will I get to talk to him . . . again?”
    “I don’t know if you’d want to, Henry Ann. During the night, the cancer . . . Well I won’t go into that. His condition has worsened considerably. If he goes off the morphine, he’ll be screaming with pain. I can keep him under until the end if that’s what you want.”
    “I . . . don’t want him to suffer.”
    “I’ll check in at