Forbidden Son Read Online Free PDF

about how special the day had been,
how special he was, and the warm way she had felt when he’d placed his hand on
the small of her back and guided her toward the restaurant and her first taste
of expensive wine. The way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. It
was all too wonderful.
    A
shiver rippled through her body. For no good reason, she felt like crying. She
pulled the sheet up and tucked it under her chin. Her mother had once said that
sooner or later all good things come to an end. Meeting Tripp was a good thing.
She hoped her mother was wrong.
    It
seemed she’d barely closed her eyes when she heard her mother’s voice. The
shrillness intruded into her dream, and she tried to shut it out. The voice
shouted, this time more insistent. Honey Belle groaned. Surely it wasn’t time
to go to work.
    “Honey
Belle, help me.”
    Honey
Belle sat up in bed. She blinked, trying to focus her eyes in the darkened
room. Remembering she was naked, she groped the end of the bed searching for
her nightshirt.
    “Honey
Belle, wake up. It’s your father.”
    She
pulled the nightshirt over her head, struggling to find the armholes. She
stubbed her toe on the door jamb and crow-hopped to her parent’s bedroom. “What
is it, Mama? Another heart attack?”
    “I
don’t know. Get the truck. We’ve got to get him to the hospital.”
    Honey
Belle raced back to her room, switched on the light. She grabbed a pair of
jeans and tugged them on under her nightshirt, then slipped her feet into a
pair of sandals.
    Slamming
the back door behind her, she ran to the neighbor’s house and, with both fists,
banged on the front door. “Mr. Jimmy, wake up. We need your help.”
    She
continued pounding on the door and calling the man’s name until a light
switched on and the door opened.
    “It’s
two in the morning, girl. This’d better be important.”
    Honey
Belle stepped back as the towering six-foot-five giant glared down at her.
“It’s daddy. Help me get him into the truck.”
    “Heart
attack?”
    “Maybe.
Won’t know until we get him to the hospital.”
    “Damned
shame ambulances won’t come to Shanty Groves.”
    Honey
Belle ran to keep up with the giant’s long strides.
    “Couldn’t
afford one even if they did. Besides, I can get him to the hospital quicker if
I drive.”
    Once
they had her father settled on the front seat, Honey Belle thanked her neighbor
and promised to bring him a sack of hamburgers with extra pickles as payment
for his assistance.
    She
put the truck into gear and spewed dirt as she spun out of the driveway. The
truck bounced and bucked as she tried to ease over the bumps. She spoke through
gritted teeth. “Damn these potholes and double damn the county for not fixing
them.”
    “Stop
your cussing, girl. Concentrate on gettin’ us to the hospital in one piece.”
    When
the wheels hit the asphalt pavement, Honey Belle gunned the accelerator,
praying the old motor wouldn’t let her down because of the strain.
    She
heard the warning bells and saw the railroad crossing arm’s red flashing lights
as she approached the train tracks. She didn’t have time to wait on a
twenty-car freight train to inch by at a snail’s pace. Her daddy’s life
depended on how fast she could get him to the emergency room.
    “Trains
comin’, Honey Belle. I can see the engine’s light.”
    Ignoring
the tension in her mother’s voice, Honey Belle said, “I’m not stopping, Mama.”
    “The
cross arms are comin’ down, girl. You can’t bust through ’em. The law’ll put
you in jail.”
    Honey
Belle pressed down on the accelerator, asking the truck for more speed than she
knew it had to give. “I’m driving around them, Mama. Hold Daddy tight and hang
on.”
    She
touched her father’s arm. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I don’t mean to hurt you.”
    The
pain in his eyes flashed panic through her. The odometer read 60 miles per
hour. Honey Belle had to beat the train to the crossing arms. She needed to get
over the