Higher Than Eagles (Donovans of the Delta) Read Online Free PDF Page B

and stood up. “Vashti? Vashti!”
    “Lordy, Mr. Jacob! Is that you?” She enveloped him in a warm embrace. She smelled like gingerbread and dime-store talcum. “If you’re not a sight for sore eyes. Let me look at you.”
    She held him at arm’s length. Clucking her tongue, she smoothed back his tousled red hair and wiped at the dirt smudge on his cheek.
    “Just look at you.” Vashti’s glance swung to Rachel, who was still sitting in the dirt. “And Rachel, too. Turn my back for one minute, and look what happens; the entire household falls apart.” Stepping back, she put her hands on her hips. “Now you two just march right inside and wash that dirt off, while Benjy and I put this sheet back on the bed. Then we’ll all go onto the sun porch and have a nice, big breakfast.”
    She didn’t wait for a reply. Leading Benjamin, she sashayed back into the house with the air of a woman who knew that her word was law.
    Rachel shot Jacob a withering glance. “Don’t you dare even consider it.”
    He gave her an innocent smile. “I’d never dream of leaving you to face Vashti’s wrath. If I know her, she’d practically tar and feather you if you sent me away hungry. And with dirt on my face to boot.” Still grinning, he leaned down. “Give me your hand, my love. There’s no need for you to spend the rest of the day in the dirt.”
    Rachel knew she’d been outfoxed. She conceded the victory but not gracefully.
    “All right.” Putting her hand in his, she allowed herself to be pulled up. “But don’t you dare get any ideas. This is the first and last time you’ll be allowed to set foot in my house. And then I want you out of here—out of my house and out of my life.”
    “There’s a price for that, and you know what it is.” Turning on his heel, Jacob stalked up her front steps and into her house.
     o0o
    Rachel took her time showering and dressing. For six years she’d felt as if she were in the jaws of a giant trap, and now the trap was closing shut. After she’d dressed, she paced the floor, wondering exactly how she would handle this encounter between Jacob and her son.
    Their laughter drifted up the stairs, and she felt sick at heart. For six years her secret had been safe, and now Jacob was here. His mere presence threatened everything she held dear.
    She walked to her Louis XIV desk and sat down. Taking a small key, she opened the middle drawer and pulled out a letter. It crackled as she took it out of its envelope.
    Her eyes misted over as she read the words she’d written six years ago.
 
 Dear Jacob,
When you left for Saudi Arabia, I wanted to beg you to stay. I almost did. I wanted to pull you into my arms and bind you to me with the wonderful secret I was carrying. Instead, we quarreled. It’s not that I hate your work, Jacob, for I know how you love it. It’s simply that I can’t bear for our child to grow up with only one parent. I can’t stand the thought of putting a baby through the same kind of childhood I had— raised by only one parent, and that one too preoccupied with making a living to pay me much attention.
I’m pregnant, Jacob. I’m carrying your child. Please come back safely so we can make a home for our baby.
     
    It was a letter she had never mailed. The more she’d thought about it, the more she’d known she couldn’t face every day not knowing whether Jacob would live through another of those nightmare oil field fires. When Jacob had first signed on with the troubleshooting team, two men had died in an offshore fire in the North Atlantic. Jacob was a daredevil, just like her mother. He took too many chances. She knew she couldn’t ask him to give up a job he loved, and she wasn’t strong enough to live with the risks.
    She’d done the safe, sensible thing. She’d mailed a Dear John letter to Jacob and had married Bob Devlin. He was older, more stable, and he had always loved her—even enough to raise another man’s child.
    Her plan had almost worked.