His Promise (Married in Montana Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

wouldn’t give yourself the chance. You gave up, Kim.” Her father sounded so disappointed and was shaking his head. “And Craig gave you so much. You know that. That small farm you have, the property…if it wasn’t for Craig, where would you be? He left, but he left you everything. He left with nothing to start over again.”
    Her father was right about that. She’d been so selfish and young, and when Craig finally walked out the door, bitter, with a look in his eyes that let her know he’d loved her so much that he now hated her, he’d signed the divorce papers and left her everything so he could walk away clean. Last she’d heard, he’d remarried, living two counties away—had five kids and a small ranch. She did wish him well, and there wasn’t a day that passed that she didn’t regret hurting him, wishing she could have loved him. But you can’t make your heart feel something it isn’t meant for.
    “You’re right. I was horrible to Craig, and he didn’t deserve the way I treated him, but you also shouldn’t have pushed us together. If I’d only known the truth about where Bruce was, that he wanted me to know that he hadn’t just forgot about me…he was coming back for me!” she said, choking.
    “He tells you that now?” her mother asked, but it sounded more like an accusation.
    “Bruce isn’t a liar, Mom. He never heard from me before he had to leave because you didn’t give me his message. I didn’t know he was planning to go to some mission in South Africa. It was for his career, and it would do so much good. I would have waited for him.”
    But her mom was shaking her head. “I don’t know, Kim. None of us can go back and rewrite the past. Maybe I should’ve told you.”
    Her dad was resting a hand on her mother’s shoulder. “It’s not all on your mother, Kim. I’m your father, and you were a teenager, so young and impressionable. I watched an idealistic young man leading you down some fanciful path. I still believe we made the right decision, I just regret how you’re still hurting.”
    “Dad, Bruce told me you asked him to stop calling. I was married, and he still called.”
    Her father was shaking his head. “Yes, I did. After so many months of him not calling, he started again after you were married. I told him to stop, man to man, because he needed to understand that a man doesn’t call a married woman.”
    What else could she say to her parents? She knew they loved her and had thought they were doing the best for her by keeping her in the dark. “But that was my decision, my chance with Bruce, and you took it away from me—from us. You should have told me, not kept it from me. It’s a wonder he doesn’t hate me, because if that were me in Bruce’s place, I’d hate him.”
    ***

Chapter Six
    Driving into Columbia Falls twice in one week was something Kim didn’t do. She lived on a moderate income, and the extra gas she was using would tighten her budget for the month. She might need to consider picking up a part-time job. She could always go back to the feed store—it would do her good, she thought—but she also needed to find a way to make things up with Bruce, to somehow make it right with him, the thing she’d done because she believed he’d left her. What a mess.
    The traffic was heavier in town this time of day, late afternoon, but she couldn’t wait until tomorrow. She considered going home and calling Bruce, but whatever it was she needed to do, it had to be in person. She had to see his face and be near him. In person was always better, and after all these years she wasn’t about to allow another forgotten message to be what ultimately kept them apart. She didn’t have a clue what she was going to say as she pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store across the street. Since the professional building where Bruce’s practice was had an underground lot with very little parking space, she wasn’t about to try there.
    She locked her door and