Joline's Redemption Read Online Free PDF

nodded. “Yes, it will help if we run into others. They wouldn’t look too kindly on us if I were dressed in a colorful low-cut satin gown.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I think it’s best if you call me Jo now.”
    Sarah wrinkled her nose. “That is man’s name.”
    Sapphire chuckled. “My full name is Joline, but no one calls me that except my sister—when she’s mad at me—and sometimes my grandpa. Besides, a man called Joe spells his name J-o-e, but mine is just J-o.”
    â€œThat almost same thing.”
    â€œYes, it is, I suppose. If you’d rather, you may call me Joline.”
    Sarah thought it was odd to know the real name of one of the painted ladies. Badger always insisted they have a new one when they first arrived, and he never allowed a woman to keep her old name or let others call her by it. She’d been the only one to keep hers. She supposed having the new one made it easier to pretend you were someone else when living such a life.
    â€œSarah is a lovely name, but it isn’t a Cherokee one. Do you mind if I ask how you came by it?”
    Sarah stared at the passing landscape. No one had ever asked her that before. “My mother say my father give me name. Same name his grandmother had.”
    Jo looked back over her shoulder. “Did you know that Sarah means ‘princess’?”
    Sarah’s gaze shot to Jo’s. “That true?”
    Jo shrugged as she faced forward again. “I believe so. I once heard a preacher talk about it. The name is in the Bible, and it belonged to the wife of a man named Abraham.”
    Sarah had never known what her name meant. Her father sure didn’t treat her like a princess. In fact, she felt as if he was ashamed of her, always making her stay in her room if the women were awake or anyone else was there. She’d lived mostly alone since Badger had brought her to the bawdy house. Working when the others slept as much as possible and staying in her room with the door locked after sunset, with only Jamie for company whenever Sapphire worked.
    If only they could make their escape without getting caught, maybe she would no longer have to live that way. She longed to walk the streets of a town and not have people whispering behind her back because they knew she lived at the bawdy house. She’d finally found a way to leave that dreadful place. Dare she hope for a different life with Jo?
    Would Jo keep her word? Or would she dump her somewhere, leaving her completely alone?

    With each mile closer to Lara’s homestead, Jo’s stomach churned more. In the rebelliousness of youth, she’d treated her sister despicably. Still, Lara wouldn’t turn out her or Sarah, no matter what her living conditions were. Probably by now, Gabe had built her a decent house—at least Jo hoped that was the case. She refused to live in a soddy again, not after having her own room with a feather bed. She’d rather stay in a barn.
    Jo sighed, knowing she really had no choice. She’d have to live wherever Lara did, and she couldn’t afford to be picky. If she could find some kind of work, maybe she could save enough money so that she, Jamie, and Sarah could move farther away from Badger. Just thirty-some-odd miles was far too close for her liking. And what was she thinking? How could she work in Guthrie when Badger would be looking for her?
    The horse trotted down an incline, and Jo pressed her hand against Jamie’s back and held on with her knees.
    Oh, why couldn’t she have been more like Lara? Less troublesome and stubborn? Why had she thought she knew what was best for herself when she was just sixteen? If she’d been more cautious, she wouldn’t have fallen for the likes of Mark Hillborne—but then she wouldn’t have Jamie, either. She bent and kissed her son’s head.
    She’d paid a high price for her son. Life with Mark, except for the first few