Joline's Redemption Read Online Free PDF Page B

months, had been difficult. She’d thought him so kind and handsome when they first met, and she’d jumped at the chance to work in his store with him when she first left home.
    Jo reined the horse to the right, following the trail. She glanced at the clouds, hoping it wouldn’t rain tonight. If only she could go back to the snug house Mark had built for them. If only …
    She had far too many “if onlys.”
    She thought about how she’d fallen under Mark’s charming spell while he was wooing her, but once he’d gotten what he wanted from her, life with him changed. After a few months, he became verbally and physically abusive. It seemed that nothing she did pleased him. Gone was the charmer, and an ogre took his place. Jamie squirmed, as if sensing her distress at the awful memories.
    She gritted her teeth, remembering how hard she had worked in his store and how she’d endured his abuse. And then she learned she was with child—at just seventeen years old. She had hoped the news would make him as happy as it did her, but instead, it had the opposite effect. Mark nearly tore up their new house when she told him. Then she lost the baby and things settled back as they were in the beginning. Until she became pregnant again. Life repeated itself until the third time she told him she was expecting. She blew out a breath at the memory of how he packed her a bag and put her out of his home, then boarded up the store and left town.
    A cool gust of wind slapped her in the face, yanking her from her thoughts. She had no idea why so many disturbing memories were assaulting her today. Probably because she had little to do at the moment besides think.
    Why had Mark just walked out of her life? Most men would be happy to become a father, but not him. Stunned, ashamed, and humiliated, she had fled Guthrie and headed to Oklahoma City. Desperate and penniless, she easily succumbed to Pete Worley’s charm. The handsome man offered to marry her, but instead he took her to his bordello where she discovered he was better known as Badger. If not for Jamie, she never would have endured life there for the past year and a half.
    She swiped at a tear running down her cheek. She’d never been a crybaby, but she had been sorely afraid those first months. At least Badger had let her keep the baby, once it became obvious she was carrying, but not until after he nearly beat the child from her body. Thank God he hadn’t succeeded.
    â€œWhy are you shaking?” Sarah asked.
    Jo shrugged. “Just thinking about the mistakes I’ve made in the past and dreading the thought of having to ask my sister for help.”
    â€œYou do not think she will help us?”
    â€œI do—I know she will. She’s a kindhearted woman, but I dread my family knowing how low my life has fallen.”
    Sarah was silent for a long moment. “You were married. Yes?”
    Jo nodded, although she knew now that her marriage wasn’t real. The man Mark had stand in as a minister was not truly a man of the cloth. So in truth, she’d never been married.
    â€œYou could tell people you are widow.”
    Jo considered the girl’s suggestion. It might pacify Lara for a time, but she would want to know more. Her sister already knew that Mark had closed his store and might have even heard how he put her out. But she’d left quietly, so it was possible that wasn’t common knowledge. Jamie would certainly face less scorn if people didn’t know. “I like that idea. I won’t mention the bordello if you don’t.”
    â€œI will not.”
    Jo doubted that Sarah would speak of that awful place, but she felt the warning was warranted, even though the girl rarely talked. In fact, she’d talked more in the past few hours than she had as long as Jo had known her. Badger didn’t like for his ladies to socialize with Sarah, and he kept her away from them as much as possible. She