Lightning and Lace Read Online Free PDF

it.” Sylvia smiled into Bonnie’s face. “May I?”
    Bonnie understood the woman’s need to be around children. She and Lester had none of their own, and the town’s children became a substitute. “Of course. Lydia Anne, would you like to show her?”
    The little girl’s blue eyes danced. She slipped her hand into Sylvia’s and started up the stairs. A moment later, the back door slammed, and Bonnie realized Zack must have come home.
    “I’ll see how many fish Zack caught,” Michael Paul said.
    In the next moment, Bonnie was alone with Lester.
    “I have a fine bottle of wine for you,” Lester said. “It’s in the back of the carriage.”
    “Please, I don’t need any more. I’m sleeping quite well on my own without it.”
    “Nonsense. It will calm you down after dealing with the children. I’ll get it and be back before Sylvia returns.”
    He slipped out the door before she had an opportunity to protest further. Lester was used to people doing what he said, and Bonnie worried that he might tell others about supplying her with wine. She’d simply store it somewhere. She shuddered at the thought of her family discovering she’d been drinking. It was bad enough she’d begun accepting Lester’s gifts with the “just between us” agreement, but the drinking had gotten out of hand as the empty bottle proved this morning.
    Lester returned with the wine, and Bonnie set it in the sideboard. Whatever would she do if Juanita found it? As soon as the Hillmans left and everyone was in bed, Bonnie would move the bottle upstairs.
    “Please, no more,” she whispered. “I have no use for it.”
    He chuckled. “Show me the full bottles, and I’ll stop bringing them.”
    “This is the last time that I ask you politely to stop.”
    “And how would the good reverend and his wife feel about your indulgence in spirits?”
    A shiver raced up and down her arms. If Ben were alive, Lester would never speak to her in such a way. Voices from the kitchen seized her attention, and her thoughts flew to Zack.
    “Six big fish,” Michael Paul said. “Where did you go?”
    “Upstream a little,” Zack said. “Next time I’ll take you with me.”
    Bonnie swallowed hard. How long before Michael Paul no longer sought her permission to do things? Suddenly life seemed to spin in all directions, as though she were a child’s toy. Her resolve from this morning flashed across her mind. She must reach out and grab hold of her life and those she loved. But how? Jesus, help me.
    “Let’s see those fish,” Lester said. “I’m glad you allow Zack to do a few things on his own. He’s growing up, and a young man needs time to think about life and what he wants to do. I’d be glad to take him fishing or hunting.”
    She clenched her fists. “Morgan and Grant can do those things.”
    “But your brothers are busy men. Morgan’s law practice and Grant’s medical responsibilities don’t offer much time outside of their own families.”
    “The reverend is looking forward to spending his days with the children.”
    Lester smiled. She used to think he was a pleasing man to look at with dark eyes and hair like Ben. He and Sylvia had been through a rough time when he had fathered two boys by a woman who once owned the town’s brothel. The woman had left town with the children, and Lester had become more involved with church. He and Sylvia appeared happy, but Bonnie wondered. What would she do if he turned his affections to her? The possibility had not crept into her thoughts until tonight. His persistence with the wine alarmed her.
    “I gave the reverend a sizable check this afternoon,” Lester said. “He said it would help with the orphans and widows—not you, of course.”
    She despised the implication. This ended tonight.
    I’m an Andrews. My daddy started the biggest ranch in the area before he died, and my mama built it on her own while raising three children.
    If Mama did it, so can I.
    *****
    Travis had been in