Linda Ford Read Online Free PDF Page B

didn’t want release.
    “It sounds lonely.” Rosie, as always, was bluntly honest. They studied each other. He wished he could stay awhile. Perhaps she did, too, but they both knew the risks. People were less than welcoming when they discovered whom their father was. He and Rosie had been driven from more than one place by a violent crowd.
    He and Joey must move on.
    Kathleen’s gaze had not left him all the while he and Rosie shared their silent communication, and now he shifted and met her blue, intense look.
    She smiled. “The church is having a special Thanksgiving service. There will be a community dinner to share the bounty of the year. It would be nice if you would attend. I think you’d enjoy it.”
    Her words fell into a silence, sending ripples through his thoughts. He hadn’t been to church since Ma died. He wondered if Rosie had. He’d attended her wedding, held in the parsonage. It was the last time he’d seen her before yesterday, though he sent her an occasional letter. She wrote to him regularly so he knew she and Bill had moved to this town. Bill knew enough to keep one step ahead of the cruel truth of his wife’s past. “I doubt I’ll be here.” Regret deepened his voice but he hoped no one would notice. “Rosie, you should go. It would be good for you and the kids.”
    Rosie allowed him the briefest glance, but enough for him to see her longing ran every bit as deep as his. “I’ll think on it.”
    “I’ll keep asking,” Kathleen said.
    Buck wondered how she managed to sound so serene, so confident. Not for the first time, and likely not for the last, he wished things could be different so he could get to know her better and discover who she really was.
    It wasn’t possible. He shifted his thoughts to other things. Like the children. Rosie’s were happy and full of spirit. Was Joey on par with them? Was he suffering because of the way Buck lived? Not that he could do a thing to change it.
    The children woke and the women put away the sewing. Rosie brought Lilly from the bedroom with her two boys following her. At the same time, Joey came from the other room. The boy’s color had improved.
    Rosie put Lilly in her chair and the other children sat around the table to eat bread and jam.
    “Good food and rest are giving Joey back his strength,” he said.
    Kathleen’s gentle gaze brushed him. “God has given us so many reasons to be thankful.”
    He nodded. She made it easy for him to believe in God’s bountiful blessings.
    “I must return home. I promised Mother and Father I wouldn’t be as late as I was yesterday.”
    Buck scrambled to his feet. “I’ll walk you home.”
    “It’s not necessary.”
    Did he detect a hint of something in her voice he was loath to admit? Was she embarrassed to have him walk her home? “My mother, God rest her soul, would expect no less of me.”
    She considered him briefly then nodded. “Very well, though it really isn’t necessary.”
    He bent to face his son. “Joey, you stay with Aunt Rosie. I’ll be back in a few minutes. Okay?”
    “You be back for sure?”
    “For sure.”
    “Okay, then.” He returned his attention to the slice of bread.
    He slipped into his coat and buttoned it, then held the door for Kathleen, who had already said goodbye to everyone in the room. They tramped along the hardened path.
    “Do you realize that’s the first time I’ve heard mention of your mother?”
    “Even the likes of Rosie and me have a mother and father, though they are both dead now.” He regretted his words as soon as they were out and hoped she wouldn’t ask about his father.
    “I’m sorry for your loss, but you know I didn’t mean you wouldn’t have parents.” She scowled at him, making him feel like a small boy.
    “I’m sorry. Sometimes I am too defensive.”
    “Both you and Rosie. It’s like you expect someone to kick you in the teeth for no reason.”
    Oh, they thought they had reason enough, but he wasn’t about to tell her