Lover's Knot Read Online Free PDF Page B
Author: Emilie Richards
I’ll be home in time for dinner.”
The balloons danced when he closed the door behind him. Kendra stopped swallowing tears and let them flow.
CHAPTER THREE
A brand-new car was sitting in the clearing in front of the cabin when Isaac and Kendra drove up. Even though Kendra’s sedan had been recovered, she hadn’t wanted it anymore. As soon as she arrived home from the hospital, she had traded it in for a new forest-green Lexus RX with all-wheel drive. She claimed she would need a car that drove efficiently on dirt and gravel roads, but Isaac suspected the real reason was simpler. The sedan had nearly gotten her killed, and she would never forget that.
Sam and Elisa Kinkade, Kendra’s minister and his wife, had picked up the new car on a trip into the city and delivered it here. Isaac had met the Kinkades after a story that Kendra had done about them almost a year ago, and liked them both. Sam was a minister with a healthy social conscience, for which he had twice suffered the rigors of prison. Elisa was a doctor from Guatemala who had suffered her own nightmares. Isaac was not a believer in happy endings, but he thought these two deserved one.
Until now, Kendra hadn’t even seen her new SUV. She hadn’t been willing to make the trip to the showroom, and her salesperson had driven to the condo to collect the sedan as a courtesy.
“You’ll finally get to check out your new car,” Isaac said.
“Looks good, doesn’t it?”
The car said a lot about his wife. Luxury, yes, but not obviously. Kendra hadn’t gone for the top of the line, although she easily could have afforded it. She hadn’t seen the point of more car than she needed, or shown any need to flaunt inherited wealth. She would drive the SUV carefully and for as long as she sensibly could. When he’d met her, she had been driving a twelve-year-old BMW that had traveled from coast to coast half a dozen times.
She sat forward to peer out the front window. “From here you can’t see most of the changes, but you can see the logs. Dabney removed the siding that covered them. And he re-roofed the front porch.”
“I don’t really remember what it looked like.”
“It’s been a long time since you were here, hasn’t it?”
“Not long enough.”
“Please come in and look around.”
“What did you think? That I was going to drop you off and speed away?” He was sorry the moment he’d said it, and sorrier for the edge in his voice.
She was calmer. “I didn’t think that. I just didn’t know if you’d want to come inside.”
He rarely apologized—he’d spent his childhood being forced to say he was sorry for everything except the air he breathed—but he did soften his tone. “I’m sure I’ll feel better about your move if you can prove there’s a decent bathroom.”
“There was always running water and a toilet. Your grandmother lived the way a lot of people in that generation did.”
He didn’t like to hear anyone call the woman he’d inherited the cabin and land from his “grandmother.” He had never met Leah Spurlock Jackson and felt no connection. His adoptive father had made it clear his pitiful specimen of a son had descended from poor white trash. It was no surprise to Colonel Grant Taylor when Isaac only made Bs in algebra or wasn’t chosen for the best soccer teams at whatever Air Force base on which they were living.
Isaac, who had excelled at almost everything he touched, was well beyond believing anything his father had said about him. But the little he knew about his birth family reinforced this particular rant. His mother had worked in a bar and hadn’t been sure who his father was. And for most of her life, his grandmother had lived in this primitive cabin with no husband in residence.
He unhooked his seat belt and grabbed the keys, although out here there was little chance anyone was going to steal the car. First they would have to navigate the rutted dirt road that led to the clearing.
“I’ll
The balloons danced when he closed the door behind him. Kendra stopped swallowing tears and let them flow.
CHAPTER THREE
A brand-new car was sitting in the clearing in front of the cabin when Isaac and Kendra drove up. Even though Kendra’s sedan had been recovered, she hadn’t wanted it anymore. As soon as she arrived home from the hospital, she had traded it in for a new forest-green Lexus RX with all-wheel drive. She claimed she would need a car that drove efficiently on dirt and gravel roads, but Isaac suspected the real reason was simpler. The sedan had nearly gotten her killed, and she would never forget that.
Sam and Elisa Kinkade, Kendra’s minister and his wife, had picked up the new car on a trip into the city and delivered it here. Isaac had met the Kinkades after a story that Kendra had done about them almost a year ago, and liked them both. Sam was a minister with a healthy social conscience, for which he had twice suffered the rigors of prison. Elisa was a doctor from Guatemala who had suffered her own nightmares. Isaac was not a believer in happy endings, but he thought these two deserved one.
Until now, Kendra hadn’t even seen her new SUV. She hadn’t been willing to make the trip to the showroom, and her salesperson had driven to the condo to collect the sedan as a courtesy.
“You’ll finally get to check out your new car,” Isaac said.
“Looks good, doesn’t it?”
The car said a lot about his wife. Luxury, yes, but not obviously. Kendra hadn’t gone for the top of the line, although she easily could have afforded it. She hadn’t seen the point of more car than she needed, or shown any need to flaunt inherited wealth. She would drive the SUV carefully and for as long as she sensibly could. When he’d met her, she had been driving a twelve-year-old BMW that had traveled from coast to coast half a dozen times.
She sat forward to peer out the front window. “From here you can’t see most of the changes, but you can see the logs. Dabney removed the siding that covered them. And he re-roofed the front porch.”
“I don’t really remember what it looked like.”
“It’s been a long time since you were here, hasn’t it?”
“Not long enough.”
“Please come in and look around.”
“What did you think? That I was going to drop you off and speed away?” He was sorry the moment he’d said it, and sorrier for the edge in his voice.
She was calmer. “I didn’t think that. I just didn’t know if you’d want to come inside.”
He rarely apologized—he’d spent his childhood being forced to say he was sorry for everything except the air he breathed—but he did soften his tone. “I’m sure I’ll feel better about your move if you can prove there’s a decent bathroom.”
“There was always running water and a toilet. Your grandmother lived the way a lot of people in that generation did.”
He didn’t like to hear anyone call the woman he’d inherited the cabin and land from his “grandmother.” He had never met Leah Spurlock Jackson and felt no connection. His adoptive father had made it clear his pitiful specimen of a son had descended from poor white trash. It was no surprise to Colonel Grant Taylor when Isaac only made Bs in algebra or wasn’t chosen for the best soccer teams at whatever Air Force base on which they were living.
Isaac, who had excelled at almost everything he touched, was well beyond believing anything his father had said about him. But the little he knew about his birth family reinforced this particular rant. His mother had worked in a bar and hadn’t been sure who his father was. And for most of her life, his grandmother had lived in this primitive cabin with no husband in residence.
He unhooked his seat belt and grabbed the keys, although out here there was little chance anyone was going to steal the car. First they would have to navigate the rutted dirt road that led to the clearing.
“I’ll