Nobody's Child Read Online Free PDF Page B

away. She learned the trick from Daddy, staring down bad dogs. The skill paid dividends, particularly with her uncle.
    â€œGlad?” Laura Ann asked, pouring coffee but never breaking the lock with his eyes. She listened for the sound of the liquid, judging her filling of the cup by ear.
    Uncle Jack got up from the table, coffee in hand, waving toward the window. “I found you a buyer, Laura Ann. A solution to your money problems. You’re one lucky girl.”
    She set the coffee pot down hard on the table, jarring the dishes. Auntie Rose jerked when the pot hit the tablecloth, spilling some of the hot drink on her blouse. Laura Ann huffed, then crossed the kitchen for a wet rag.
    â€œI’ve got it,” Auntie Rose insisted, her eyes on her husband. Uncle Jack’s faked smile never faded.
    â€œWhat money problem?” Laura Ann asked, wiping her hands on her apron.
    His chest swelled and he walked about the room in a slow circle, waving occasionally toward a window. “This. This problem. You can’t afford the place, Laura Ann, but I’ve found a solution.”
    â€œI own it, Uncle Jack.”
    â€œNo,” he insisted, shaking his head, staring out the kitchen window toward the Middle Island Creek. “The bank owns this farm. You mortgaged it for all that medical care — a lot of good that did your dad. A mortgage you can’t pay, by the way.”
    He turned from the window, pointing his coffee cup at Laura Ann. “The state wants to buy your place.” He stopped his walk, sipping from the cup. “It’s a good deal. You should take it.”
    Laura Ann shook her head. “I don’t need your help — or the state’s.”
    He chuckled, then let out a long breath. “Oh, yes, you do.”
    Laura Ann stiffened and crossed her arms, feet spread. Her fighting stance. “Why are you here on Christmas, anyway, Uncle Jack? Why not head out there tonight on the best holiday of the year and sell some more crop insurance? Or go shoot a buck out of season. You’re pretty good at that.”
    â€œI’ll pretend you didn’t say that, young lady.”
    â€œI did say it. You don’t care about Christmas, or this family,except what it gets for you. Don’t pretend you’re doing me some kind of favor. It’s all about you. It always has been.”
    â€œI
am
doing you a favor, Laura Ann. I’ve got a buyer all queued up and ready to pay.” His face went red like her truck, arteries swelling in his temples. “You need my help.”
    â€œNo, I don’t,” she said, squaring her shoulders. “Don’t need it, and don’t want it.”
    â€œStupid girl.”
    â€œStupid
what?”
    â€œGirl. You’re a kid, for crying out loud. Barely twenty, you don’t have an education, and you’ve never held a job. No means of support. You’ll be at the Social Security office begging for handouts inside a month.” He waved the coffee cup like a lance, slicing her with his imaginary rapier.
    Venom rose in her throat, hot words she’d heard from her daddy, ready to spew in Uncle Jack’s face. Words about his broken marital vows with Daddy’s sister, his tightfistedness, and his stream of lies. All words that would pierce Auntie Rose, words she dared not vent.
    Uncle Jack took a step toward Laura Ann. Auntie Rose gasped, her knees buckling where she fell into a kitchen chair. Laura Ann set her stance and found her voice, all her pain pummeling him with one commanding word. “No!”
    He stopped midstride and cast a puzzled look at her, then at Auntie Rose, who wrung her hands, eyes wide.
    â€œI can and will run this farm, Uncle Jack. I’ve worked here my whole life and I’ll make it pay. So clean that wax out of your ears and hear me. This farm is not for sale.”

C HAPTER 4
    Dear Daddy,
    It’s Christmas night and this is my first letter to you using the