Promise Broken (The Callahan Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

agreed. “‘Cept I like Lily.” He paused to shovel in another bite. “And Queenie and Freckles.”
    “And the cows. Plus every other animal you see,” Phyl added.
    Nellie laughed. “What don’t you like, Mark?”
    It was clear his mother was trying to make Donovan’s first night easier. There were no questions about where he’d been or what he’d done. No “What happened to your truck?” questions. Nothing to make him feel unwanted or uncared for. Still, he could barely get the food down. He’d spent too many days hunting a man he hated instead of eating. It was as if his stomach didn’t know what to do with food.
    He choked down as much as he could before his mother brought out dessert.
    “Wow!” Mark said as she set a tray on the table with dessert plates piled with cake, strawberries and mile-high whipped cream. “Awesome!”
    Phyl chuckled. “I agree.”
    Donovan didn’t know how he’d get down another morsel, but his mother had gone to so much trouble. He took a bite. The familiar taste sent memories roaring through his head.
    Mom made all of their birthdays as special as she could. Every year each child was asked which cake he or she wanted. One year Donovan asked for and got this very dessert. He couldn’t have been as old as the kid sitting across from him, but he remembered how thrilled he was when Mom brought it out with a candle on top of his piece; remembered how special he’d felt.
    He couldn’t conjure up that feeling now if his life depended on it.
    Donovan felt betrayed, even embarrassed. Who else knew?
    He pushed aside the dessert, rose from the table. “Excuse me,” he said and left the room.
    Silence followed him.

Chapter Three
    Donovan shut the door to his room quietly, went to the window and leaned his head against the glass.
    He didn’t want to be here where every day he’d have to face the truth. A truth he didn’t think he would ever be able to accept.
    Instead of easing the pain, coming home had accentuated it.
    Except for the years he’d spent at Texas A&M University he’d never left the ranch, had never wanted to. Yet, standing here looking out the window at the familiar barns and fields, he felt like a stranger.
    Taking deep breaths, he forced his nerves under control.
    His gaze swept over what he could see of the ranch. Everything looked the same, yet not the same.
    In the distance the cattle grazed in contentment.
    Automatically, he reached for his binoculars. Just as he’d done hundreds of times before, he adjusted the glasses and checked to make sure everything looked as it should.
    It hadn’t been that long ago he’d looked through these same glasses to see a sick cow amongst the healthy ones. By the time he was at the side of the sick heifer, he knew it wasn’t theirs. What he hadn’t known was the nightmare to follow. It had taken a huge dose of bravery, guts, and determination on the part of his sister to pull the ranch out of it.
    But now everything seemed peaceful. Serene, even. He wanted to feel the same.
    Putting the glasses aside he roamed the room that had been his all of his life.
    Why did he let his brothers and sister talk him into coming home? Half-brothers and half-sister, he reminded himself. The pull of hurt in his gut told him he didn’t belong.
    Eventually, he’d make a life somewhere else. Just not here.
    He stepped up to the window again. There was plenty of daylight left on this late July day, and the temperature was getting Texas hot. He wondered how the woman would handle the ranch when the heat hit its zenith around the middle of August.
    The boy went into the yard, threw a stick that the dogs were only too eager to bring back.
    Who were they; the kid and his mom? Where had they come from? If he left, would they stay and make this their home?
    Where was her husband? Was that why she was here? Was she running from an abusive marriage? What were her credentials anyway? Had anyone checked her out?
    She walked over to stand beside her