Redemption Read Online Free PDF Page A

door and shut it, tempted to slam it, but leery of breaking the glass. Jason had already been responsible for repairing two windows this week; he would not add to that count. Behind him, he heard the boy’s dragging footsteps as he left the kitchen, and Jake turned the chair and followed the boy into the hallway.
    “Come into the parlor, son,” he said quietly, and noted the startled look the boy shot in his direction. Had he not spoken to his boy in a decent tone of voice for so long that it would take him by surprise?
    “Sit down.” Jake waved at the couch, where books lay in disarray and two dirty plates sat on the middle cushion.
    Jason moved the plates and settled onto the seat, and Jake wondered that it was such an automatic gesture on the boy’s part. Used to the clutter, he didn’t seem to notice that the house was in havoc.
    “I’ll try again to get us a housekeeper,” he told his son. “I’ll send you with a note to the newspaper office and have an ad put in this week. Maybe we can find someone who’ll suit us both.”
    “I don’t want some strange lady tellin’ me what to do,” Jason said stoutly. “It’d be better with just you and me here, Pa.”
    “It isn’t better, though,” Jake admitted. “You need someone to take you in hand, son. Someone who can take you out and buy you clothes that fit and see to it you visit the barbershop.”
    Jason leaned forward on the couch and spoke eagerly. “I can do that, Pa. I can go to the barber by myself, and I’ll go to the general store and pick out some stuff. Can we afford all that?” he asked, almost as an afterthought.
    Jake nodded. He’d been living without dipping into his savings, Cord depositing a quarterly amount from the family ranch into Jake’s account at the bank. The house was paid for, thanks to Rena’s thrifty nature, and food for the two males in the household was the largest expense he had.
    “We can afford whatever you need, son,” he said, wishing that he’d noticed for himself the boy’s general appearance. “But I’d feel better if someone went with you.”
    “Can you go?” The look in his blue eyes was hopeful as Jason focused on his father, but Jake retreated quickly.
    “No. You know I don’t go out.”
    “You need a haircut, too, Pa.” Jason looked at his father with eyes too old for a lad of nine. “You’re not in much better shape than me.”
    “Well, the difference is that you have to be out in public and I don’t,” Jake told him firmly. Then he heard the distinct rap of knuckles on the front door.
    “Somebody’s here,” Jason said, rising quickly from his seat to head for the hallway.
    “Wait,” Jake told him, calling him back with a single word. “Let me see who it is first.”
    “You can’t see any better than me,” Jason told him, standing to one side to peer through one of the long panes of glass that trimmed the door on either side. Glass that was dirty, with cobwebs hanging from the upper corners, Jake noted.
    “It’s Miss Merriweather,” Jason said, his eyes seeming to darken even as his face paled in the light from the narrow windows.
    “What have you done now?” his father asked, and knew an unexpected moment of pleasure at the thought of once more fencing with the woman.
    “Nuthin’,” Jason answered sullenly. “Why do you always think I’ve been bad?”
    “Bad?” Jake repeated. That his son should use that word in connection with his own behavior was telling. “I’m sorry,” he said, meaning the apology from the depths of his heart. “Open the door, Jason. Let’s see what Miss Merriweather wants with us.”
    A NARROW FACE PEERED at her from behind the dirty windowpane, and Alicia caught her breath at the apprehension displayed on the boy’s features. Fixing a smile on her face, she waited for the door to open.
    “Ma’am?” Jason watched her warily as he stepped back, allowing her entrance if she wished.
    “Is your father—” At the sight of Jake McPherson