Sins of Summer Read Online Free PDF Page B

Callahan also had spent time in the rooming house in Spokane. They would
     not remember him, but he remembered the two of them. They had come to town to see the sights and experience every vice it
     offered. At the boardinghouse table they had spoken freely of the big logging operation as if they were its sole owners.
    The thought nagged at Ben that one of them might have fathered the girl. During the three years he and Odette had been together,
     she had become an important part of his life, and he fervently hoped that she was truly his flesh and blood. He felt a strong
     urge, however, to know for sure, not that it would make any difference in his feelings for her. He rationalized that it would
     only be fair to the girl if he could prove that she came from good pioneer stock if she were not really his child.
    Ben looked toward the kitchen door when it opened and watched Dory come back into the room carrying her daughter. The minute
     she put the child on her feet the little girl ran to Odette and climbed into her lap. Odette’s smiling eyes sought Ben’s,
     but his attention was focused on Dory Callahan.
    “Mr. Waller.” Dory spoke in a low tone with her face averted to prevent Odette from reading her lips. “I’ll do my best to
     look after your daughter while she’s here with me. In spite of what Louis said, my bobbed hair, and my child, I am not a loose
     woman.”
    “It matters little to me what you are. I’ve no choice but to leave Odette here.”
    Dory’s face took on a stubborn look. “It was stupid of me to think you’d believe me. Most men believe Louis.”
    “Your past is your business. My concern is for Odette.”
    “You sound as if you’ve known a few loose women in your day,” she sneered.
    “My share.” Lines appeared at the corners of his gray eyes when he smiled. “Odette and I would be on our way to Malone’s if
     not for the blizzard.” He glanced at Odette. She and Jeanmarie were playing patty-cake.
    “Louis and Milo have a strong dislike for me and Jeanmarie.” Dory didn’t understand her need to explain to this man. “One
     reason is that I strongly resemble my mother. She was only a little older than Louis was when my father married her. He and
     Milo resented her and did everything they could to make her life miserable. My father loved her dearly. She was a loving,
     happy woman who laughed a lot—the opposite, I’m told, of my father’s first wife. As hard as my mother tried, she was never
     able to make peace with Louis and Milo. They even refused to attend her burial.”
    “Is your full brother as disagreeable as Louis?”
    “No, thank heaven! James is three years older than I am. He is good at everything he does. He’s the best high-climber, chopper,
     cutter, peeler, and river rat in the territory. And he is well liked by the men. James lives to provoke Louis and Milo and
     to outdo them in anything they attempt. He’s the cutting foreman of the Callahan Lumber Company only because Papa put that
     provision in his will.”
    “Then I’ll be working mostly with him.”
    “Don’t count on it. Louis will be pushing every step of the way. He’s got his heart set on outdoing the Malones.”
    “I take it there is something personal between the Callahans and the Malones.”
    “You take it right. My mother was Chip Malone’s foster sister. She was raised in their home. Some say that he was in love
     with her. And… Chip Malone has red hair.”
    Ben glanced at the red mop on the little girl’s head, and then back at the mother, but she had turned away and was stoking
     the fire in the cookstove.
    The hastily-put-together supper of fried pork, sauerkraut, boiled potatoes and dried apple pie was the best food Ben and Odette
     had had in weeks. While they ate, Louis talked constantly about the steam donkey. When he wanted more coffee he banged his
     cup on the table and continued to talk.
    “By God, I bought the best cable money could buy. Steel cable. Milo wanted me