The Promise of Forgiveness

The Promise of Forgiveness Read Online Free PDF

Book: The Promise of Forgiveness Read Online Free PDF
Author: Marin Thomas
didn’t know which was worse—sleeping on Hank’s porch or in Elvis’s pop-up trailer behind the diner.
    A scuffling sound alerted her that she and Hank weren’t alone. “I told you to wait in the truck.” Not that she’d expected Mia to listen to her. The teen had a mind of her own—like her mother.
    â€œYou’re my grandfather?”
    Hank’s expression softened as he peered at his granddaughter. “You have an unusual name, Mia.”
    â€œMom named me after a stupid character in
The Princess Diaries
. They made a movie out of the books.”
    â€œYou don’t say.”
    â€œDid you name my mom Ruby?”
    Of all the questions that had come to mind when Ruby had learned she’d been adopted, who had named her hadn’t been one of them.
    â€œI’m afraid I didn’t.”
    Good
. Hank hadn’t earned the honor of naming her.
    â€œYour grandmother called her Faith,” he said.
    â€œWhy?” Mia asked.
    Hank’s gaze traveled around the room, skipping over Ruby. “When she held your mother in her arms, she said she knew the baby would remain loyal.”
    Loyal to whom
? Hank, herself, or—Ruby glanced at Mia—her daughter? The old man was in for a big surprise if he believed he’d win her over with a sentimental story about her birth moniker.
    He lifted a cowboy hat from a hook on the wall and clucked his tongue. The hound padded after him through the porch and out to the backyard, where he stopped to light a cigarette.
    Mia watched the pair through the kitchen window. “What’s the dog’s name?”
    â€œIt doesn’t have a name.”
    â€œYour dad’s not very friendly.”
    â€œNo, he’s not.”

Chapter 4

    â€œA re we gonna stay?” Mia asked Ruby.
    â€œHank said we could sleep on the porch. Let’s take a look at our accommodations and then decide.”
    Ruby surveyed the cramped quarters. A washer and dryer had been placed in the corner across from the door that opened to the backyard. A generic brand of laundry detergent and a jug of bleach sat on the shelf next to the machines. Old-fashioned roller shades, yellowed from age, hung above the window screens. An inch of dust coated the furniture, and when Ruby walked across the rug in front of the queen-size bed, puffs of dirt swirled next to her feet. The only sign that anyone occupied the room was the pair of men’s athletic shoes resting beneath a chair in the corner and the quarter, two dimes, and penny left on the nightstand.
    Ruby had slept in worse places, but she didn’t feel right about evicting the foreman from his room. Why hadn’t Hank suggested they use one of the second-floor bedrooms? Mia pointed the remote at the TV on the dresser, then stretched out on the bed.
    â€œWhat do you think?” Ruby said. “Is it okay with you if we stay?”
    Silence
.
    â€œIf Hank makes you feel uncomfortable, we can leave.”
    No answer
. Ruby was damn tired of being ignored, but she squelched her frustration. “It doesn’t matter to me whether we stay or not. It’s more important that you feel safe here.”
    Mia flipped over on the mattress. “Why wouldn’t I feel safe?”
    Well, for one thing, your grandfather answered the door with a shotgun in his hands
. “I’m not saying it isn’t safe. It’s just that—”
    â€œYou want me to decide. Then if anything goes wrong, it’s not your fault.” The accusatory glower in Mia’s eyes cut Ruby to the bone.
    â€œLet’s not make this into a big deal.”
    â€œFine. We can stay.”
    Breathing a sigh of relief, Ruby went out to the pickup to retrieve their luggage. One bag slung over her shoulder and two more in hand, she returned to the porch just as the back door opened and Joe stepped inside. He froze when he saw Mia on the bed.
    â€œHank said we should sleep here tonight, but if
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