Morning Glory Read Online Free Page B

shotgun, but he wouldn’t listen. He went out on a branch, and sure enough, it broke, and so did he. He never would listen to me much.” A faraway look came into her eyes. Will watched the way her hands lingered in the baby’s hair.
    “Some men are like that.” The words felt strange on Will’s lips. Comfort—either getting it or giving it—was foreign to him.
    “We sure were happy, though. He had a way about him.” Her expression as she spoke made Will sure it had once beenGlendon Dinsmore’s hair through which she’d run her fingers that way. She acted as if she’d forgotten Will was in the room. He couldn’t quit watching her hands. It was another of those soft things that got him deep in the gut—the sight of her leafing through the baby’s airy hair while the child continued with its biscuit and made gurgling sounds. He wondered if anyone had ever done that to him, maybe sometime long before he had memory, but he had no conscious recollection of ever being touched that way.
    Eleanor Dinsmore drew herself back to the present to find Will Parker’s eyes on her hands.
    “So, what’re your thoughts, Mr. Parker?”
    He glanced up, refocused his eyes. “It don’t matter about the kids.”
    “Don’t matter?”
    “I mean, I don’t mind that you’ve got them. Your ad didn’t say.”
    “You like kids then?” she asked hopefully.
    “I don’t know. Never been around ‘em much. Yours seem nice enough.”
    She smiled at her boys and gave each a love pat. “They can be a joy.” He couldn’t help wondering at her reasoning, for she looked tired and worn beyond her years, having the near-three she did. “Just make sure, Mr. Parker,” she added, “’cause three’s a lot. I won’t have you layin’ a hand on them when they’re troublesome. They’re Glendon’s boys and he woulda never dreamed of layin’ a hand on them.”
    Just what did she take him for? He felt himself blush. But what else was she supposed to think after what he’d revealed out there in the yard?
    “You got my word.”
    She believed him. Maybe because of the way his eyes lingered on Baby Thomas’s hair. She liked his eyes, and they had a way of turning soft when they’d light on the boys. But the boys weren’t the only consideration.
    “It’s got to be said,” she went on. “I loved Glendon somethin’ fierce. It takes some time to get over a man like that. I wouldn’t be lookin’ for a man ‘less I had to. But winter’scomin’, and the baby, too. I was in a fix, Mr. Parker. You understand, don’t you?”
    Will nodded solemnly, noting the absence of self-pity in her voice.
    “Another thing.” She concentrated on Thomas’s hair, stroking it differently, distractedly, her cheeks turning pink. “Having three babies under four years old, well—don’t get me wrong—I love ‘em something fierce, but I wouldn’t want any more. Three’s plenty to suit me.”
    Lord a-mighty, the thought hadn’t crossed his mind. She was almost as sorry-looking as her place, and pregnant to boot. He needed a dry bed, but preferably not one with her in it.
    When she glanced up, Will Parker glanced down. “Ma’am...” His voice croaked. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Ma’am, I didn’t come up here lookin’ for...” He swallowed, glanced up, then sharply down. “I need a place is all. I’m tired of movin’.”
    “You moved a lot, have you?”
    “I been movin’ since I remember.”
    “Where’d you start from?”
    “Start from?” He met her eyes, puzzled.
    “You mean you don’t remember?”
    “Texas someplace.”
    “That’s all you know?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Maybe you’re lucky,” she commented.
    Though he shot her a glance, the remark went unexplained. She merely added, “I started from right down there in Whitney. Never moved farther than from the town to the top of this hill. I reckon you’ve been around, though.”
    He nodded silently. Again, she found herself pleased by his brusqueness,