Cottonwood Whispers by Jennifer Erin Valent Read Free Book Online

to my ears, and I grasped Luke’s tensed arm for support. “She’s in trouble, Luke,” I whispered. “We’ve got to help her.”
    He pulled my arm up and tucked it between his arm and his ribs, squeezing it tightly. “She needs help, sure enough. Problem is, I ain’t so sure she’ll let us give it. I ain’t so sure she’ll let anyone give it.”
    I walked home with heavy feet because I knew he was right. I’d seen a side of Gemma I didn’t know, and I had no tricks up my sleeve for solving problems I’d never faced in my life.

Chapter 4
    Daddy was sore when Luke and I told him about Joel Hadley driving Gemma home, but he didn’t storm off to fetch her. Instead, he spent the next hour pacing the porch.
    “Ain’t he gonna do nothin’?” I asked Momma when the clock chimed nine thirty.
    She looked up from her needlework and watched Daddy through the window. “Ain’t much he can do, honey,” she said quietly so Daddy wouldn’t hear. “We told her she could work tonight, and parties run late sometimes.”
    “But she’s drivin’ home with Joel Hadley.”
    Momma took my hand and gave me a weak smile. “Honey, I don’t like it any more’n you. Neither does your daddy. But Gemma’s nineteen and near about full grown. Your daddy and me, we got to think hard about how to handle this. Okay?”
    I nodded, understanding but unhappy all the same. I trudged upstairs and tossed myself into bed, staring at the circle of lamplight on the ceiling until the heat radiating from it forced me to turn it out.
    When I heard Momma and Daddy’s bedroom door shut behind them, I turned my light back on to check the time. Ten thirty, and still no Gemma. I grabbed my book and tried to read for distraction, but I had to repeat every sentence so many times before it sank in, I gave up.
    It was near midnight when Gemma got home. I flicked the lamp out quickly and rolled over to face away from the door. I lay still and quiet, straining to hear if my daddy would have a few words for her. But all I heard was the click of his lamp being turned out now that he knew she was home.
    I peeked over my shoulder when she tiptoed in. The moonlight cast a shadow on her form and revealed her slumped shoulders, her labored gait. I didn’t know if it was work fatigue or sadness, but I was too angry to ask. Before she got into bed, she paused over me, but I closed my eyes, pretending to sleep, and she turned to her bed with a sigh.
    It was hours before I managed to drift off, and when I woke up late the next morning, Gemma had already slipped out, leaving her bed uncharacteristically messy.
    The heat of that morning made my head fuzzy, and I moved at a snail’s pace, spending extra time washing up after a sweaty night’s sleep. I’d lived in the South my whole life, so I knew an awful lot about summer heat. But that summer of 1936 brought a heat the likes of which I’d neverseen. It nearly crackled in the air. Going barefoot across the grass was like walking on needles, and I was forced to wear shoes everywhere, which only served to make me even more irritable.
    After I had some breakfast, I wandered up to the back fields and found Daddy standing there, staring into the distance, his hand shielding his eyes from the brightening sun.
    “Lookin’ at somethin’ particular?” I asked, my tone subdued because I hadn’t quite gotten over his display at dinner Saturday night.
    He turned around suddenly. “Oh, mornin’, baby.” He paused a minute, seemingly contemplating the wisdom of keeping that nickname for me, but he smiled at me wanly. “I’m just thinkin’.”
    “Gemma at work already?”
    “Yep.”
    “Did you say anythin’ to her about last night?”
    Daddy took his time answering my question. “I don’t much like talkin’ about you girls to each other, Jessilyn. You know that.”
    “Yes’r. But this time’s different. She’s got me worried.”
    “Baby, you ain’t got to worry none.” He paused again and then reached