Down by the River by Robyn Carr Read Free Book Online Page A

can’t light out in that old Caddy for a five-hour drive at my age. It would be reckless!”
    “Well, if you ever see the opportunity present itself again, you just let me know,” June said. “I’ll take you wherever it is.” She stood up. “I think we should go, Auntie. I’ve left John stranded for too long at the clinic.”
    “But you’ll be back soon?”
    June kissed her aunt’s crepey cheek. “And often.”
     
    On the way back to town, Jim said, “You do want to get married, don’t you, June?”
    “I think so,” she said.
    “You think so?”
    Her hand immediately protected her tummy. “Don’t snap at me. I’ve been single a long time!”
    His eyes bored into her for a moment, though he should have been watching the road. Finally he spoke. “You’ve been pregnant a long time, too.”

Four
    T he people of Grace Valley were usually guilty of spreading gossip so fast that people would hear rumors about themselves before they had a chance to tell their own best friends. Like word of June having a secret man in her life, a baby on the way and no wedding date set—that news was all over town before she even had a chance to introduce Jim to her only aunt.
    But there were times that word didn’t travel fast enough. News perhaps important enough to sound the alarm could sometimes sit like sludge and not move. Just such news was the presence of Conrad Davis in town when Jim had pointedly told him to scat. Jim was the only person who had been close enough to have gathered a sense—a professionally trained sense—that Conrad was bad news.
    When Sam went to the gas station after breakfast at the café, he found Conrad and his laden truck. “Well, you didn’t get all that far, did you, son?” Samasked in a friendly manner. “Problems with the truck?”
    “No, sir,” Conrad said sweetly. He looked down and shuffled his feet. “I was taking the wife and kids down to Fresno where my cousin said he thought there was work, when she popped like a cork by the side of the road.” He raised his eyes and allowed a shy smile. “A boy. Thank God for that woman doctor.”
    “Yep. She’s a peach.”
    “So now I got the wife in the hospital and I need to get there, but…” He paused, thinking. He looked down again. “I don’t reckon it’d be safe to leave this truck full of stuff in the parking lot over there. I’d come out and find it all gone.”
    Sam looked at the tied-down, sorry mess of household goods and personal belongings. Frankly, nothing in there looked worth burning, much less stealing—especially not that stained and bloodied mattress sticking out the back end. He lifted a white eyebrow.
    Conrad followed his eyes. “Erline gave birth on that. I’d of thrown it, but I ain’t got no others. The kids gotta have something between them and the ground.” The young man’s eyes grew moist. “It ain’t much, that load, but I need a place to store it so I can go over to the hospital and get my little girls. Can’t risk losing all that. Kids’ clothes and all.”
    Sam had always lived simply, but that was by choice, not because he’d been down on his luck. The fact was, Sam made money without hardly trying.
    “What kind of work you do, boy?”
    “Construction. Janitor. A little mechanical, but not much.” He cleared his throat. “I’d do just about anything to keep a roof over my family’s head, sir.”
    Sam didn’t need an employee. Heck, Sam didn’t even need to be around for the gas station to run itself. He’d had his share of hard times, having buried two wives, but he’d never been poor and he’d never had the worry of how to feed a family. There hadn’t been any children for him.
    This young man could be a grandson.
    “When did you last eat, son?”
    Conrad rolled his eyes skyward, as if the answer lay in the clouds. “Not yesterday,” he said finally. “I think it was Saturday. We were camped for the night and I caught some fish.”
    A smile broke over Sam’s face. “A