From the Heart: Romance, Mystery and Suspense a collection for everyone by Lorhainne Eckhart Read Free Book Online Page B

through the store, and both Katy and Trevor had been on their best behavior. Except standing in line for more than five minutes became a problem; Trevor wanted out of the cart and tried to climb over himself. He yelled when Emily tried to make him sit. So she lifted him out but he then tried to crawl under the cart and ride on the bottom rack. Emily grabbed his legs and he screamed, his arms flailing. Then he threw his shoe, smacking the cashier dead center in her forehead with a pervading thud—it was one of life’s most horrifically embarrassing frozen moments in time. The grumpy cashier became hostile and called security. It wasn’t just one security guard who showed up but two stern faced, out of shape, middle aged guys who looked like wanna-be cops. While Emily struggled to calm Trevor, who flailed in her arms, and Katy gripped her sleeve whimpering, one of the guards issued her a stern warning to control her child. They didn’t do it nicely and pull her aside; they did it in front of all the other shoppers. And Emily still needed to pay.
    By the time she loaded all the groceries in her van, with Trevor and Katy buckled in their car seats both munching on the crackers she’d piled in their laps, her insides were trembling. She worried if, in fact, her picture was now plastered in the store with each cashier with bold black lettering “BEWARE OF THIS CUSTOMER” underneath it.
    By the time Emily got home, Mary Haske was already there. While Emily hauled in the groceries, Mary settled the children in front of the television. Mary was a robust seventy-year-old grey haired woman who wore bifocals and had a grandmotherly smile that warmed Emily’s heart.
    While Emily put away the groceries, Trevor squealed in a voice sounding exactly like Arthur—the cartoon program blaring to life on the TV. When she peaked around the corner, he was bouncing and swaying in front of the TV. Katy was snuggled with her baby blanket on the sofa.
    “Would you join me for a cup of tea, my dear.” Mary filled a yellow flowered teapot with hot water. “Come sit down.”
    “Thanks, Mary.”
    Mary set a tray with milk and sugar, and carried it to the oak kitchen table that had been freshly scrubbed. “Sit down while you can. You’re going to spend most of the day on your feet, so may as well take advantage of some down time.”
    Emily accepted the hot mug of tea but waved off the milk and sugar. “Mrs. Haske --”
    “Mary, please, I insist. Dear Brad, bless his heart, can’t seem to shake the formality. He’s called me that since he could first talk.”
    Emily was drawn into the genuine motherly affection of this woman. “Mary, Brad told me you live down the road and he’s known you his whole life.”
    “His mom and I are old friends, saw that boy in his diapers. We’re a small community here. You’ll find out. We help out our neighbors. I live down the road on a small ten-acre parcel; it’s all that’s left of the 50 acres Herman sold off to Brad’s daddy. Lived here my whole married life, my Herman, God rest his soul, we were married fifty years when he passed on a few years back. He brought me here from the big city of Spokane. I was a city girl who knew nothing about farming and what it takes to live off the land. He was patient and I cried a lot of tears, packed my bags to leave more times than I can count. I was a silly young thing.” Mary smiled warmly.
    Emily turned in her chair, so she could see the kids. Actually, her gut ached as she worried what Trevor would do next. “Oh they’re just fine, your little angel there seems quite comfortable with Trevor.”
    “Yes, she’s a good girl.”
    Mary wrapped her hands around her mug as if she needed to warm her hands. She gazed into it, as if needing to say something, but couldn’t quite find the words.
    “Brad’s real special to me. He owns a lot of land here, Emily, almost five hundred acres. His daddy started buying up the land in these parts when families were