Getting Lucky by Carolyn Brown Read Free Book Online Page B

away from the ranch. You'll learn to mind me, little girl."
       Lizzy raced up to her bedroom and slammed the door.

    Julie had trouble getting to sleep that night. She'd found Edna's recipes written neatly in a notebook, along with last year's price of sugar, spices, and jars that she bought at the Wal-Mart store in Gainesville. It wouldn't be so difficult to keep the business going, and it would give her a little extra income.
       She finally drifted off at midnight to hear Annie screaming. Fear glued her to the bed for a moment before the adrenaline rush set in. She ran to the bedroom to find Annie as white as a sheet, sitting straight up in bed, her eyes opened so wide they were frightening.
       "What is the matter, baby?" Julie tried to soothe her.
       "It's a witch. Her name is Edna and she won't die. She's a mean old woman and she hates me because I look like Lizzy. She said she was going to put me in a dark place and never let me out, and she said I was a spawn like Lizzy."
       "It was just a dream," Julie said. "You must have overheard Mamie talking today. Edna is dead. She died and is buried at Saint Jo. She can't put you in a dark place because she's not here."
       "Promise?" Annie asked.
       "I promise."
       "Will you sleep with me?"
       "Only tonight."
       "Lizzy would sleep with me but she's afraid to come in our house because of that mean old witch," Annie said.
        It must have been a hell of a nightmare, Julie thought as she crawled into the bed and cradled her daughter in her arms.

Chapter 3

    NOT A LEAF WAS STIRRING AND THE DIRT KICKED UP BY Griffin's tractor settled back to the earth quickly. August was even hotter than June and July, and they'd broken heat records during those months. It had been weeks since they'd had rain and there was none in the next week's forecast. The temperatures had been over the hundred-degree mark for days on end. Over to his right he could see Paul, one of his hired hands, driving the John Deere to the barbed wire fence. He made a turn and started another round. Griffin did the same thing in the pasture on the other side of the fence.
       Thank goodness for air-conditioned cabs on his tractors or he'd be spitting dust for a week. While he plowed, his thoughts went to Rachel, who was back at the ranch house keeping Lizzy that day. Griffin was thinking about taking their relationship up to the next notch. Lizzy was getting to the age when she needed a mother. The past five years had passed like a blur. Before long she'd need another woman to talk to about things like sex and boys.
       Griffin's brows knit into a solid black line across. His little girl and boys? He was frowning when his cell phone rang. He groped in the pocket of his bibbed overalls for the phone. It rang three times before he fished it out of his pocket. "I know it's dinner time. I'm on my way."
       "Dinner is on the bar. I put it out there twenty minutes ago, just like the instructions Marita left me said to do. Several of the hired hands have already been in and eaten. I'm just calling to remind you and Lizzy to come on home to eat," Rachel said.
       Every hair on Griffin's neck stood straight up. "Lizzy isn't with me. Isn't she there with you?"
       "Haven't seen her all morning. I figured she'd begged to go with you this morning and you let her. You know you spoil her too much, Griff."
       "When did you see her last?" Griffin asked.
       "I haven't seen her. When I got here you were leaving and said to let her sleep since you two watched a late movie together. At ten I decided she'd slept long enough so I went to wake her and she wasn't there. I did check the barn about fifteen minutes ago to see if she was playing with those miserable cats. But since she wasn't there I figured she was with you on the tractor," Rachel said.
       Griffin stopped the tractor and jogged to his truck parked at the side of the field. His pulse raced and his heart felt like a