Glorious Montana Sky (The Montana Sky Series) by Debra Holland Read Free Book Online Page A

hold on the precious coin.
    His father hurried up to him. “Micah, are you all right?”
    “Yes,” he ground out.
    “What happened?”
    “I didn’t do anything! ”
    Father reached toward him. “You have to be careful. Watch where you’re going.”
    Stung by the injustice of the accusation, Micah swatted away his father’s hand and scrambled to his feet, still clutching the valise. Before he could hand the bag over to the owner, the man grabbed it, as if he thought Micah would steal it.
    With the valise once again tucked under his arm, the portly man shook his finger in Micah’s face. “Watch where you’re going, young man.”
    Resentment rose in him. “I was. You were the one who had your nose in the paper. You swerved into me.”
    “Micah,” his father reprimanded. “Don’t speak that way to your elders. Apologize at once.” He picked up a suitcase and gave it to the man.
    The resentment flared to hot anger. “I didn’t do anything wrong to apologize for!” Micah turned to run, but a woman blocked his way, and he almost smacked into her. He caught a hint of her sweet perfume.
    “The boy is right,” the woman said in a softly accented voice, touching Micah’s shoulder. “It wasn’t his fault. Indeed, he did stop. But this gentleman—” she gestured to the indignant man “—wasn’t paying attention to where he was going and swerved into him.”
    Shocked by the intersession, Micah glanced up at her. The lady was pretty, her green-gold eyes full of compassion. He couldn’t believe she’d just stuck up for him. His mother would have scolded him, regardless of who’d caused the problem. Speechless, he had to fumble for words. “Thank you, ma’am.” Her smile dazzled him.
    “Such nice manners.” She sent a glance of appeal to Father. “Please don’t be angry with the boy.”
    His father blinked several times, seeming as stunned as Micah had been.
    “Of course not. I appreciate you intervening on my son’s behalf.”
    Her gaze traveled from Father to the man who’d gathered his possessions and huffed off. “It was the right thing to do.”
    Father smiled at her, his expression lighter than Micah had seen for a long time.
    “Not everyone does the right thing.”
    The woman pursed her lips. “Unfortunately, that’s true.”
    Father set his hands on Micah’s shoulders. “I’m sorry, son. I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”
    Micah wasn’t ready to stop being angry. Not about Father scolding him, or bringing him to America, or leaving him alone so much in Uganda. . .for not saving his mother. Nor would he forgive Father for making him leave Kimu. He would never forgive him for that. He shrugged away Father’s hands.
    His father sighed, a resigned look on his face.
    Micah remembered his errand. “Can I still buy the cookies?”
    “Yes. Hurry, though. The train is about to leave.”
    Micah looked up to thank the lady, but she’d moved away with an older gentleman. He gazed at her wistfully for a moment with an ache inside of him, wishing. . . .
    The cookie woman shuffled into his line of sight.
    He shook off his feelings Extra careful to avoid bumping anyone, Micah ran over to buy his treats.

CHAPTER FOUR
    W ith a rising sense of excitement, Joshua recognized the gray peak of a mountain capped by snow, thrusting into the vivid blue sky. The ache for his parents, for home—a feeling he’d repressed for nine years—blossomed inside him. Soon, he’d step off the train into the peace and quiet of a Montana spring day. The air would smell crisp and clean, with a bracing coolness that would probably make his thin African blood shiver. But unlike Cambridge, he wouldn’t mind the chill because he’d be home.
    Micah had his nose buried in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
    This morning, Joshua had made him change into his new shoes, and ever since, his son had worn a sullen frown. He hated to bring the boy out of Tom Sawyer’s world, where he seemed much happier. He gave