Perfect Family by Patricia; Potter Read Free Book Online

too hard to be strong, to be wise, to protect herself.
    â€œAny suggestions for breakfast?” His question jolted her back to the present and she suspected he’d read her mind.
    â€œWhere are you staying?”
    He shrugged. “I don’t have a place yet. I came here right from the airport. Apparently there was an accident on the freeway and it took me longer than I thought.”
    Ah, she knew about that. One accident on an Atlanta freeway and everyone was stalled for hours. “There’s a hotel around the corner,” she suggested.
    â€œThank you,” he said solemnly.
    She nodded. “You have a car?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œGo to the intersection, turn right. It’s two blocks on the left.”
    â€œAnd breakfast?”
    â€œThere’s a restaurant next door. I’ll meet you at eight.”
    â€œThank you, Miss Clayton.”
    She smiled for the first time. “Jessie,” she said.
    Jessie searched the web for information on Sedona. Beside the computer were several books she’d located at the store before leaving. One was a travel guide of Arizona. The others came from the American West history section. There was an advantage of being part owner of a bookstore.
    There was very little about the Sedona area in the history books. It had been settled fairly late in the 1800s by white settlers, though it had a long and rich history with early Indians and then later with Apaches and Yavapai.
    Ben whined for attention, something he seldom did. Usually, he was content with just her company. It was as if he knew something was puzzling her, that all was not normal with their usually complacent life.
    â€œI’m becoming obsessed,” she told him.
    He licked her, telling her that obsession was just fine as long as it didn’t interfere with him.
    She turned the computer off and stood, going over to the fireplace and the mantel. She touched one of the carousel horses, the first of her collection. As a child, she’d saved for the longest time to buy it, though it was an inexpensive imitation. But that hadn’t mattered to her.
    â€œ But Daddy, I want to ride the merry-go-round .”
    Her father sighed. “We don’t have time, Jessica. Now stop whining .”
    But she wanted it badly enough to pull on his hand. “Please .”
    â€œ Dammit, I have to look at the horses for Mr. Daley. Don’t be a baby .”
    â€œ But Daddy …”
    He turned then, fury on his face. He bent down and slapped her bottom so hard she could barely keep from yelling .
    He pulled her along then as she looked back at the children being put on horses by their daddies and wanted … oh how she wanted …
    She’d never had that ride, but the dream stayed in her mind, and when she’d seen a carousel horse in a store, she’d very carefully saved every penny she had, the nickels and dimes that people around the track gave her. And she’d bought her own horse. Later, as an adult, she started collecting originals. She wondered once what a psychologist would think. Was she subconsciously reliving painful memories or triumphing over them?
    Later, of course, she’d learned to ride. Her father hadn’t taught her. An exercise boy had. It was the one time she remembered pleasing her father, the first time he had watched her ride around the track at twelve. He said she had a natural seat and good hands, and eventually she’d become an exercise girl herself.
    Jessie replaced the horse on the mantel, and the memories in the attic of her mind. Too much had been dredged up today. Too many emotions. Too many memories.
    She thought about Alex Kelley. She sensed there was much he had not told her, that he had picked carefully through information for what he wanted to say.
    Sedona. She tried the sound on her tongue. Should it ring bells? Had her father ever let the name slip from his lips?
    One of five brothers. And one brother died the day