The Rancher & Heart of Stone by Diana Palmer Read Free Book Online Page B

didn’t have nightmares for a month, either, did he, or carry emotional scars that never go away? Sad thing about him,” she added quietly, “he died overseas when a roadside bomb blew up when he was serving in the Middle East. With a temper like that, I often wondered what he might do to a woman if he got even more upset than he was at me that time.”
    “No telling. And just as well we don’t have to find out.” Her face hardened. “But you’re right about that Odalie girl. Got a bad attitude and no compassion for anybody. One of these days, life is going to pay her out in her own coin. She’ll be sorry for the things she’s done, but it will be too late. God forgives,” she added. “But there’s a price.”
    “What’s that old saying, ‘God’s mill grinds slowly, but relentlessly’?”
    “Something like that. Come on. I’ll make you a nice cup of hot coffee.”
    “Make that a nice cup of hot chocolate instead,” Maddie said. “I’ve had a rough day and I want to go to bed.”
    “I don’t blame you. Not one bit.”
    * * *
    C ORT WAS THOUGHTFUL at breakfast the next morning. He was usually animated with his parents while he ate. But now he was quiet and retrospective.
    “Something wrong?” his dad asked.
    Cort glanced at him. He managed a smile. “Yeah. Something.” He sipped coffee. “I went over her dad’s journal with Maddie. We had sort of an argument and I started toward her while I was mad.” He hesitated. “She knocked over a chair getting away from me. White in the face, shaking all over. It was an extreme reaction. We’ve argued before, but that’s the first time she’s been afraid of me.”
    “And you don’t understand why.” His father’s expression was troubled.
    “I don’t.” Cort’s eyes narrowed. “But you do, don’t you?”
    He nodded.
    “King, should you tell him?” Shelby asked worriedly.
    “I think I should, honey,” he said gently, and his dark eyes smiled with affection. “Somebody needs to.”
    “Okay then.” She got up with her coffee. “You men talk. I’m going to phone Morie and see how she’s doing.”
    “Give her my love,” King called after her.
    “Mine, too,” Cort added.
    She waved a hand and closed the door behind her. “Tell me,” Cort asked his dad.
    King put down his coffee cup. “In her senior year, Maddie was Odalie’s worst enemy. There was a boy, seemingly a nice boy, who liked Maddie. But Odalie liked him, and she was angry that Maddie, a younger girl who wasn’t pretty or rich or talented, seemed to be winning in the affection sweepstakes.”
    “I told Maddie, Odalie’s not like that,” Cort began angrily.
    King held up a hand. “Just hear me out. Don’t interrupt.”
    Cort made a face, but he shut up.
    “So Odalie and a girlfriend got on one of the social websites and started posting things that she said Maddie told her about the boy. She said Maddie thought he was a hick, that his mother was stupid, that both his parents couldn’t even pass a basic IQ test.”
    “What? That’s a lie...!”
    “Sit down!” King’s voice was soft, but the look in his eyes wasn’t. Cort sat.
    “The boy’s mother was dying of cancer. He was outraged and furious at what Maddie had allegedly said about his family. His mother had just been taken to the hospital, not expected to live. She died that same day. He went to school just to find Maddie. She was in the library.” He picked up his cup and sipped coffee. “He jerked her out of her chair, slapped her over a table and pulled her by her hair to the window. He was in the act of throwing her out—and it was on the second floor—when the librarian screamed for help and two big, stronger boys restrained him, in the nick of time.”
    Cort’s face froze. “Maddie told you that?”
    “Her father’s lawyer told Cole Everett that,” came the terse reply. “There were at least five witnesses. The boy was arrested for assault. It was hushed up, because that’s what’s done in