Whispers from Yesterday by Robin Lee Hatcher Read Free Book Online Page A

had no committee work to take her mind off her problems. She had no friends to run away with, off to the Caribbean or to Hawaii or to the French Riviera. She didn’t even have enough money to put gas in that old car and drive to the nearest town.
    At that precise moment, Dusty strode out of the barn, headed toward the house. He’d covered about half the distance between them before he looked up and noticed her. His stride shortened, slowing his approach. His gaze never wavered from hers.
    “Morning,” he said.
    “Good morning.”
    She wondered if her grandfather had been anything like Dusty. Bradley Taylor had been a cowboy too. From what little she knew, he’d built this ranch from nothing.
    Dusty reached the porch steps and stopped. “You look mighty pretty at this hour of the day, Miss Butler.” He smiled, revealing a small dimple in his left cheek.
    He was only being friendly, offering an olive branch of sorts. Not flirting. But Karen’s mother wouldn’t have seen it that way. She would never have stood for him saying such a thing to her daughter. He was, after all, only a common workman. Blue collar. A cowboy. Not the proper company for a Butler.
    Perhaps that was why Karen returned his smile, to defy her mother’s memory, to defy the woman she’d spent a lifetime trying to please, without ever succeeding.
    “Is Sophia up yet?” he asked.
    “I think she’s in the garden.”
    He bumped his hat brim with his knuckles, pushing it higher on his forehead. “I won’t bother her then. It’s where she goes to pray in the morning.”
    Praying. Of course. Karen should have realized.
    And, no doubt, I’m the subject of her prayers. “Please, God, help poor Karen.”
    That thought made her uncomfortable, so she quickly sought another topic of conversation. “Did you know my grandfather?”
    “No. He died more than thirty years ago.”
    “Mother never spoke about either of them. I thought I had no grandparents, that they were deceased.” She stared into the distance. “I never would have known about Sophia if I hadn’t found one of her letters to my mother. Mother was furious when I confronted her about it.”
    Your grandmother is a hateful, despicable woman. I was lucky to escape her and that dreadful ranch. Never ask me about her again. As far as I’m concerned, she’s dead.
    “She forbade me to ask about her,” Karen continued in a low voice. “And I never did. Not about her or my grandfather or anything else from her past.” She felt a sudden shame. “To be honest, I didn’t care.”
    “It’s not too late. Maybe that’s why you’re here.”
    “I’m here because I had nowhere else to go. I’m broke. I have a college degree, but I’ve never had a job. I don’t know how to manage money. I’ve never done anything but enjoy myself. I’m basically a worthless human being.”
    “No one is worthless,” he said softly. “You were created with love. You have great worth to God. Your circumstances might be His way of drawing you to Him.”
    His words made her instantly angry. Who was he to judge her? “Is that what you tell those”—she almost called them delinquents again, but stopped herself in time— “kids you’ve got staying here? That God loves and values them?”
    “It’s one of the things I tell them.”
    “And they buy into the fantasy?”
    He didn’t answer. Only looked at her. And it seemed as if he could see straight into her heart.
    She hated it. She didn’t want anyone to see inside her. She didn’t want anyone to know the real Karen Jo Butler.
    This cowboy had said she had great worth to God. But if he saw inside her, he would surely see he was wrong.
    Monday, October 19, 1936
    Godaften, Diary,
    That means “Good evening, Diary” in Danish. It isn’t so much, but Mikkel Pastor Christiansen seems pleased with the few words I have learned and says I am making progress.
    He seemed even more pleased with the cake Sophia baked for him.
    Sometimes I have hope. Other