A Conard County Baby by Rachel Lee

Author:Rachel Lee [Lee, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-02-28T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Ice settled again over the Cashford household. Angie’s withdrawal tore at Hope, and the only positive omen she could find was that Angie still intended to have her friends over on Saturday.

Angie barely spoke at all, and once she told Hope, “You said you wouldn’t spy on me.”

“I didn’t!”

“You told my dad what I said.”

“I told your dad what I said and not one word more.” But Angie was already heading out the door for school.

Tension plagued Hope. She thought she’d left a lot of that behind when she’d fled her family, but she was rapidly discovering that it seemed to be part of any family. Things got bad sometimes. All she could do was hope this would pass.

She felt guilty, though. Really, she’d had no business saying anything to Angie about why her father had chosen to bring her here. It wasn’t her place, she didn’t really know if she was right when she spoke and it didn’t make her feel any better that Cash had confirmed it. Especially since he had done so by confronting his daughter, which might have made everything worse for the two of them.

The fact was, she acknowledged glumly, her charmed upbringing hadn’t done much to prepare her for the real world. Cash was right about one thing: she’d been raised to be ladylike at all times. Smiling, charming, courteous, always pleasant. No outbursts of any kind. Maybe she was little better than a plastic wind-up doll. Her first step out of the mold and she had brought back the Ice Age to this house.

God, she knew better than that. Never speak unless you had something nice to say. Never get angry. Never erupt. For heaven’s sake, never speak an unpleasant truth.

She nearly sickened herself, although it was hard to sort out whether she felt sicker about the kind of person she’d been raised to become, or about her less-than-ladylike behavior with Angie. Either way, she clearly wasn’t suited to helping any thirteen-year-old grow up. It seemed all she could do was create new problems because she didn’t know how to deal.

Friday afternoon, Angie called from school to say she would spend the night at Mary Lou’s. Cash was out in the pastures, beyond reach, so Hope took her courage in her hands and asked for Mary Lou’s mother’s number to make sure it was all okay.

“I don’t lie,” Angie said sharply.

“I didn’t say you did,” Hope answered, staying calm. “But I also remember a time when I made a plan with a friend and we neglected to tell anyone where we were going to be. The police were out looking for us when we didn’t come home. I didn’t know I’d done anything wrong until then.”

Angie sighed audibly, but gave her the phone number. Mary Lou’s mother was both warm and friendly on the phone and admitted she’d heard of the girls’ plan only a few minutes before and had instructed Angie to clear it. “I think they got all excited and forgot they needed to talk to anyone.

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