A Cowboy's Redemption by Jeannie Watt

Author:Jeannie Watt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2009-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

KIRA TRAVELED DOWN the road at the bottom of the hill toward her roots—roots she’d barely been aware of until she’d taken up her father’s offer and joined the family company three years ago. Until then, she’d known little about her paternal family. She’d wanted to know more, but hadn’t investigated the matter because she knew her mother was insecure about it.

Kira hadn’t realized until she was well into her teens that for most of her childhood her mom had been afraid Matthew would take her away. He had the resources to give Kira much more than her mother ever could, plus he was married, and could offer a two-parent home. Once she’d discovered that, Kira had stopped asking questions about him. And the few times she’d visited her father, she’d felt too shy to ask the questions.

Again the thunderheads were rolling in, only now, after the fire, Kira felt a twinge of trepidation. This storm appeared to be wet, though. The far horizon was solid gray, adding a melancholy ambience to her first visit to the place where her grandfather and father had been born.

There was a sorry wire gate across the road, and Kira got out to open it. She drove through, then closed it again, having learned her lesson from Jason. If a gate was shut, it was supposed to stay shut. Even if there wasn’t a cow in sight.

She drove around a corner, over a small hill, and then slowly rolled to a stop when the dilapidated dwelling came into view.

Her grandfather’s childhood home was small. Dorrie had said the current owners had bought the property only to use the land for their cattle, and now Kira could see why. The homestead appeared unsalvageable.

Next to what couldn’t have been more than a three-or four-room house was a small wooden garage with a collapsed roof. In back of that, an outhouse. What must have once been a decent-size barn lay in a heap to the east, and the remnants of corrals poked up out of the waist-high weeds and grass.

How long had the place been abandoned? Had anyone lived there after her father’s family had sold, before everything had fallen down?

She tried for a moment to imagine her grandfather and father there, on the property, but couldn’t do it. The urbane men she knew seemed to have no connection with this land. Yet her grandfather now missed it.

Kira drove up to what was left of a picket fence around the front yard and got out. She stood still for a few minutes, drinking in the atmosphere.

She felt…nothing. No genetic memory here. Just an appreciation for the wild beauty of a lonely place.

Neglected and unkempt as it was, there was a peacefulness here, as if it were sleeping, waiting to be shaken awake. Would someone do that someday? Bring it back to life? Rebuild on the site? Or would everything slowly rot into the ground?

Kira felt no desire to go inside the sad little house where her

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.