A Family for the Farmer by Laurel Blount

Author:Laurel Blount
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2016-11-11T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

The room instantly fell silent. The only sounds Abel could hear were the ticking of a clock and the happy shouts of the twins out in the front yard.

“I don’t believe it,” he said finally. He didn’t. He knew Emily Elliott, and he was convinced that she would never take anything that wasn’t legally hers. She wasn’t that kind of woman.

She couldn’t be.

“You might as well believe it, because it’s true.” Emily’s face was pale with those two bright red spots burning high on her cheeks like they always did when she was ruffled. “It’s not something I’m proud of, but I’m not going to lie about it.”

“You don’t owe us an explanation, Emily,” Pastor Stone said quietly. “You’re not in the wrong here. Whatever mistakes you made in your past, God’s forgiven you for them. Someone who calls herself a Christian has no business trying to hurt you with them.”

Emily sighed. “Lois Gordon doesn’t want me back in Pine Valley—even temporarily. I guess she’s doing her best to make sure I don’t stay any longer than I have to. Sorry, but we all know who’s behind this. Mrs. Gordon took a dislike to me when I dated her son, Trey, and it got worse after...after the twins.”

Pastor Stone didn’t bother to deny the accuracy of her guess. “Lois has been through a lot of tragedy these last few years. She never got over losing Trey in that accident. Unfortunately she’s the kind of person who’s the hardest for me to help, mainly because she doesn’t believe she needs any.” Jacob Stone sighed and ran a hand through his hair, standing it up on end. “She’s in pain, and hurting people are always the ones who hurt others.”

“Well, there’s some truth in what she’s telling people no matter what her motivation might be.” Emily met Abel’s eyes squarely. “Six years ago I was arrested in Atlanta for shoplifting. It wasn’t the first time I’d done it, either. It was just the first time I got caught.”

The twins’ yelling outside had shifted from playful to angry, and Abel gratefully took the escape route it offered him. “I’ll go see to the twins and let you two finish your talk,” he said and left before either of them could argue.

Phoebe and Paul were squabbling over the rules to their tag game. Abel listened for a few minutes, then helped them strike a bargain that seemed to work well enough. They ran back off to play, and Abel lowered himself onto the step and watched them, grateful for a few minutes alone.

He felt a little stunned and more than a little ashamed at the way he’d taken on the preacher and Jack Lifsey about Emily. He’d been so sure that she was innocent. There hadn’t been a shred of doubt in his mind.

It looked like he’d been wrong about her, and that spooked him a little. He’d never thought he was a man who’d make a fool over himself about a woman because he couldn’t see her clearly enough.

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