Colorado Heart (9781101612026) by Holby Cindy

Author:Holby, Cindy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin USA
Published: 2012-10-07T04:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

Cassie stared at her mother. She’d been begging her to speak for two years and she finally did, as easy as you please, as soon as she laid eyes on Jake Reece. She was looking up at him now, with a sweet smile on her face.

“Who is Frank?” Jake asked.

“My father,” Cassie replied. The smile disappeared off her mother’s face and the vacant look came back. Her moment of lucidity was gone.

“Do I look like him?” Jake asked. “Is that why she’s confused?”

“No, you don’t look anything like him. His hair was the same color as mine and he’d lost most of it by the time he was your age.”

“Sounds like Sam,” Jake said. He held out his hand and Cassie took it as she climbed wearily to her feet.

“Manuel and Rosa?” she asked. “Should we send for a doctor?”

“Angel’s End doesn’t have a doctor,” Jake said. “Rosa was stirring. I don’t know how bad Manuel is. They beat on him but I’m pretty sure he’ll survive.”

Cassie went to the kitchen, found a large bowl and sat it in the sink. Jake joined her and pumped water while Cassie searched the hutch for towels and bandages.

“It was Watkins.” The huge bundle of fear that had consumed her turned into anger. “And I know you’re going to say there is no way to prove it.”

“Manuel said he didn’t see anything.”

“And the rain washed all the tracks away.” The words were bitter in her mouth. It was like she was living the nightmare of the rape all over again. There were no witnesses except for her mother, who could no longer speak after her stroke. All the tracks were washed away in a sudden rainstorm. It was her word against Paul Stacy’s. And Paul Stacy could afford to hire the best lawyer around to defend him. The same lawyer that she had planned to study under.

It was another case of life isn’t fair and Cassie was tired of being on the receiving end of it. She slammed the hutch door shut and tried the next one. It didn’t have what she was looking for. She couldn’t even remember what it was she needed. She slammed it shut too, and in frustration she swung her arm across the counter and sent Rosa’s basket full of yarn and knitting flying. The knitting needles clattered onto the wood floor and rolled in every direction and her mother didn’t even notice the noise. Cassie wanted, no, she needed to hit something. She clenched her hands into fists and swung out at the air as frustrated tears blinded her.

Strong arms grabbed her from behind and she shrieked in fear. It was just like before, when Paul Stacy had grabbed her, after the trial. Only he’d used her long braid to capture her, and pulled her to him like a fish on a line. That was why she cut it off. So it couldn’t be used against her.

Cassie fought against the arms, but he was too big and too strong, just like before.

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