Front Porch Princess by Kathryn Springer

Author:Kathryn Springer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, pdf
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2006-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

chapter 19

I threw the pork chops in a roasting pan with some fresh sage and half a bottle of cooking wine that I’d found in the pantry, then spent the next hour straightening the house. Shifting pillows. Dusting. Stacking magazines next to the sofa. And all the while, the acid in my stomach was bubbling like a spring. I lined the boots up in the hallway. Tugged at a wrinkle in the drapes. Then I realized what I was doing.

I was preparing for a storm. Just like Sam has done a thousand times when he knows bad weather is on the way. Check the fences. Move equipment inside. Close windows. Tighten anything that’s loose. Protect anything that might rust. We’ve had some impressive thunderstorms in the county and over the years, even I’ve learned to guess their intent by the tint of color in the sky and the way the wind feels on my skin. But this storm wasn’t outside. This storm was coming in the shape of my eighteen-year-old daughter.

“What happens happens,” Sam would say when he came inside, stripping off his rain-soaked coat. “But at least I did my part.”

What was my part when it came to Bree? That’s what I wasn’t sure of. If she was simply suffering from cold feet, shouldn’t I make her stick with her plans? She’d find out after the first week that college wasn’t as bad as she’d imagined. As friendly and outgoing as Bree was, I knew she would love the opportunity to make new friends, get involved in clubs. She was a natural leader.

She loves the farm.

Sam’s words from dinner the night before came back to me. It seemed like a hundred years had passed since that conversation instead of twenty-four hours. No matter how much I wanted to support Bree, I didn’t think I could support a decision that would keep her on the farm.

Don’t ask me to, Lord. I can’t do it. You’ve given her so much…I know You don’t expect her to throw it all away.

The front door opened. Bree or Sam? I listened for the movements in the hallway. Bree’s were quick and light, Sam’s always slow and measured.

I sank onto the love seat in the living room.

“Mom?”

I exhaled softly but it didn’t help. There was still a brick sitting on my chest. “I’m in here.”

Bree stepped around the corner. Her shirt was spattered with something that looked like canned peas. I took one look at her face and knew something terrible had happened.

“What’s wrong?”

Bree walked across the room on legs as wobbly as a newborn colt’s and dropped down beside me. I didn’t even scold her about the fact that she hadn’t taken her boots off, or that whatever was all over her clothes was now smeared on the upholstery. Had she talked to Riley? Had he broken up with her because of me?

“One of the Cabotts’ horses had a twisted bowel.” Bree’s eyes filled with tears and her fists curled and pounded against the cushion.

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