Great Southland Gold by Mary Hawkins

Author:Mary Hawkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-08-16T00:00:00+00:00

Eight

Tim woke slowly from a deep and dreamless sleep. Early morning sunlight was escaping into the room through the small space between the drawn curtains. He glanced swiftly around. No slight figure was curled into the comfortable armchair near the window.

Disappointment touched him. Only then did he realize how many times in his few conscious moments when his fever had been raging and more recently since he had hit his head he had been comforted by the small, red-haired woman’s mere presence as well as by her capable hands.

His lips curled in a smile as he thought about her. Patricia. The most beautiful woman he had ever met, with her sun-kissed curls, her sparkling eyes. Who had made him angrier than he had ever been before with a woman. Who made him laugh with her wry sense of humor. Who made him stop and think about his relationship with Jesus Christ again. Who made him willing to think and even talk so freely about faith, about precious memories of his mother, his father. And there was still so much to tell her about his father, his last few puzzling words.

But Kate had tended to him since virtually chasing Patricia from the room. When he had last been awake sometime the previous evening, she had refused to allow him to see anyone or even talk, especially about Patricia or Andy. She had just fed him more soup, murmuring soothingly that all was well now that they were home. Before he could protest, she had quietly left the room, and as the pain in his head eased, sheer exhaustion had made him fall asleep.

Patricia. No doubt she was exhausted from looking after him day and night. He should be glad that she could rest and let Kate and Adam assume the work she had been doing. But he missed her.

Then he remembered the harsh words from Adam in this room. He frowned. That would have upset Patricia and no doubt roused Andy’s quick temper.

Even though Adam and Kate were home, he wasn’t so sure all was well. Adam had been furious, furious with Patricia and that gruff uncle of hers who had yet cared for Tim as gently as a father.

Why had Adam been so angry?

Mrs. Wadding. No doubt she had filled Kate’s and Adam’s ears with her spite. And hadn’t someone mentioned Jackie?

A sense of urgency touched Tim.

He sat forward and moved his head cautiously. To his immense relief, his body’s protest against the motion lasted briefly, encouraging him to swing his legs out of bed. The effort that simple action took surprised him. Perhaps he shouldn’t attempt to walk unaided after all.

A small jug of water rested on the small table next to him. Eagerly he reached to remove the dainty throwover and pour himself a drink, but his hand was surprisingly shaky and he only succeeded in knocking over the jug.

Tim gave a loud, exasperated exclamation. As he grabbed at a small towel and tried to mop up the water spreading rapidly over the bedclothes, someone entered the room.

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.