Linda Ford by Dreams Of Hannah Williams

Author:Dreams Of Hannah Williams
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Six

Hannah shook the sand from her wet skirts, wishing she could as easily shake the confusion from her brain.

Why had Jake joined them? It didn’t seem as if he’d come to check on her, which she would have understood. Instead, he seemed intent on having a good time.

She’d never heard such heartfelt laughter as Jake produced sitting in the middle of the river with two small boys crawling on him. It was a long laugh in the right direction and made her feel happy inside. Just remembering it brought a smile.

But thinking how he’d looked at her caused her smile to slide into something softer, less amused, more—she shook her skirts harder. More what? What did she think she saw in Jake’s eyes? What did she want to see? She didn’t know, but she felt achy inside. Like tears had built up somewhere behind her heart. She sensed if they escaped they would flood her insides. Her skin couldn’t contain all she longed for.

She missed her dad. She missed her mom. She missed something she’d never had. She didn’t even know what to call it.

She swung her wet hair over her shoulder. Time to stop being silly. No need to let a little jocularity affect her normal good sense. She longed for nothing more. She had her independence and a hotel full of opportunities.

She turned back to the little boys piling up rocks. “It will take a lot of work to build a mountain. You’re going to need some help.”

She searched along the shore, found a rock, marched over to the “mountain” the boys were building, and added to it.

As she and Luke gathered rocks, Jake stood looking at the river. She paused to study him. Did he have troubling thoughts similar to hers? She snorted softly. He was probably thinking about his cows.

Sammy bounced up to Jake. “Uncle Jake, give me a piggyback ride.”

Hannah waited to see Jake’s response. Part of her saw him as the big, unapproachable, in-charge boss. She still had a hard time accepting his warmth toward his family. Warmth and caring and—something more. She searched for the right word. Responsibility. That was it. He wore his responsibility like a shirt covering every other emotion. Maybe it explained his attitude toward her. Her independence simply did not fit into his frame of mind.

He scooped up Sammy and hung the boy around his neck then raced up and down the shore, bouncing the boy until he screamed with laughter.

Hannah smiled. She liked this relaxed Jake much better than the one who seemed to think he had to be in charge of everyone in his sphere. But which one was the real Jake?

They had each dried to a wrinkled mat when Jake glanced at the sky. “It’s time we got back.”

“Aww,” Sammy and Luke yelled together. They stood in front of their stone “mountain,” now as high as Sammy’s waist.

“Uncle Jake, what we going to do with our rocks?” Luke demanded.

“I wanna take them home,” Sammy screamed.

“You can’t haul rocks home,” Jake protested.

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