Rainbow Hammock by Becky Lee Weyrich

Author:Becky Lee Weyrich
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION/Romance/General
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: 2014-05-22T04:00:00+00:00

Below, in the parlor, Brandon had spent a night filled with horrors, not the least of which was his guilt. He had done this to Saralyn! No one else could be blamed.

Elizabeth divided her time between trying to soothe her son and lending any assistance she could upstairs.

Around midnight, Ames Patrick decided that some of his best whiskey would be in order under the circumstances. Brandon took one glass and nursed it for over an hour, while Jeremy and Henri returned to the decanter time and time again.

“I remember the night you were born, Brandon,” Ames expounded. “Damned if I didn’t think you’d kill your poor mother! Felt like slittin’ my own throat for what I’d done to her. But I’ve found out since that all her difficulty was only a sign that she was a true lady. And next time will be easier for your Saralyn. Right, Tassie?”

Maum Tassie had entered the room to deliver a silver tray of cold sliced beef and fresh-baked bread. She beamed a broad smile at her master, her own daughter’s father.

“Sure will be that, Massa Ames. But then I never had no troubles a-tall with my babies.”

Ames’s voice took on a tone of nostalgia. “You sure were some looker back in the old days, Tassie. Why, I remember you had the slimmest waist and the roundest hips of any gal on the place.”

“Why, I thank you, Massa Ames,” she giggled.

“Passed those looks right along to Rainbow, too. Lordy! How many years ago was that, Tassie?”

“Why, I wam’t no more than a girl-child then. Picked up my Rainbow the first try. I swan, I don’t know where the years go to!” She left the room shaking her head and chuckling.

“Papa!” Amalee replied reprovingly. “You’re lucky Mama wasn’t in here, and you talking so familiar with Maum Tassie!”

“Keep quiet, Amalee!” Henri cautioned in a voice thick with liquor. “This is none of your affair!”

“No,” she answered sarcastically. “It’s only one in Papa’s long and colorful string!”

Ames sat sipping his good whiskey, letting his mind travel old familiar trails. He heard none of the exchange between his daughter and son-in-law. Brandon and Jeremy had left the room, and missed the brewing storm as well.

“Is that all you have on you, Amalee, a mouth?” Henri glared at his wife. “If you’ve got anything else, I haven’t seen it since our wedding night. You lied to me! That ought to be you up there giving your papa his first grandson. You shamed me, Amalee. You’re not pregnant!”

“Henri!” Amalee replied, shocked at his words. “How dare you talk to me that way?”

He stood up, looming over her. “I dare because I’m your husband, whether you like it or not. And now, we’re going to say goodnight. We’re going up to our bed and make an honest woman of you!”

He took her arm less than gently, but she pulled away. “Papa,” she pleaded, “don’t you want me to stay here with you?”

“What?” he asked absently. “Oh, no, dear. You and Henri go along.

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