Sullivan's Promise by Joan Johnston

Author:Joan Johnston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2019-04-29T16:00:00+00:00

MATT STOOD AT the back door of a one-story, wood-frame ranch house in the Hill Country, west of Austin, with Nathan by his side. His heart was pounding a mile a minute. He licked at the sweat that had beaded above his lip as he waited, hatless in the hot Texas sun, for Jennie to answer his knock.

His son gripped his hand a little tighter, peered up at him, and asked, “Are you sure Jennie wants to see us? She wouldn’t let us come visit her in the hospital. Not once.”

Matt realized Nathan must have overheard one of his frustrated phone conversations with Pippa. Reluctantly, his daughter had kept him informed about her mother’s condition, including the fact that Jennie had been moved home by ambulance this past week.

He met his son’s worried gaze and said, “If Jennie wants us to leave, we will.” But he was hoping she wouldn’t be able to turn him away. Or at least, be unable to turn Nathan away. His own welcome was a great deal more in doubt.

Matt was willing to use every means at his disposal, including an adorable seven-year-old boy, to get his foot through Jennie’s door. Once he was inside, he would find a way to stay and convince her to forgive his past transgressions. They’d already been cheated out of half a lifetime of loving each other. He didn’t want to lose any more time together.

When his knock wasn’t answered, Nathan said, “There’s nobody home, Daddy.”

Except, he knew Jennie had to be there. According to her ranch foreman, she was alone in the house and hadn’t set foot outside since she’d arrived two days ago. The man knew Matt and Jennie had a daughter together and hadn’t questioned Matt’s concern about Jennie’s well-being.

Matt turned the knob, and the kitchen door opened. Despite the West’s vaunted “range hospitality,” which offered respite and a cup of coffee to any stranger who showed up at the door, he was surprised to find it unlocked. Jennie was a public figure—she’d held her late husband’s Senate seat until she’d given it up for health reasons—and sometimes crazy people did crazy things. He stepped inside, surprised at how hot and stuffy the house felt. He called out, “Jennie?”

He felt a chill of alarm when his call wasn’t answered. It was eleven in the morning. She should be awake, and two weeks post-surgery, she should be up and around.

“Jennie?” he called again.

“I told you, Daddy. She’s not home.”

Matt didn’t answer his son, simply headed through the kitchen to the living room, which was dusty and smelled stale, and then down the central hallway, checking each open doorway, looking for Jennie. He found her in the last room at the end.

Her bedroom was dark, the curtains closed. It smelled like a sickroom. Jennie was huddled under the covers with only her head showing. Covers? In this stifling house?

He turned to Nathan, who’d trotted down the hall behind him, and said, “Go back to the kitchen, and get Jennie a glass of water.

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