Texas Lightning by Caroline Clemmons

Author:Caroline Clemmons [Clemmons, Caroline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-03-16T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Sunlight from the attic’s north window sent dust motes dancing. Mustiness teased her nostrils. Scanning the large space, she spotted a familiar shape shrouded like a ghost, or perhaps a crypt.

Desperation twisted her insides. This entire attic had become like a tomb. True she’d survived, but how many times must she face these cast-off reminders of her former life?

Each visit to this space reminded her she didn’t belong anywhere. Everyone she’d known was gone. Everything she valued had either disappeared or now legally belonged to someone else.

She fought despair and conquered the need to throw herself onto a piece of furniture and bawl. No, she wouldn’t—couldn’t—allow herself to give in. With renewed purpose, Penny strode to her desk and removed the dust cover.

Smooth golden oak looked as if she’d just stepped away moments ago. She pulled out the chair, disappointed the brown leather upholstery had crackled and splits marred the seat. No matter, it was her furniture and she loved it. She sat at the familiar desk, feeling at home yet still strangely distanced.

Why hadn’t she thought to search before? Not that she expected to find anything she or her father had left after all this time. Who’d used the desk after she disappeared? She shuddered at the thought of Jim Belton, the mangy coyote, sitting in her chair at her desk.

Maybe Earl had sat here as she was now. Thoughts of Earl saddened her. She should have married him and insisted they live here. Earl would have given in to her request if they’d wed.

Would the rustlers have been so bold if she’d had a husband? Or, would Charlie and Jim have murdered anyone she married?

She closed her eyes and ran her fingers over the curtain fall top. Memories assaulted her, slicing into her heart. Her life had been good before her father died. She and Daddy had been happy here.

What future awaited her now? She exhaled a sigh filled with regret. No point worrying about what might have been. Best to deal with the here and now.

She opened her eyes and blinked away tears. Pushing away the loss of time, she struggled with the rolled top and succeeded in raising it without damaging the mechanism. She’d have to treat the grooves with a bar of soap, or perhaps in this time there were other solutions.

Time? Had it become her enemy?

A few days ago to her, this desk had been in the study—her study. The desk and most of the attic’s contents had been hers. Even though she claimed it, Jake was the legal owner. If she had not somehow passed through time, she’d be nothing more than one of the dust motes floating in the sun’s rays.

Sighing, she gazed at the writing surface and cache of drawers and pigeonholes. Tentatively she touched the place where she had set her inkwell. Wouldn’t she have loved one of the new ball point pens Sally had given her? Smiling at the thought, she opened the tiny drawer where she stored her pen nibs, nib holders, and pencils.

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