Blackwood's Woman by Beverly Barton

Author:Beverly Barton [Barton, Beverly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-01-17T20:55:32+00:00

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Joanna had thought dinner would never end. She had forgotten what it felt like to watch her mother preside over a gathering, commanding all the attention, issuing orders and playing the Southern belle to the hilt. She only hoped that while she and Elena cleared the table and straightened the kitchen, her mother wouldn't say or do something unforgivable.

Joanna stacked plates in the dishwasher while Elena hand-washed the pots and pans.

"I think your mother enjoyed dinner." Elena placed a copper pot in the drainage rack. "She said she loved the spicy chicken and she raved about the homemade ice cream."

"No one could find fault with your cooking," Joanna said. "If anyone ruined your dinner party, I did. Or perhaps J.T. He didn't say ten words the whole time."

"He thinks your mother doesn't like him."

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10/31/2009 e thinks your mother doesn't like him."

Blackwood's Woman

"She doesn't know him, she just thinks she does." Joanna placed the dirty glasses in the top rack of the dishwasher. "But I'm beginning to think that I really don't know J.T., either. He acts like he's two different men. Every time we get a little closer to understanding each other, he withdraws and we wind up in an argument."

"J.T. is two different men," Elena said. "Maybe even three different men. One part of him is the man John Thomas Blackwood made him, while another part of him is Navajo, and then I think another third of him is the man he longs to be, a man at peace with the other two-thirds of himself."

"I suppose there's more than one person inside all of us, isn't there?" Joanna filled the detergent dispenser, closed the door and turned on the dishwasher. "There's still a part of me that's the proper young lady my mother raised me to be and part of me is the independent, confident woman I've become since moving to Trinidad. But there's also a dark, frightened part of me. That's the part Lenny Plott and Todd created nearly five years ago. No matter how hard I try, I can't completely let go of that fear and anger and distrust."

"I can only imagine what it must have been like for you, but you must know that even when Lenny Plott is arrested and put back in prison, you'll never be free from him until you can destroy that dark part of you he created."

Joanna dried her hands, then tossed the towel to Elena. "I thought I had destroyed most of it, until he escaped and forced me to face the past, to face the truth about myself. I have so much love to give the right man, but I can't trust enough to completely give my heart and my body to anyone."

Elena laid the towel on the countertop, put her arm around Joanna's waist and gave her a hug. "Let's join the others and see if your mother and J.T. have drawn swords yet."

Joanna laughed, but the sound was hollow. When they reached the end of the hallway, Joanna heard her mother's voice.

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