White River Dreams by Frances Devine

Author:Frances Devine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-08-19T00:00:00+00:00

Twelve

Darkness had fallen by the time Jack arrived at the farm. The run to St. Louis and back, with several side trips, had been full of problems. For the first time since he’d hired on as a boy on his first boat, Jack was glad to be on land. Maybe he was getting old. He chuckled. Pap still considered him a boy, not quite dry behind the ears.

He’d planned to go get the twins, but by the time he could make himself presentable and drive over to the Rayton farm, they’d probably be in bed. Better wait until morning.

After taking care of the horse and wagon, he started hauling water into the house to heat up for a bath.

He only hoped everything had gone well while he’d been gone. Had the twins behaved themselves? They could be a handful sometimes. But it was only orneriness. They were good kids who didn’t deserve the bad breaks life had handed them. He knew it was only fair to Tuck and Addy to continue looking for a family, but he’d sure miss them. If he were a married man, he wouldn’t think twice about adopting them.

A chill went through him. What if Miss Rayton had already found someone to take them? Would she have turned them over without talking to him first? He took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. She felt the same way he did about the girls. The look in her beautiful blue eyes when they rested on one of the twins was as tender as a mother’s glance.

Her face had invaded his thoughts as well as his dreams nearly every night since he’d been gone. Her eyes, which had often been stormy with anger in real life, were dancing with teasing laughter in his dreams. And her hair, which in reality was usually pulled back neatly in a bun, fell in a cascade of thick, shiny, black curls.

The beautiful but volatile Miss Rayton would most likely crack him over the head with a broom handle if she could see into his thoughts and laugh out loud when she did it. She more than likely had a dozen suitors at her door. Besides, what would she want with a river rat like him, even if he was the owner of a rusty old scow?

A pang of guilt shot through him for calling the Julia Dawn a scow. She was a fine steamboat and had not only made a fair living for him but had given him many a moment of joy on the river.

Well, what in thunder was the matter with him? You’d think his life on the Julia Dawn was over the way he was thinking. He wasn’t ready to turn in his sea legs yet.

With a derisive snort, he poured a final bucket of hot water into the old wooden washtub, relieved to see it wasn’t leaking. He really should purchase one of the new galvanized ones on his return trip.

❧

“Mr. Jack!” Tuck ran around the side of the house, yelling like an entire war party.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.