Read Online Tupelo Gold: Sweeter than Honey (Eclipse Heat Book 4) by Gem Sivad - Free Book Online Page B

to Wichita with me. With Sally’s pa having been located and him being interested in claiming her, I figure she’s better off here, ‘til I can straighten out this mess. Then, I’ll slap the Quince name on her as fast as the lawyer can write.” 
    “Offer him money if need be. I don’t care the cost. I’ll sell everything I own if that’s what it takes. Please, Hamilton, don’t let me lose my girl.” Comfort could barely breathe, her lungs paralyzed by fear and panic. 
    “This is exactly why I didn’t say anything to begin with. I knew you’d worry yourself sick over it. I’ve had the Quince attorney looking into it and I’m sure he’ll straighten things out.”
    He gathered her in his arms and held her close, running his hand up and down her spine as she clutched him.
    “Why would her father want her now when he made no move to claim her before?” Comfort could hear the desperation in her voice and Hamilton squeezed her roughly.
    “Same deal as me, I’m guessing. After the Blain woman tried to pass off Sally as mine and I didn’t fall for it, she moved onto the next mark.”  His words were bitter, denouncing the woman’s scheme.
    “So,” Comfort said slowly, “if you announce that Sally is yours, you could adopt her at the same time as Jacob?”
    “I’m afraid that ship’s already sailed, Comfort,” Hamilton said regretfully. “At the time, I was more interested in proving I’d not been unfaithful more than once, than paying attention to the two kids. I probably handled it wrong, but what’s done is done.”
    “Hamilton, I’m going to say this in the nicest possible way. That is a male attitude and it is a dumb attitude.
    Nothing is finished until we’re satisfied with the outcome. We are all going to Wichita and I am bringing both of our children home with us. Now where is that picture of your mother?  Her middle name was Sarah if I remember correctly.”
    Comfort straightened in his arms and stepped back. She had work to do.
    * * * * *
     
    Hamilton paced the hotel sitting room, waiting for Comfort and Sally to emerge from the bedroom. Jacob squirmed uncomfortably on the settee and pulled at the bow tie Comfort had insisted on. “This dad-blamed thing is choking me,” he complained. 
    “You’ll live. I did,” Hamilton straightened his own tie and continued to walk back and forth across the floor.
    “Well, what’s taking them so long?” Jacob had become accustomed to putting in a long day on the ranch, up with Hamilton and outside for work. The confinement in the Wichita hotel seemed to have him in a twist. 
    “You should have left us back on the Double-Q. Sally and me could’ve looked after Comfort just fine.” His declaration was mutinous.
    “It was your mama’s idea to come along. Son, I have to tell you right now. When a woman gets something in her head, you might as well say yes to her notion and get it over with.”
    “She didn’t get her way over stayin’ in Eclipse.” Jacob stopped squirming and looked at him slyly. 
    “That was different. That was something I wanted. When folks are married, they learn to bend to each other’s desires.” Hamilton grinned and stopped pacing.
    “Like Sally and me work things out.” Jacob nodded. “Ma was gone most of the time. It was a good thing Sally had me to raise her.” 
    “I’d known about you, you’d have been with me sooner. I hope you understand that.” Hamilton felt his heart squeeze as his six year old son painted a picture of a bleak childhood that had left him mature beyond his years.
    “And Sally?” Jacob asked, finally coming to the core of his concern.
    “Sally’s my daughter as you are my son. You’ll both have a home with Comfort and me until you’re old enough to strike out on your own.”
    “So you didn’t bring us to Wichita to give us back?” Jacob asked. “Not me or Sally?” 
    Hamilton was not given to demonstrative moments with his son. A handshake or a pat on the back was about