Read Online A Promise Kept by Robin Lee Hatcher - Free Book Online Page A

a virgin, but she understood the essentials when it came to conception.
    “Be happy for me, Emma.”
    “Of course I’m happy. I’m going to be an aunt.” But I don’t want to be an old maid aunt .
    “You mustn’t tell anyone. I haven’t told John yet, but I couldn’t wait to tell you.”
    Emma had never allowed herself to envy her younger sister before, but she had to fight both envy and resentment now. Couldn’t something good happen to her sometimes? Couldn’t a man learn to love and adore her ? Couldn’t Alexander learn to love her? Would she ever have the joy of announcing that she was expecting a baby?
    “Don’t even tell Mother,” Liza added. “Promise me.”
    “I promise. I won’t say a word to anyone.”
    “Good.” Her sister rose to her feet. “Now I must go home. I’ve planned a very special meal for tonight, and I want to make sure all is in readiness.”
    Before Liza could move away, Emma stood and drew her into a tight hug. “Thank you for telling me. I’m happy for you and John. Very happy.”
    “I knew you would be.” Liza kissed Emma’s cheek. “Tell Mother I couldn’t stay but I will come for a nice long visit tomorrow. Infact, tell her John and I are coming for supper. She might guess what that means, but tell her anyway.” Liza said her farewell over her shoulder as she hurried out of the parlor.
    Emma was happy for her sister. Truly, she was. Liza couldn’t help that good things came her way all the time any more than she could help being beautiful.
    But still . . .

Allison
    The first snow flurries of the season were falling on that Saturday in October when Allison discovered the leather-bound journals in the bottom of the second trunk in the attic. She’d thought the photographs—some of which she’d framed, others she’d placed in scrapbooks, many she was still trying to organize—would be what she treasured most. But these journals were like pure gold to her. How wonderful that her gifted, storytelling aunt had written down events from her life.
    After looking through them Allison realized her great-aunt had kept journals faithfully from the time she was a girl of fifteen until the year she entered the care center at the age of ninety-seven. There were over forty of them, unlined pages filled with Aunt Emma’s particular hand. The dates covered inside had been written on the blank fly page in the front of each journal, making it easy to stack them in order. That was how Allison planned to read them. Like a series of wonderful novels.
    As she withdrew the last of the journals from the trunk, she thought of the mystery man in her aunt’s photographs. It was tempting to look ahead in the journals to discover his identity, but she resisted the urge. She wanted to savor the story of Emma Carter’s life. But she did wonder why her aunt hadn’t told her about the journals. She must have known Allison would find them eventually.
    Glancing up from the leather book in her hand, she saw that the snow was falling harder now. She got up from the floor and walked to the window. A white carpet covered the ground. Already a couple of inches deep, with no signs of it stopping soon.
    Time to fire up the treadmill. Her long walks with Gizmo would be less frequent in the coming months. Allison wasn’t a fan of the cold or the snow, and her small dog wasn’t crazy about the white stuff either. She could only hope the two of them wouldn’t get cabin fever, like Marsha Leonard had warned, before spring arrived in earnest.
    At least I have plenty to read while I wait for the spring thaw .
    Allison returned to the stacks of journals next to the trunks and picked up an armful of them, starting with the oldest ones. Then she carried the books down to her bedroom on the first floor. There, she placed them on a bookcase on the right side of her bed.
    What she wanted to do was grab the first one, go lie on the sofa with a blanket over her lap, and read to her heart’s content. But this