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

was Saturday, and she needed to do some housework before she got lazy. Starting with mopping the kitchen floor. It amazed her how one woman and a small dog could mess up a house so quickly.
    Disorder used to bother Allison a lot. She supposed it was another control issue. Certainly she’d blamed Tony for any disorder that came into their lives. What was it the Bible said? A contentious woman was like a steady drip of water on a rainy day. Something like that. If Allison was brutally honest with herself, she would admit she’d been that contentious woman plenty of times throughout her marriage.
    Okay, she would admit it. She hadn’t been the perfect, loving, giving, charitable, praying wife she should have been. Butwho could have been such a paragon of virtue, married to Tony Kavanagh?
    Is that a speck in your eye, Allison, or is it a log?
    The thought made her angry. She grabbed the broom from the utility closet and attacked the kitchen floor with a vengeance.

Emma
    1927
    Emma hadn’t seen Alexander in over five months. Not since before Thanksgiving. There had been times when she’d thought she might die from missing him. Only she hadn’t died. She’d gone on living . . . and hurting.
    Thus, when she opened the front door one evening in April, she was more than a little surprised to see him standing there.
    “Hi, Em. How you been?”
    “Fine.” A lie if ever there was one.
    “Can we talk?” With a tip of his head he indicated she should come outside. “Out here. In private.”
    She nodded and stepped through the open doorway, closing the door behind her.
    “How’s the family?” he asked as he followed her toward the porch swing.
    “Everyone’s fine.”
    “I heard your sister had a baby.”
    Liza. Of course. He wanted to know about Liza. “Yes. A little boy. They named him John Jr.” She sat on the swing and gave a little push with her foot, setting it in motion.
    Alexander leaned his behind against the porch railing. “She still in love with her husband?”
    “What kind of question is that? Of course she is.”
    He shrugged. “Sometimes people change their minds. Sometimes folks get divorced.”
    “Not people in the Carter family.” Emma stopped the swing and sat straighter. “Mother would expire from the very thought of it. Liza would never divorce John even if she didn’t love him. But she does love him, so it doesn’t matter.”
    “Yeah. I guess not.”
    Emma looked away from him and stared out at the quiet street that ran in front of her home. Many of the trees were green with new leaves. Others were covered in buds, saying they weren’t far behind. Tulips and crocuses were in bloom near the porch steps.
    “Em?”
    “Hmm.”
    “Why don’t we get married?”
    Her eyes widened. “What?”
    “I asked you to marry me.”
    But you don’t love me .
    “Why shouldn’t we get married? We’ve known each other for years. We get along good. You don’t have a fella and I don’t have any special girl. No point us going on alone, you stuck here with your parents. I’ve got a bit of money put away. Enough for a nice honeymoon. We could go off somewhere and have fun. Forget Boise for a while.”
    He meant forget Liza . Emma knew it as surely as she knew her own name. But if they were married, maybe he would forget Liza eventually. Maybe Emma could make him forget her sister once and for all. Maybe she could teach him to love her.
    “When?” she asked softly.
    “When what?”
    “When would you want to get married?”
    He grinned as he pushed off the railing. “As soon as possible. We could elope tomorrow if you want.”
    “No.” She shook her head. “I don’t want to elope. I’d like to have a wedding.”
    Alexander frowned. “No big production.”
    Of course. He was remembering Liza’s wedding.
    She answered, “No, nothing fancy. A quiet ceremony, here at home. Early June, perhaps.”
    Alexander came to the swing and sat beside her. “A few more weeks won’t matter much. I can