Read Online Coming Home to Wyoming (Peaceful Valley Series Book 1) by April Hill - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: April Hill
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What I do know is that you’ll have a chance at a good life here with Martha and Abner—a clean house to live in, a warm bed, plenty to eat and decent clothes on your back—everything you’ve missed out on all these years. They’ve promised to see to it that you get more schooling, so you can make something of yourself when you’re old enough to be on your own. That’s never easy for a woman out here, and you’re getting a late start. You’re smart, though, and you’ll do just fine. With an education, you can be a lot more than a farmer’s wife.” He grinned. “And if you study hard, and learn some manners, you just might end up living up on Nob Hill after all.”
But when he’d finished painting this rosy picture of her future, Miss O’Malley was still scowling—and silent.
“All right then,” he demanded irritably, “maybe it would be better if I took you back to the orphanage. At least you’d have a roof over your head, and—” He stopped without finishing when she gasped.
“That’s just about the meanest thing a person ever said to me,” she cried. “I know you never liked me much, but you ain’t never been just plain mean like that.”
Griff groaned. “I’m not trying to hurt you. I just want you to be safe, and—”
“ Safe !” she shouted. “You know damned well why I can’t go back to that place, and I figure you knew it all along—why I run off from that low-down stinkin’ skunk who calls hisself a preacher. I ain’t never goin’ back there, and I swear to God I’ll fill my pockets with rocks and jump in the river if you or anybody else tries to make me! The bastard tried to get my drawers off and stick his thing in me, like he done with ever’ other girl in the place old enough to have tits. And you knew it all along!”
Griff closed his eyes and heaved a deep sigh. “I didn’t know—not for sure, but yes, I suspected something like that.”
“Well, you suspected right, mister, and now you wanna take me back ?”
“No, I don’t, and I’m sorry I said what I did. I didn’t mean it. I was just trying to—”
She gave a small, bitter laugh. “Tryin’ to get what you wanted outta me, like ever damned fool man I ever met. And here I was, thinkin’ you was different.”
As badly as he felt about everything that had happened to her, Griff’s frustration at her refusal to accept help was pushing his patience to the breaking point. And being grouped together with the “low-down stinkin’ skunk of a preacher” was the last straw.
“I wish to hell you’d quit thinking that every man you meet is out to hurt you,” he advised, raising his voice, “and that it’s just you against the whole damned world. If you don’t put whatever happened at that hellhole behind you, and start learning to trust people, you’re going to throw away the rest of your life, and end up being a lonely, bitter old woman. And if you let that happen, that miserable excuse for a human being preacher wins, and you lose.”
“That’s a hell of a lot of talk,” she scoffed, “for some fool who don’t know what he’s talkin’ about, and who ain’t even a woman, at that.”
Griff threw up his hands. “Fine then. I’ll go in and tell Martha that you’ve changed your mind. There’s a railway spur around twenty miles from here. I’ll put twenty-five bucks in your hand and put you on a train going east, west, north, south— wherever the hell you want to try your luck. Now, go in and pack. Martha can give you a few things you need to get by until you get to Nob Hill.”
He started back to the house, then turned around again.
“And keep your hands off my horse.”
Martha and Abner, who had been listening to the argument from an open window, met him in the doorway.
“I’ve tried reasoning with her, but she says she won’t stay, and that I can’t make her, and she’s right,” Griff explained. “I’ve told her I’ll take her as far as Powell Junction and put her on the
But when he’d finished painting this rosy picture of her future, Miss O’Malley was still scowling—and silent.
“All right then,” he demanded irritably, “maybe it would be better if I took you back to the orphanage. At least you’d have a roof over your head, and—” He stopped without finishing when she gasped.
“That’s just about the meanest thing a person ever said to me,” she cried. “I know you never liked me much, but you ain’t never been just plain mean like that.”
Griff groaned. “I’m not trying to hurt you. I just want you to be safe, and—”
“ Safe !” she shouted. “You know damned well why I can’t go back to that place, and I figure you knew it all along—why I run off from that low-down stinkin’ skunk who calls hisself a preacher. I ain’t never goin’ back there, and I swear to God I’ll fill my pockets with rocks and jump in the river if you or anybody else tries to make me! The bastard tried to get my drawers off and stick his thing in me, like he done with ever’ other girl in the place old enough to have tits. And you knew it all along!”
Griff closed his eyes and heaved a deep sigh. “I didn’t know—not for sure, but yes, I suspected something like that.”
“Well, you suspected right, mister, and now you wanna take me back ?”
“No, I don’t, and I’m sorry I said what I did. I didn’t mean it. I was just trying to—”
She gave a small, bitter laugh. “Tryin’ to get what you wanted outta me, like ever damned fool man I ever met. And here I was, thinkin’ you was different.”
As badly as he felt about everything that had happened to her, Griff’s frustration at her refusal to accept help was pushing his patience to the breaking point. And being grouped together with the “low-down stinkin’ skunk of a preacher” was the last straw.
“I wish to hell you’d quit thinking that every man you meet is out to hurt you,” he advised, raising his voice, “and that it’s just you against the whole damned world. If you don’t put whatever happened at that hellhole behind you, and start learning to trust people, you’re going to throw away the rest of your life, and end up being a lonely, bitter old woman. And if you let that happen, that miserable excuse for a human being preacher wins, and you lose.”
“That’s a hell of a lot of talk,” she scoffed, “for some fool who don’t know what he’s talkin’ about, and who ain’t even a woman, at that.”
Griff threw up his hands. “Fine then. I’ll go in and tell Martha that you’ve changed your mind. There’s a railway spur around twenty miles from here. I’ll put twenty-five bucks in your hand and put you on a train going east, west, north, south— wherever the hell you want to try your luck. Now, go in and pack. Martha can give you a few things you need to get by until you get to Nob Hill.”
He started back to the house, then turned around again.
“And keep your hands off my horse.”
Martha and Abner, who had been listening to the argument from an open window, met him in the doorway.
“I’ve tried reasoning with her, but she says she won’t stay, and that I can’t make her, and she’s right,” Griff explained. “I’ve told her I’ll take her as far as Powell Junction and put her on the
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