Read Online From Here to There by Rain Trueax - Free Book Online Page B

end of fighting it. If she’d wanted it burned, she’d have done it.”
    “Then you want it?” She went back to the cupboard and brought it to him.
    He considered a moment. “Let me see if she has anything in it to tell us what to do.” He opened it to the first page and then grinned. “It’s for you,” he said, handing it to her.
    Helene opened it to that first page and saw the inscription. “For Helene if she ever comes to Montana to live.” Helene wasn’t sure if she was here forever but she guessed this was the time her aunt had in mind for her.
    “I’ll read it later,” she said putting it down. So many relationships had ended up being a disappointment to her. Was this to be another one with words from beyond the grave? She’d think about it before she went further with reading.
     "It's good having you here, girl,” Uncle Amos said probably to distract her from the journal. “Since Emile married Nancy and took over her folks’ place, I been bouncing off these walls, feeling lost. Never knew what was missing until you got here."
     "And the missing link was food," she teased.
     He shook his head. "More than that. It's the sort of thing a woman brings to a house. Like them daisies you put on the table. Nancy brings me baked goodies, but it ain't the same as having a woman bake them right in the house. The smell of that... well, it makes a man want to come home."
     Helene felt pleasure at his compliments. "I was thinking of driving down to Nancy's with one of the loaves of bread I baked this morning. Do you have anything you especially want me to do before I go?"
     "Nah. Curly and me figured we'd go check that upper leased range for strays. The count's low, so we must have a few steers still up in the brush."
     "Actually," Helene said wistfully, "that sounds like more fun that going to see Nancy, but I'm afraid if I don't go now, I won't make it until after the baby's born, and I do have a little gift I want her to have."
     "There'll be plenty of time for helping with the cattle--if you plan to stay."
     "I will stay at least through the winter that is if you will have me. I don’t have anyplace else I want to be. Sure not back to Concord."
     "I'll be begging you to stay on for as long as I have this place. You're bringing life into this lonely house, making it a home with your bustling around, cleaning, making me take off my boots when I get inside before stomping around in them. Reminding me not to feed Hobo table scraps." At the sound of his name, the big dog lifted his head, decided nothing serious was afoot, and laid it back on his paws.
     Helene sighed. "It's a heaven sent for me. I've always felt more like I belonged here than Concord and now with my folks squabbling over property division, I'm grateful you're letting me impose on your hospitality."
     "You're no imposition," her uncle corrected.
     "I know what you've said, but I've been eating like a horse since I've gotten here."
     "And working like a trooper."
     She grinned more broadly. "Well, whether you want me to help out financially or not, I want to. Actually, I thought maybe I could get at least a part-time job in Livingston."
     "It ain't necessary," he repeated stubbornly.
     "Maybe not for you, but it is for me. I thought that little weekly paper might have a place for a beginning journalist. I don't imagine the pay would be much, but it would be a start." She grinned. "Not so fancy as my last job, but definitely something I think I could earn on my own."
     He shook his head. "The workings of a woman's mind are beyond me, but you do what pleases you. Just remember with winter, sometimes we get snowed in up here. A week or two can go by before the snowplow can make it our way or our four-wheel drive truck can make it out."
     "That's the advantage of a part-time job. Also I could email or fax my stuff to them when need be. I don’t know what kind of arrangements they have for that; but if I can interest them in giving me a