Read Online Her Baby Dreams by Debra Clopton - Free Book Online Page B

delighted in traveling into the heart of Texas Hill Country seeking out talented people making unique items, the beaded denim jackets and hand-tooled leather belts that everyone loved, for example.
    â€œYou have a gift, Ashby. I never thought I’d be working in a place like this. Or that Max would be turning fourteen in such a wonderful environment as Mule Hollow.”
    Ashby hugged her. “The town is blessed to have you here. And I couldn’t do without you. Now go or you’ll be rushed.”
    â€œRight. See you there.”
    Ashby felt blessed herself as she watched Rose leave. There were never enough hours in the day to keep things fresh on her site and in the store. Rose helped immensely and enabled her to take a day off here and there.
    Such as tomorrow afternoon, when she would go help with the cleanup at Dan’s. Since the fire almost a week earlier, she hadn’t seen much of him. But she’d thought of him. Actually, it was more than that. She couldn’t stop thinking about him.
    She’d told herself over and over that nothing had changed about him. He’d gone into his home to save a picture of his mother. It didn’t alter the man as she knew him.
    At five o’clock, she closed up and headed down the sidewalk to her apartment house. The lovely Victorian with white siding and green turrets added so much to Mule Hollow’s ambience, sitting at the west end of Main Street. Ashby loved living there, though her neighbors had been changing on a regular basis lately. Of all the women who had originally rented apartments when she’d come, Ashby was now the only one who remained. The other single women had married and moved away. And the cycle began again with new occupants. The apartment across the hall from her had just become empty and she expected to see someone moving in any day.
    She was passing Sam’s Diner when she saw Adela, Norma Sue and Esther Mae sitting out front at the green picnic table. When they beckoned for her to join them, she detoured for a quick visit.
    â€œSit down and have a glass of lemonade with us,” Esther Mae said.
    Norma Sue patted the bright green bench beside her. Sinking onto it, Ashby accepted the glass Adela held out to her.
    â€œYou are coming out to Dan’s tomorrow to help with the cleanup, aren’t you?” Norma Sue asked.
    â€œYes. Rose is going to work the store for me.”
    â€œGood,” Esther Mae said. “It’s such a shame that he lost everything. Everything, that is, but his mamma’s picture. That boy does love his mamma. Ashby, you do know that boys who love their mothers make good husbands.”
    Ashby hoped that was true, but she didn’t know if that was a real statistic or an Esther Mae statistic. She realized, belatedly, that she should have kept on walking.
    â€œWe know you’re not so sure about that when it comes to our boy Dan. But he’s a good man,” Norma Sue said.
    She could admit that she had a newfound curiosity about him, but that didn’t change the fact that he was no match for her. “Have any of you ever cleaned up after a fire?” she asked, hoping to change the subject.
    Adela nodded. “Be certain not to wear anything you don’t want ruined. That soot just refuses to come out.”
    â€œYou know that boy hasn’t stopped working.” Norma Sue changed the topic midstream. “Lacy said he’s been carrying on like nothing happened. Made a trip somewhere the day before yesterday for a load of cattle. Poor boy hasn’t even got a bed to call his own, but he’s working as hard as ever. And to think, all because of a good-for-nothing lamp cord. All I can say is the good Lord works in mysterious ways.”
    Adela smiled, meeting Norma Sue’s sympathetic gaze. “Yes, He does, so don’t fret.”
    Ashby was a bit baffled by what they meant by the Lord working in mysterious ways where Dan’s fire was