Read Online Homecoming by Janet Wellington - Free Book Online

about his father—that he was thought of as the town drunk, how he made men’s lives miserable as the foreman of the small factory outside of town. Not much else. Jake had managed to be pretty tight-lipped about his family history. No one knew details. All she’d really known was that he lived with his father and how much he’d hated him. He’d kept Tillie a secret too, and she couldn’t help but wonder what else.
    Cory settled on her stool and leaned her shoulder against the wall to wait, knowing Jake would take a few minutes to gather his thoughts to prevent them from coming out in a jumble of disconnected sentences.
    “You really want to hear this?” he asked.
    “Yes, I do.”
    He took a deep breath and began. “My mom and I left Faythe when I was five,” he began. “She divorced my old man and said she wanted to make a new start away from Faythe. Tillie encouraged her to make a clean break and even helped her with the divorce. My old man never forgave Tillie for that. We lived in Milwaukee for a while.” He continued to shuffle through the photos as he talked, avoiding eye contact with her.
    “How did she manage?”
    “She worked graveyard shift somewhere—I don’t remember where. I have a vague memory of being home alone at night with the door locked five different ways and the landlady’s phone number taped to the telephone.”
    “She must have cared enough about you to leave him.”
    “She’d married my old man right out of high school, against her father’s wishes and Tillie’s. Her own mother was dead by then, and her dad had had an accident at the plant. He never recovered fully and died of pneumonia complications a year after she married.”
    “You’re an only child, right?”
    “Tillie told me once that my mom had had a few miscarriages before I came along. And I overheard my mom telling someone that when she was pregnant with me, my old man had given her a hard time because she stayed in bed pretty much during the whole pregnancy.”
    “She really wanted you.”
    “I never doubted that for a minute; she was a good mother.”
    “But then you moved back to Faythe?”
    “She got sick in Milwaukee. I remember she seemed so pale and thin; she got weaker and weaker, then finally went to the doctor. She died of ovarian cancer when I was ten. And I got sent back to Faythe to live with my old man. By then I didn’t even know him. It was like moving in with a stranger. I guess I looked like her, blond at least, so I figured he saw her when he looked at me and that was part of why he hated me.”
    Cory sucked in a quick breath. No wonder he hadn’t wanted to talk about his past. She forced her eyes open wide hoping to dry out the tears that had developed while he’d been talking, knowing she needed to keep her cool with Jake or he’d stop altogether. “What about your dad now?”
    “The lady at The Java Hut told me he’s got Alzheimer’s and he’s at a board and care home here in town.”
    “You going to see him?”
    His brows pulled together in an angry frown and he visibly stiffened. “He disowned me thirteen years ago. Just because I came back for Tillie doesn’t mean I need to see him.”
    Cory nodded, letting him simmer down for a few moments before she continued. “So, how did Tillie get back in the picture when you were young?”
    Jake’s face brightened and a devilish look came into his eyes. “The day after school let out that first year, she showed up at the door and said she wanted to speak to my old man. She sort of looked familiar, but I didn’t really remember her from when I was younger or from my mom’s funeral service. She and my old man had a talk in the kitchen while I waited outside on the porch. Then she came out, took me by the hand, and said I’d be staying with her for the summer.”
    “She rescued you.”
    “Oh, yeah. I stayed with her every summer until I turned fifteen. That’s when my old man set me up with a summer job and the lazy days of summer