Read Online Spring's Gentle Promise by Janette Oke - Free Book Online Page A

considerable attention to Mary the other night too. An’ did ya hear him say tonight thet he wanted to see Mary?”
    “Yeah—I heard ’im.”
    I heard a coffee cup being set on the table. A chair moved slightly on the linoleum floor. Then Uncle Charlie spoke again.
    “Maybe he’s jest sorta lookin’ ’em both over.”
    “A man don’t git hisself nowhere a doin’ thet,” observed Grandpa.
    Uncle Charlie snorted. He’d been a bachelor all his life. Maybe he knew the truth of the statement. I had never thought to wonder if there had ever been a young lady or ladies in Uncle Charlie’s life way back when.
    “Nowhere. Thet’s it exactly—nowhere,” said Uncle Charlie.
    “ ’Course they’re both awful nice girls,” put in Grandpa.
    “Yup. Both awful nice girls,” agreed Uncle Charlie.
    “Don’t rightly know which one I’d pick myself.”
    Uncle Charlie seemed to be giving the matter considerable thought. I heard the coffee cups again.
    “You know anythin’ ’bout this here fella?” Uncle Charlie asked, and I could follow his line of thought. No good-for-nothin’ was gonna come along and make things miserable for one of his girls, no siree.
    Grandpa let out his breath in a raspy little sound. Finally he said slowly, “Checked a bit in town,” then added quickly to try to justify himself, “Jest fer the record ya know. They say they’re a fine family. Three boys. Lost both folks when the youngest was jest a tyke. Thet’s Henry. Will is a couple years older. The oldest son an’ his wife took in the two younger boys. Will went on to school an’ then worked in the city fer a spell.”
    There was a moment of silence while the two men thought about Grandpa’s information. Grandpa broke it.
    “Couldn’t find no skeletons a’tall,” he admitted.
    More silence. I didn’t know what the emotions were down there in that kitchen—but my stomach was churnin’ and my mouth went all dry. I hadn’t realized it until my palms began to hurt, and then I noticed I had my fists curled so tightly that my nails were digging into them.
    “Anyways—as I see it,” went on Grandpa, “Josh better hurry an’ make up his mind as to which girl he wants—or he’s gonna be takin’ the leftovers.”
    I felt all the air leave my lungs.
    “Maybe he don’t want neither,” responded Uncle Charlie.
    Grandpa snorted. “Iffen he don’t,” he said matter-of-factly, “he’s dumber’n I took ’im fer.”
    I had long since forgotten about Matilda’s newspapers. I had even forgotten about the hot chocolate. The conversation down below had my blood boilin’ and was givin’ me the chills—both at the same time.
    “Hard choice,” Grandpa was saying reflectively. “Real hard choice.”
    “Can’t have ’em both,” spoke up Uncle Charlie.
    “Maybe it’s been the wrong thing to have ’em both here,” said Grandpa after a pause. “I mean, seein’ both girls—so different— yet so—so special, an’ gittin’ to feel like they was more like family than—than young women to court.” A long pause. “An’ how in the world does a fella go about courtin’ a girl thet lives in the same house as he does anyway?”
    “Yeah,” agreed Uncle Charlie, “an’ when ya like ’em both, how do ya court the one ’thout the other feelin’ left out an’ such?”
    “Well, this here Will don’t seem to have ’im no problem— he’s courtin’, an’ thet’s fer sure.”
    There was silence for a minute.
    “Do ya think the girls—?” began Grandpa but Uncle Charlie cut in.
    “You seen an’ heard ’em same as me. Any girl is flattered by courtin’.”
    “Do ya think they know which one he’s picked?”
    “I dunno. Maybe. Women have an uncanny sense ’bout thet,” mused Uncle Charlie.
    At the time I didn’t even stop to wonder where Uncle Charlie got all his knowledge about the fairer sex.
    A chair scraped against the floor. Someone was standing to his feet. I moved quickly to make my escape back to