Read Online The Mandie Collection by Lois Gladys Leppard - Free Book Online

led her around the yard, pointing out the things she had mentioned earlier. The others stood by the rig and watched.
    Mrs. Taft finally spoke after she had looked everything over. “So this is where you lived with your father,” she said as she put an arm around Mandie.
    Mandie looked up at her and saw tears glistening in her grandmother’s blue eyes. She knew the lady was thinking about what had happened between Jim Shaw and Elizabeth, about the lies that had separated them, and she knew her grandmother had many regrets. In a choked voice, Mandie told her, “You see why I want this house, why I have to have this house. It’s all I have left of my father. And I won’t let that woman, Etta Hughes, take it away from me.”
    â€œI understand, dear, and I’ll see that she doesn’t,” Mrs. Taft replied.
    Dr. Woodard called across the yard as he held up a large key, “Ihave the key here. Let’s go inside and you can see the repairs I had made.”
    Mandie quickly followed him as he started for the porch. He paused at the front door and held out the key to Mandie. “Here. You unlock the door. It’s your house,” Dr. Woodard said as Mandie took the key.
    Mandie unlocked the door and pushed it open. Her feet seemed frozen to the doorsill. She felt her father’s presence as memories of him came flooding back. She couldn’t move.
    â€œCome on, Mandie, let’s show them the secret hiding place,” Joe was suddenly saying at her side. He reached for her hand and squeezed it as he led her into the house.
    Mandie’s eyes finally focused on the area around the big open fireplace. There was no sign of the fire damage. Everything looked exactly the way it had when she lived here. Even the furniture had been cleaned and stood in the proper places.
    â€œCome on, Mandie,” Joe urged her as he knelt before the fireplace and pulled her down by his side. He took his knife out of his pocket and began working it between two of the boards in the floor.
    Uncle Ned stepped forward and knelt beside him. “Open here,” he said as he inserted his knife in a different spot. With one little tug he was able to pull up the section covering the hiding place.
    â€œThat looked easy,” Mandie remarked as she watched.
    â€œJim Shaw show me this way,” the old Indian replied as he moved the piece of flooring back, revealing the compartment below the floor.
    Mandie looked inside as everyone else crowded nearby to see what Uncle Ned had uncovered. The space below the floor was empty, and she was about to straighten up when something white caught her eye. She reached down to get it.
    â€œWhy, it’s a letter to me,” Mandie said, puzzled as she looked at her name on the small white envelope. “Where did this come from?” She looked up at Joe, who suddenly sat back on the floor from his kneeling position, and then at the others, who were silently watching her and smiling. No one said a word.
    â€œOpen it, Mandie,” Joe told her without looking her way.
    Mandie glanced at him and then studied the handwriting on the envelope. “Miss Amanda Shaw” it read in block letters. She didn’t recognize the lettering. Where did this come from? she wondered. She turned it over. There was nothing written on the back side, andthe flap was sealed. And why was everyone staring at her? It must be a joke of some kind.
    â€œOh, well,” she said to herself and ripped open the envelope. She took out the single sheet of paper inside, unfolded it, and read, “Our Dearest Amanda, you have always done so much for other people. Now we all want to do something for you. You love everybody and everybody loves you. We would like to make a promise to you. You will have your father’s house, no matter what we have to do. If you lose it in court because of the will, we will buy it from Etta Hughes. Rest assured, she is the kind of woman who can be