Breaking Matthew Read Online Free Page A

big house today. She’s helping her mother with something, so I said I’d play with Abner for a bit.”
    “You might not want to do that,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.
    “Why not?”
    He glanced over at Emma Rae as she came back through the door with Abner in her arms. “I ran into Matthew at the big house yesterday. I ain’t sure if he’s coming around again.” He hesitated. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said nothing, but I thought you should know.”
    I ignored the momentary spike in my heart rate. “Well, how is he?”
    “Just fine, I reckon. Guess he’s working for the TVA or something. He was checking the electric connections.”
    “That’s good to hear.” I nodded, wondering why such information should keep me from going over to the Calhoun place. Surely he wasn’t likely to return?
    “He asked about you.”
    Another spike. “And what did you tell him?”
    “Told him you were just fine, that you been working with Doc Fisher and such.”
    Emma Rae came over and kissed James on the cheek. “I thought you were leaving.”
    He looked at me uncomfortably. “I am. Guess I’ll be seeing you in a little while.”
    He headed out the door, and Emma Rae looked at me kind of funny. “You all right?”
    “I sure am.” Breaking the spell, I clapped my hands together. “Now what can I help you with this morning?”
    She narrowed her eyes. “Who’s Matthew?”
    I waved my hand to dismiss her. “Oh, nobody you’d remember. He’s one of the Doyle boys I knew a long time ago from school.”
    “Oh, I remember him! I overheard Daddy talking about him and Chester getting into an awful fight.”
    This conversation was quickly heading down a road I didn’t want to travel. I tried desperately to think of something to change the subject. But it was like a dam had been busted wide open.
    “I think Daddy said something about you too,” she said. “Do you remember all that? I’m sure you do. He wouldn’t say a word about it if I asked him directly, but I think that was about the time Chester quit and walked out on Daddy. I didn’t even see him for nearly a year!”
    The more she talked, the more my stomach churned. I preferred to think of Emma Rae as part of my family, and to forget all together that Chester was her brother. I couldn’t see how in any sane world, a man so full of hatred as to attack a helpless woman, could be related to Emma Rae and Abner. I wished she’d stop talking.
    “He only just started coming around now that me and James are talking of getting our own place to run.” I was only half listening. “After the baby’s born, of course. But I reckon Daddy and Chester will patch things up. Say, do you know what Chester and that boy were fighting over?”
    I stared at her for what seemed like a length of time that would be considered rude by most people. I had learned a long time ago that lying was not for me. Not only was I bad at it, but I was determined to raise my character to a level that was deserving of the precious gift God had given me.
    I couldn’t lie. But I couldn’t tell her the truth either. “Listen, Emma Rae. It isn’t my place to talk about what happened in your family. If you want those answers, you need to talk to them.”
    But God help you if you ever get those answers.
     
    As I was coming out of church on Sunday, I stopped to take in the glorious autumn breeze. It lifted the fallen leaves and carried them away to their resting places along the dusty roads that crossed paths in our small town. People trickled out of the churches onto the sidewalks and meandered toward their homes on foot or by car. Many stood around laughing and talking with one another.
    I missed going to church as a family with my parents and brothers. After the service, Daddy would talk forever. Mother didn’t mind so much, but I could tell when it was time to get him moving. Initially she’d gently rub her hand across his back while he just kept on talking, his booming laugh carrying