Echoes From The Past (Women of Character) Read Online Free

step beside
him. "What was she like?"
    Silence.
    "My sister."
    "I know who you mean."
She sensed reluctance in him to talk about her sister. "Judith wore her
heart on her sleeve and took up causes at the slightest whim. She was an
emotional woman." He opened a small gate and let her precede him into the
yard. "Let’s get to the house for dinner."

Chapter Two
    Christie thought about what he’d
said. So Judith had been emotional. It hadn’t sounded like a compliment.
    She took note of wide shoulders stretching
the worn cotton shirt before it tapered to a narrow waist and faded blue jeans.
She frowned, forcing herself to look away from Garrett McIntyre’s backside. He
was good looking in a lean, cowboy kind of way. A small shiver raced across
her. His eyes seemed to change between blue and gray beneath the brim of that
cowboy hat. His hard-planed face could have advertised the old west on
billboards and melted a million hearts, but he struck her as a man who didn’t
have time for any romantic nonsense. He seemed very grounded and she got an
uneasy feeling when he spoke of her sister . . . like he was leaving out more
than he was saying. Not that he’d said that much.
    "I’m not trying to come off
as chauvinistic or anything, but don’t you have a man or someone traveling with
you?"
    That made Christie laugh.
"No. No man in charge of my life." Garrett was no doubt a man who
took charge. "You know, I’ve seen too many Les’s with that same wild look
in their eye." Her father’s buddies. "I don’t care if I ever meet up
with that man again." Les’ desperate edge repelled her.
    Christie hitched her bag higher,
reassured by the weight of it against her chest.
    Garrett held out his hand.
"Let me take that."
    Everything she had of value was in
the bag. "That's okay, it's not heavy."
    "Was Judith the only reason
you came here?"
    Christie was taken aback by the
question. "Yes, what else could there be? I -- never really knew her, you
know. Just vague recollections. . .." she let her voice trail off. How had
Judith died? Right now she had no choice but to respect his wish not to talk
about it. "I have to admit I still feel out of sync, as if my sister might
arrive any moment. I pictured our reunion all the way down here." She’d
traveled to Kentucky to find Judith, and maybe to find herself. "It hurts
too much to think about Judith being gone. Can you at least tell me where she’s
buried?"
    Some of her desperation must have
showed in her face, because he finally said, "She’s buried at a cemetery
in town." Almost reluctantly, he added, "If you’re here long enough,
we'll drive to town one day and I'll show you."
    Some of the heaviness eased in
Christie’s chest. "Thank you."
    "We’re here," he said,
and Christie wondered if that was relief in his voice. They walked around the
back of the house and she liked the brand new swing set that had been set up.
Hanging from a big tree was an equally new looking tire swing on a rope.
Christie looked at the back yard and a knot formed in her chest. A small flower
garden behind the swings was enclosed by a white picket fence.
    "This is like walking onto a
movie set," she murmured, disturbed by a hard ache inside.
    "What?" Garrett asked,
apparently startled.
    Christie struggled to explain.
"You know, down home and the average family. The house, yard with flowers,
white picket fence, swings in the back yard." She laughed. "I feel
completely out of my element. My sister was so lucky. She escaped and found
that elusive happiness here." She suddenly felt uneasy about staying here.
Judith’s house, Judith’s husband.
    "Judith never lived
here," Garrett said flatly.
    He climbed the steps to a small
deck at the back of the house and held open a screen door.
    "But the address on the
envelope -- "
    "The address is the same. Two
years ago this house was in the process of being built. Judith and I lived in
the small cottage out back where my foreman Sam lives now. She wanted something
bigger