Heart of Texas Vol. 3 Read Online Free Page B

smiled when she saw that he’d already started on the cinnamon roll with the appreciation of a man who rarely tasted anything homemade.
    The children ran across the yard ahead of her. Lucky, their border-collie mix, followed at their heels. Ruth waited for Nell in the kitchen, holding the candle and looking inordinately pleased with herself.
    â€œTravis Grant seems like a nice young man,” she said the moment Nell entered the kitchen.
    â€œHe’s from New York City,” Nell said, wanting it understood right then and there that he was a big-city boy and only drifting through Promise. It just so happened that he’d ventured into a strange town and needed a place to sleep; there’d be plenty of guests just like him in the months to come.
    â€œWe have a big day tomorrow,” Nell said. “It wouldn’t hurt any of us to get to bed early for once.”
    As she’d expected, her children put up token protests, but they didn’t argue long. Both were tired and, without electricity, there was little to entertain them. The lights probably wouldn’t be coming on soon, especially with the rain and the wind still so intense.
    â€œDid our guest mention what he’s doing in Promise?” Ruth asked. She held her hand protectively in front of the flame of the candle she carried and led the way across the living room.
    Nell wondered, too. “He didn’t say.”
    â€œYou could’ve asked.”
    â€œWell, I didn’t. That’s his business, not mine.”
    â€œWeren’t you curious?”
    â€œA little.” A lot actually, but Nell wasn’t willing to admit it.
    â€œHe’s probably here for the rodeo,” Jeremy suggested, heading up the stairs, Lucky at his side.
    â€œMaybe, but I don’t think so.” Nell wasn’t sure why she thought that, but she did. Her guess was that when morning came Travis Grant would pack up his bags and leave.
    â€œHe reminds me of someone,” Emma said and yawned.
    â€œMe, too,” Jeremy murmured.
    Jake. Nell had seen it, too, not in looks but in build. Travis Grant was a lumberjack of a man, just the way her beloved Jake had been. Sadly the children’s memories of their father had dimmed with time into vague recollections.
    The family stood at the landing at the top of the stairs, where they exchanged good-night hugs and kisses. Even Jeremy let his mother and grandma kiss him tonight. Ruth guided the children to their bedrooms while Nell retrieved a candle for herself.
    Once everyone was in bed, she undressed and put on a full-length white cotton nightgown. She unbraided her hair and brushed it out, the thick dark tresses reaching halfway down her back. Jake had loved her hair, had often gathered it in his huge hands and run it through his fingers. Nell missed those moments, missed everything about Jake.
    Time, she’d discovered, was a great healer, just as Pastor McMillen had told her. The grief became duller, less acute, with every month and year that passed. But it was still there, always there. Now, though, her grief shared space with all the good memories, the happy moments they’d had together.
    Nothing would ever erase those ten wonderful years she’d shared with the man she loved.
    Setting her hairbrush aside, Nell pulled back the covers and climbed into bed. She leaned against the headboard, her back supported by two pillows, and opened the drawer in her nightstand. She took out a pen and her journal.
    By the light of a single candle, she wrote down the events of the day, pausing now and then to collect her thoughts. When she’d finished, she reread what she’d written, something she rarely did, and was surprised to note she’d mentioned Travis Grant in the first line. It didn’t take her long to figure out why.
    It was because he was like Jake and meeting him had shaken her. Not the first time on the road into town, when she’d stopped and read him the