In a Mother’s Arms Read Online Free Page A

care. There hadn’t been time for courting and marrying, not even for looking for a kindly woman. The truth was, he hadn’t wanted to.
    “I’m thrilled to see that you girls behaved for once.” Stern, he set the bag on the floor before climbing up. “I almost thought I was dreaming. I thought those finely behaved young ladies couldn’t possibly be my daughters.”
    “But we are, Pa. And we aren’t young ladies. Mrs. Finley says we are wildcats.” Penny sounded quite pleased as she bounced over on the seat to make room for him. “But I like wild cowboys better.”
    “Me, too.” Prudy quickly agreed. “All we need is a pony. Can we have one, Pa?”
    “You know the answer to that.” He settled on the seat and reached for the reins, where they lay on the dash. With a snap, Stanley stopped drowsing and gave a mighty pull forward. All he needed was for his girls to be riding wild instead of simply running wild. Yes, that would surely make fathering them easier. “Proper young ladies do not ride horses.”
    “They do in the dime books.”
    Bless Mrs. Finley for reading her adventure novels aloud to the girls. “Books are make-believe, not real life. You two ought to know the difference. Now, no more talk about nonsense. When we get home, I want you both to go count up your pennies and figure out how many extra chores it will take to buy Miss McKaslin a new vase.”
    Penelope sighed. “I knew you were going to bring that up eventually.”
    “Yeah,” Prudence agreed. Both girls were downcast again. “We don’t gotta lotta pennies, Pa.”
    “Then I suppose you two have a lot of work ahead of you.” He guided the horse around the bend in the town street, seeing not the road ahead but the image of a blond-haired woman, a vision in a pink calico work dress. For some reason, Molly McKaslin had opened up his emotions and somehow he had to put a stop to them.
    “Look at all the pretty things!” The girls’ voices rang out in unison, speaking the same thought and drawing his attention back to the road in front of him.
    The church with its spire shone pure white in the sunshine, surrounded by lush trees and deep-emerald grass. Cloths in every color of the rainbow draped adozen tables in the dappled shade. Women and their daughters of all ages relaxed in chairs around the tables, feasting on cake and tea, while others milled in groups on the lawn, deep in pleasant-looking conversation.
    “I sure wish we had a ma.” Prudy’s whisper was little more than a sigh of longing.
    A longing he had to ignore. He willed down his feelings, snapped the reins. Stanley obliged by picking up his pace and taking them swiftly away. The lilting rise and fall of women’s voices and little girls’ laughter carried after them on the wind.

Chapter Three

    T hree days had passed since the Frost incident, as Molly preferred to think of it. Remembering the little girls and their very naughty cow still warmed her with a chuckle or two. She thought of them this time every day as she guided her trusty mare onto the driveway home. She couldn’t see the Frost house from her vantage on the cart seat, and that made her wonder. What sort of trouble were the twins getting into now? Was Sukie securely penned?
    There was no sign of girls or heifer as she gave Ruth plenty of rein. The old mare was tender-mouthed and she knew her way home. There was no point in directing her any further. The horse’s gait quickened, anticipating a nice restful evening in the shade of the orchard with cool, lush grass for her supper.
    Molly didn’t blame her one bit. The day’s heat was unusual for May, and the hot puff of wind offered not a lick of relief. Wednesday was her toughest day of theweek. She’d started at five in the morning at the bakery, helping Mrs. Klaus mix and knead bread dough for hours. A noon stop at the dress shop to work for a few hours and to drop off the piecework she did in the evenings for Cora, the owner. Then off to her cousin