Kentucky Heat Read Online Free Page B

wham bam, he dumps me on the gangplank when the ship docked. He said he doesn’t want anything. The house is mine, our joint bank account, everything. He just wanted out.”
    â€œI’m so sorry, Emmie. I wish there was something I could do for you. I need to ask, why did you wait so long to go to the farm and tell your mother?”
    â€œI was too ashamed, Willow. Do you know what I did? Right there on the gangplank with people watching us, I begged him, I held on to his arm and tried to hang on to him. He shook me off like he would shake off a stray dog. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I told him I would stop talking and go back to signing if he’d stay. He laughed in my face. I was too ashamed to tell that to my mother. I just holed up here and cried all week. I didn’t think about Mom, the farm, or the horses. All I thought about was Buddy. I turned on the computer and watched it until I thought my eyeballs would explode out of my head. I was so sure he would e-mail me and tell me . . . something . . . anything. Like maybe he was temporarily insane. Today, I finally realized it wasn’t going to happen. How could I have been so stupid? How, Willow?”
    â€œYou loved him. Love doesn’t come with an intelligence quotient.”
    â€œI feel terrible that you and Nick came home to such a mess. You just got married, and already there are problems. My brother is a great guy, but then I guess you already knew that or you wouldn’t have married him. Mom won’t bend. Things are either black or white with her. There are no gray areas anywhere in her life.”
    â€œI can’t believe that, Emmie. Mothers are very forgiving. They love their children unconditionally. I’m sure you and Nick will be able to work things out with her once she calms down.”
    Emmie laughed, a bitter sound to Willow’s ears. “Maybe other mothers are like that, but ours isn’t. We learned early on, almost as soon as we could walk, that the horses always came first. We were raised that way. I’m not saying it’s wrong, it’s the way it is, and we knew that, accepted it. Mom is very loving, very generous and kind with us. As soon as we hit our teens she told us we could take care of ourselves. She stopped that motherly hovering thing all mothers do. I don’t know how Nick is going to handle this. All he knows are the horses, and yet I can’t see him signing on with another farm. I’m glad he has you, Willow. I’m glad you’re both here. I’m a terrible hostess. Would you like some coffee? Yes, coffee’s good. I’ll make some. Why don’t you go upstairs and freshen up. I’ll call you when the coffee is ready.”
    â€œThat sounds like a splendid idea. Emmie?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWould you really have stopped talking if Buddy agreed to stay with you?”
    â€œI guess I meant it when I said it. I know that doesn’t say much for me, now does it? He dumped me because I’m normal now. He hated it when people talked to me and I responded. He wanted me to keep signing. I got so used to talking I would forget to sign. Then he would grab my arm and swing me around and make me sign. I guess that should have been my first clue. I don’t know what to do without him. All I do is walk around in circles.”
    â€œThis is a pretty kitchen,” Willow said, changing the subject.
    â€œMom helped me decorate it. The breakfast nook gets the full morning sun. I like to curl up in the wing chair in my pajamas on Sunday morning and read the paper and drink a whole pot of coffee. Nick and I used to alternate Sundays. I always looked forward to that time. It was special. I guess I can do that every day now for the rest of my life. Do you want to hear something strange, Willow? When my stepfather, Nick’s dad, died, Mom never once cried. He was dead, and she didn’t cry. Buddy leaves me, and I fall apart and can’t