Kentucky Rich Read Online Free

door. She made up a food basket for you and Emmie.” He took the carpetbag from her hand and opened the bedroom door. “When you drive out, coast down the hill and don’t put your lights on till you get to the main road. Don’t stop till you’re far away from here. When you get where you’re going, call Bill Yates and let him know how you are. He’ll get a message to me. Can you remember to do that, Nealy? Jesus, I wish it didn’t have to be like this. Make sure you remember to call now.”
    â€œI’ll remember, Pyne. But I don’t know where I’m going. Where should I go, Pyne?”
    â€œHead for Lexington, Kentucky. Stop at the first breeding farm you come to. They’ll take you in. You’re good with horses, better than Rhy or I will ever be. Hell, you’re better with them than Pa is. That’s why he worked you so hard. He knew how good you were. You have grit, Nealy. Use it now.”
    â€œGood-bye, Pyne. And thanks . . . for everything,” Nealy said, her voice ringing with tears.
    â€œGo on, git now before Pa comes back from the barn,” Pyne said gruffly. Then he did something that she would remember forever. He bent over and kissed Emmie on the cheek. “You take care of your mama, little one.” He pressed a bright, shiny penny into her hand. Emmie looked at it and smiled.
    Nealy held Emmie close as she negotiated the front stairs. “Pyne?”
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œEmmie is not a half-wit.”
    â€œI know that, Nealy. Hurry up now.”
    Perspiration dotted Nealy’s face and neck as she quietly opened the front door and headed for the truck parked in the gravel drive. After settling Emmie into a nest of blankets on the passenger side, Nealy climbed in and adjusted the seat. She saw Pyne toss her carpetbag into the back with some buckets and a shovel. Then she put the key in the ignition, but didn’t turn it. The fact that she didn’t have a driver’s license suddenly occurred to her. She’d driven on the ranch and a few country roads, but she’d never driven on a major highway. If the state police caught her, would they send her back? Would her father tell them she stole the truck? Tessie would say she was borrowing trouble with such thoughts, and since she had all the trouble she could handle at the moment, she concentrated on the problem at hand, steering the coasting truck.
    Nealy was almost to the main road when she stopped the truck to take one last look at the only home she’d ever known. SunStar Farms. Her shoulders slumped. Would she ever see SunStar’s lush grassy pastures again? Or its miles of white board fence? Or April Fantasy, the stallion she’d raised and trained herself? Something told her she’d miss pasture grass, fencing, and a horse more than her own father and brothers.
    Hot tears burned her eyes as she climbed out of the truck. She reached in the back for one of the empty oat buckets and the shovel. Moving off to the side of the road, she sank the shovel deep into the rain-softened ground, then filled the bucket with rich, dark soil. SunStar soil. That much she could take with her. She lugged the bucket back to the truck and hefted it into the truck bed. Her chest screamed with pain as she clamped a bigger bucket over the top to secure the dirt.
    Gasping for breath, she leaned against the back fender and stared into the darkness. “They may think they’re rid of me, but they aren’t. I’ll come back someday, and when I do, things will be different.”
    Nealy drove for hours, her body alternating between burning up and freezing. She stopped once to fill a cup with milk for Emmie and once to get gas. She took Emmie into the bathroom with her, careful to keep the wool cap pulled low over her face just in case anyone was looking for them. Satisfied that they had not attracted any attention, she climbed back into the truck. She gave Emmie some baby