Lauri Robinson Read Online Free Page B

for me to see Isaac had given me exactly what I’d asked for.”
    Spencer’s mind and insides were flying about like a bird in a windstorm. How could she be so forgiving, so understanding of Isaac? Home or not, the man had wronged her in so many ways, so many times. Yet, she acted as if none of it was his fault.
    “Isn’t that how it is?” she asked. “We don’t appreciate anything until we lose it?”
    That made his mind snap back to the reason he was here. “There’s no reason for you to lose this house, Della. Take my money. If you have it when the judge reviews the eviction notice tomorrow, he may take your side.”
    Della was surprised at how calm she was. All because of Spencer. His kiss in the front room had been an awakening. At first it had scared her, filled her with all the emotions she’d felt twelve years ago. But then she realized she was no longer a young girl, and her wants had changed. Though she’d lived here, bore her children in the bedroom upstairs, the fear of losing this house had always overshadowed her.
    “Della?”
    She pulled her eyes off the steam rising from her coffee cup. “I won’t take your money, Spencer.”
    “Why not? It’ll solve your problems.”
    “No, it won’t solve my problems. It’ll just add more. I have no way to repay you. A boardinghouse wouldn’t make that kind of money in a hundred years.”
    “I don’t expect you to repay me.”
    “Then what do you expect, Spencer?”
    His neck grew red, and she could sympathize with him. Not accepting his offer was hard, for it would provide a home for her and her children, but that wasn’t what she wanted. Not this time.
    She studied Spencer, the firm lines of his face, the creases near the corners of his eyes, the little indent in his chin. His love is what she wanted, had been for years, and she wouldn’t settle for anything less.
    He hadn’t touched his coffee and rose when she did. He also followed her into the other room, where she bent down to pick up her bonnet. It must have fallen from her head during the kiss. The kiss that made her open her eyes to how selfish and foolish she’d been.
    “Thank you for stopping by, Spencer,” she said, slipping the bonnet on her head.
    “Where are you going?”
    “I’m going to find Mr. Westmeier. I want to see if we can make an arrangement before seeing the judge tomorrow.”
    “What kind of arrangement?”
    “I don’t know yet. Maybe he needs a housekeeper, or maybe he wants to own a boardinghouse and is interested in letting me run it.”
    “You can’t live with a stranger.”
    She opened the door. “It’s a boardinghouse, Spencer, and I’ve lived with strangers for as long as I can remember.”

Chapter Four
    “You convince her to take the money?” Cord asked as soon as Spencer pushed the door open.
    “No.” He stomped toward the stove, and the coffeepot, still not quite sure what had happened back at Della’s. Spencer held the empty pot in the air. “Am I the only one that makes coffee around here?” He plopped the pot back on the stove. “She went to find Lance Westmeier to see if they could work out an arrangement .”
    “I see,” Cord said.
    Spencer hooked a thumb on the edge of his pants pocket and tapped his toe on the floor, trying in earnest to comprehend what Cord understood. Letting out a sigh, he walked over and fell into a chair. “Well, I don’t.”
    “Did you really expect her to take your money?”
    “Yes,” Spencer answered without hesitation.
    Cord shook his head.
    “What?” Spencer asked, leaning forward to brace his elbows on both knees, ready and willing to listen to any kind of advice or logic.
    Cord leaned back and folded both arms across his chest. “Would you take money from someone if you were in her shoes?”
    “Of course not. But I’m a man.” Spencer gestured to the door. “She’s a woman. They’re supposed to be taken care of.”
    “And that, my friend, is your first mistake. There’s a big difference