Only Through Love: A Cane River Romance Novella Read Online Free Page A

special today?”
                “I
thought I’d browse your fantasy section and see if anything looks good. I’m out
of books.”
                “Horrors.”
She flashed him a smile and led the way toward the back room. “We did just get
a few new additions, things Charlie asked me to order. Of course, if it’s
modern and we have it, then you’ve probably already read it. I usually stock
vintage books.” She paused as she reached the first range. “Oh, and if you have
an ereader, our city library is setting up a new borrowing system.”
                “A
bookstore owner advising me to borrow books from the library. I’m not sure what
to think.” He knew he liked Alice from the first moment he met, but now he
admired her, too.
                “I’m
all about the books, Austin,” she said. “And that’s why my bookstore was
running in the red before I met Paul.”
                He
plucked a fat volume from the shelf. “You’re dedicated to entertaining the
bored and lonely people of Natchitoches.”
                She
was quiet for a moment. “Franklin Roosevelt said books burn, but they can’t be
killed by fire.  People die, books never die. No man or force can abolish
memory, and that in this war we’re fighting, books are weapons.”
                Austin
glanced at her, noting the set of her mouth and the steel in her gaze. Maybe
he’d misjudged Alice. Maybe she was one of those people that listened to too
much talk radio and believed the country was on the cusp of an implosion.  “Are
we fighting a war?”
                “Of
course. A war against our baser selves, a war against prejudice and ignorance
and hatred. A war against greed and narcissism.” She shifted the baby and
looked into her little face, brushing back her curls. “When I think of what
legacy I want to leave her, I don’t think about this building or what’s in the
bank account. I want to leave her a community of people who remember .”
                “Remember
books? But so few people read. Or they read only the new stuff.” He motioned to
a thousand page book with a green dragon on the cover.
                “Every
good book holds truth in it. The first year Charlie worked here, she nagged at
me until I read that series. I still have it on my shelf. I’m sure a critic
would reduce it to a coming of age story, or something about a boy discovering
how special he is. But for me, it’s all about remembering our family, our past,
and the things we once believed about ourselves before we got beat down and
discouraged.”
                Austin
stared at the cover and thought of his parents. They’d waited for Gideon to get
out of prison, never forgetting their adopted son for a moment, even when he’d
committed a terrible crime. He thought of the way they always treated Tom like
their child, rather than placing him on a pedestal in the clouds now that he
was a pastor. And as for Austin, they always told him how proud they were of
him, but never made him feel as if he had to reach some exalted job position in
order to make them happy. He was their son and they held him close even when
he’d been at school or during the long back packing trip he’d taken one summer.
They passed down their wisdom, their traditions, their faith. They remembered .
And he’d failed to honor that.
                “Look
at me, giving you a big speech when you just wanted some reading material.”
Alice’s face had gone pink. “Never ask a bookstore owner why she sells books,
right?”
                “Thank
you.” He took the whole set from the shelf. “I’ll take these.”
                “Oh,
you don’t have to buy those just because of my speech. I’m sorry I cornered you
in here.” She held up a hand as if she wasn’t going to let him take the books.
“I can get so passionate that I completely forget