Secrets Read Online Free

so—
“
    “No.”
    “No?”
    “I’m not telling you anything. Go to the
ranch yourself or send dad.” His dad lived with his mistress in
another county, except on the weekends. Everyone knew, but no one
talked about it.
    “David banned me from the ranch years ago,
they won’t let me in.” She ignored the comment about his dad. No
surprise there.
    “Tough, gotta go. Someone’s expecting me.”
He clicked off.
     
    ****
    A loud squeal from Ms. Cook, the
housekeeper, rang in his ears as he walked toward the front
entrance. Swinging open the screened door, her arms opened,
offering a motherly embrace. Careful of the sling on his right arm,
he allowed her to hold him tight as she rocked from side to side.
Her head only reached to his chest, her slight frame radiated
warmth. Gray hair floated around her shoulders as the smell of
lemon and vanilla accosted his nostrils. The woman smelled like
home and he held on a few seconds longer, savoring the genuine
welcome. If only everyone would be as happy to see him.
    “It's so good to see you, Ken. You've gotten
taller and much bigger. How've ya been?” She pointed to his obvious
injury. He didn't want to talk about that. “You want something to
eat, drink?” Some things never changed, she always tried to feed
him.
    After he set her down inside the hallway,
she moved back, pushing strands of hair from her lined face. He
took a quick look around the foyer. He'd tossed his hats and gloves
on the solid wood hat tree, lost many toys in the large ceramic
umbrella urn, left his new jacket on the coat hooks lining the dark
paneled walls. Each item sparked memories from his childhood.
Relief spread through him that things remained the same.
    “No thank you. I'm good. Sorry I missed the
funeral. It took the note a while to find me.”
    She patted his arm. “That's okay, you know
your Uncle had everything picked out and planned, all the way down
to the catered repast. Everyone just followed his instructions, as
usual.”
    Her last words caught his attention. His
uncle was a precise and strategic man. “I can only imagine. How was
he at the end?”
    Ms. Cook walked into the living room.
    He followed. They sat on the beige and brown
swirled sofa. Her smile dropped as she gazed out the large picture
windows facing the mountains. A look of sadness replaced her
earlier joy. “He cheated the diabetes and lived longer than the
doctors expected. I don't think he was in a lot of pain. He wheezed
some, coughed a little, but mostly he worked.”
    “Worked?”
    “Yeah. Strange, huh?” She sighed, holding
her clasped hands on her lap. Her black and white plaid dress hung
loosely around her shoulders, she’d lost weight since he saw her
last. He wondered, not for the first time, what his uncle’s
relationship had been with Ms. Cook. She’d been around since he was
a small boy.
    “It was like he knew time was running out
and he had to finish whatever he was doing. Him and Chastity stayed
locked up in that room for hours. Sometimes Sven or his attorney
would visit and talk to him. But mostly, it was just the two of
them.”
    He frowned, not sure he understood the
implications. “Chastity’s still here then?” His mom made it sound
like she'd ran off and left his uncle's estate in a state of
disarray.
    Her eyes latched onto his, as she tilted her
head to the side. “Of course she’s still here. Where else would she
be?”
    He shrugged, more confused by his mother’s
rant. “So, she helped in the office?”
    “Yeah. She's a smart girl. Got her a college
degree in business. I seen it myself. She worked hard for it. We’re
proud of her.”
    He didn’t know that. “How'd she help him? I
mean, what did she do?”
    “Well, I don't rightly know. She's got all
that college education. Baxter asked her to work for him and she
did.”
    He scratched the five o’clock shadow on his
face. “I didn't know she went to college. I guess I've been gone
longer than I thought.”
    “Yeah, lots of