When Harriet Came Home Read Online Free

was too full of himself. So what if the Blackstone family had fallen from grace? So what if generations of hard-working, prosperous and civic-minded achievers had dwindled down to one carpenter, the only surviving son of a philanderer and a cheat? Did he really think one blue-ribbon charity ball would restore the good name of his family?
    Maybe not totally, but it was a start. He lifted his chin and scanned the committee members.
    “I won’t make any decisions until I’ve spoken with Ken.”
    It was the least he could do for Ken, Adam thought. Ken Brown deserved respect.
    Unlike his daughter.

Chapter Two
    Ken squeezed Harriet’s hand. “Pumpkin, your mother always feels better when her lipstick is on straight.”
    Harriet glanced after her mother tottering out the ward on her high heels. She turned her attention back to her father who seemed more substantial now that he was awake and sitting up. The anxiety that had seized her all night loosened a couple of notches. She and her mother had been sitting at his bedside for half an hour, and after streaking mascara all over her face, her mother had gone off to the ladies’ to repair her makeup. Her dad didn’t seem in the least put off by her histrionics, thought Harriet, but then he’d had years of practice.
    “Don’t worry, Dad,” Harriet assured him. “I’ll take care of Mum. She’s just so used to having you around she doesn’t know what to do with herself.”
    “It’s not your mother I’m thinking about.” His gnarled hand tightened on hers. “It’s you.”
    “Me?” Harriet shrugged. “I’m fine, Dad, now that I know you’re not in any danger.”
    “I’m so glad you’re finally back in Wilmot. I thought you’d never return.”
    “Gee, Dad. You had an accident. Of course I had to come back.”
    “You’ve stayed away for far too long.”
    “I’ve been busy.” She tried to look nonchalant. “You know what it’s like in the catering business.”
    “You can’t fool your old dad. I know what’s kept you away.” He pulled her closer. “Now that you’re back in Wilmot, I think it’s time.”
    A spasm of foreboding flickered through her. She didn’t like the look on his face one bit. Beneath the swollen flesh glimmered a sternness she wasn’t used to from her father. “Time for what, Dad?”
    “For you to put the past behind you and make your peace with the Blackstones. With Adam Blackstone.”
    Put the past behind her? How could she do that when just yesterday Adam had snarled at her? He certainly hadn’t put the past behind him.
    She leaned forward and lowered her voice so they wouldn’t be overheard by the other patients. “Why are you so concerned about Adam Blackstone?”
    Her father shifted in his bed, his face wrinkling with a discomfort that had nothing to do with his injuries. He too dropped his voice. “I know you did the right thing when you caught Warwick taking a bribe, and it was only proper that he should resign, but…” He fingered the bandage wound around his head. “But he wasn’t all bad, you know. He did a lot of good things for this town, and he was a popular man in his own right. A lot of people were sad to see him go. When he died the whole town turned up at his funeral.”
    Her dad wasn’t telling her anything new. She’d exposed the mayor’s corrupt behaviour and along with it several sordid affairs, but instead of being praised, she’d been vilified. The mayor was well-liked and respected; the Blackstone family had been in Wilmot since the 1880s and were known for their contributions to the local community. Even this hospital stood on land donated by the Blackstones. People didn’t like having their role models torn down. The consensus grew that sure, Warwick Blackstone had taken the odd bribe from a developer, and he had kept two or maybe three lovers simultaneously, but he was a widower, and a handsome one at that, and he’d done plenty of good things for Wilmot. All things considered, people