LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter Two

      Turning his car onto the long dirt driveway that led to the farmhouse that had once belonged to Maude O’Malley, Eric was surprised by the feeling of homecoming that swept through him. With Maude gone, he’d expected a sense of emptiness. A little earlier, in the cemetery, standing beside her grave, he’d experienced sadness and a hollow sensation. He’d almost skipped coming to the house, but some force from within had insisted his pilgrimage would not be complete without seeing the old homestead one last time.

      Drawing nearer, he saw a woman in jeans and a shirt on a ladder scraping paint. Her long brown hair was tied back with a bandanna. She was medium in build with curves in all the right places. Noticing his car, she stopped working and, as he parked, began to descend. Her movements were awkward. Worried that she might fall, he climbed out of the car and hurried toward her. But she was on the ground safely before he reached her.

      Roxy’s gaze traveled over the blond, blue-eyed stranger. She judged his age to be in the early to midthirties. He looked pale and thin. His jeans and shirt were new. She could tell that because the jeans looked stiff and the button-down shirt still had crisp creases left from the factory folds. Probably one of Maude’s former boys who just got out of prison and has come looking for a handout or redemption, she mused acidly. Most of Maude’s boys had turned out well, but a few had been rotten apples, and they’d caused Maude a lot of grief by coming here with sad stories and conning her out of money she couldn’t afford to give. One had even used the farm to hide out from the police. But this one was going to learn that she wasn’t as forgiving nor as naive as Maude had been.

      Eric judged the woman’s age to be near thirty. She was no raving beauty, but she would have been pleasant to look at if her expression hadn’t been so inhospitable. Those cold brown eyes of hers had probably intimidated many a man, he guessed. “I didn’t mean to interrupt your work. I just wanted to drop by to see the place for old times’ sake.”

      “It’s not much to look at.” Roxy’s shoulders squared with pride. “But I’m working on it.”

      Eric’s gaze left her to view the huge old two-story farmhouse. It was in dire need of painting and the chimney needed repointing. One of the front windows was boarded over and the screen door was covered with patches. “Maude used to keep this place in great shape.”

      Roxy’s gaze turned colder. “Money for major repairs has been pretty scarce the past few years. And now that Maude isn’t here anymore and neither are any of the boys, I have to do the work myself and hold down a full-time job in town.”

      Realizing he’d offended her, Eric mentally kicked himself. He definitely needed to work on his people skills. “Sorry. I didn’t mean anything critical by that It just hurts to see it this way.”

      Roxy knew what he meant and her flare of anger died. “Yeah. Well, eventually it’ll look better.” Jamie’s small, trusting face filled her mind. “But that’s not going to happen if I stand around talking to you. If you’ve come looking for a handout, there’s nothing to give. If you’ve come looking for Maude she’s…” Her throat constricted, refusing to say the word dead. “She’s at rest.”

      Eric saw the flash of pain in the woman’s eyes. She’d obviously cared a great deal for Maude. “I know. I received a letter from a Roxanne Dugan.”

      Roxy’s gaze narrowed on her visitor. During Maude’s last days, she’d given Roxy a very short list of names and asked her to write them letters of thanks for their support during the years. Roxy had known all of them except for one. “I’m Roxanne Dugan.”

      Eric extended his hand. “I’m Eric Bishop.”

      Mentally Roxy put a check by that name on the list. That was the one she hadn’t known anything about except what Maude had told her, and that hadn’t been much. He’d been one of Maude’s boys. After he left the farm he’d become a career man in the military and had been stationed all over the world, but he’d never forgotten the farm, and he sent checks regularly. Accepting the handshake, Roxy was startled by the pleasure the contact caused…it carried a feel of warmth and security. “I’m sorry I was so brisk. A few of Maude’s former boys came back to take advantage of her. The trouble some of them caused has left me suspicious of strangers,” she said as he released her hand.

      Eric nodded his understanding, then his gaze shifted back to the house. “I would have come sooner to pay my respects but I’ve been in the hospital. I only just read your letter yesterday.”

      His paleness and new clothes took on a new meaning. “Your stay must have been a long one.”

      “I was in a coma for three years,” he replied absently, continuing to frown at the farmhouse. It was as if all that was good from his youth had been destroyed.

      Roxy bit back a gasp. A life in suspension…The Hanged Man! Glad his attention was elsewhere, she quickly regained her composure. “I’m sorry.”

      Trained never to miss anything, Eric had noticed her momentary show of shock, but then he was still a bit stunned by the fact that he’d lost three years of his life. “Are you planning to reopen the Home when you get the house back into shape?”

      Roxy looked over her shoulder at the massive job ahead of her. “No. Maude willed the property to me, but she was the O’Malley Home for Boys.” Her chin tightened defensively. “The donations to keep the place going came in because of her. Most were from locals and they made it clear to me that once Maude was gone, they wouldn’t support the Home any longer. Besides, the donations weren’t enough to cover the bills and Maude refused to become part of the foster care system. She wanted the boys who came to be able to stay without the worry of being suddenly uprooted at the whim of some bureaucrat. I got a job in town to pay what the donations didn’t cover. But, with Maude gone, I couldn’t keep this place going on my salary alone. Besides, there’d be no one to supervise the boys while I was at work.”

      “What happened to the boys who were here?”

      Tears burned at the back of Roxy’s eyes. “For the past three or four years, most of the boys Maude took in were from decent, hardworking families who were going through difficult times. The agreement Maude had made with them was that they would take their children back when they could provide for them. For those children, going back to their families presented a hardship but they were welcomed. There was one, Jamie Jordon, however, who’d been left here by his grandmother with a paper giving Maude guardianship.”

      Eric had a harsh flashback to his own youth.

      Swallowing

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