Free A Daring Vow (Vows) by Sherryl Woods Page A

as to the blazing warmth of the fire. She was enjoying the real changing of the seasons again.
    “I sure am glad to have you stop by now and again,” Elsie added. “You remember how you used to do this when you were a girl? I recall it like it was yesterday. You always did love my gingersnaps. You and Taylor both. I must have baked twice a week just to keep you two satisfied.”
    “That was Taylor. He could eat a dozen for every two I got.” She sighed. “Mama never baked,” she added wistfully. “Never cooked if she could help it. I used to pray that just once I’d come home from school and be able to sniff the scent of warm cookies fresh from the oven. Instead, all I ever smelled was bourbon.”
    As soon as the words were out, Zelda regretted them. Keeping silent about her mother’s drinking had once been habit. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
    “And why not, I’d like to know?” Elsie said indignantly. “It wasn’t right.”
    Zelda suddenly felt the need to defend her mother…again. “Mama did the best she could,” she said sharply, trying to make up for her indiscreet remark just moments before. “There were times when she was just fine, when she’d tell me stories or read to me from those books of hers. Sometimes she’d take down her big old atlas and point to places far away and talk about what it would be like to travel there. I knew more about geography by the time I was in grade school than some kids do when they graduate from college.”
    Elsie pursed her lips. “It was your father I always felt sorry for. Poor Joseph had no wife looking after his needs the way she should.”
    Zelda felt as if an old wound had been stripped open. “That’s not true,” she said in a low voice. “It was his fault. You don’t know what he was like.”
    “He was a fine, Christian man,” Elsie insisted, looking shocked that Zelda would dare to suggest otherwise.
    “He was selfish, rigid and judgmental. Why the hell do you think my mother drank in the first place?” she said furiously. “Because nothing she ever did was good enough to satisfy him. Not one blessed thing.”
    Stunned by her outburst, Zelda snapped her mouth shut before she revealed far more than she’d ever intended to say about the horror of living in that house with Joseph Lane. He punished not with spankings, not even with yelling, but with his cold silence. Just the memory of it made her freeze up inside.
    She set her unfinished glass of lemonade down carefully. “I think I’d best be going.”
    Elsie regarded her worriedly. “There’s no need for you to run off. Let’s talk about something more pleasant. You shouldn’t go getting yourself all upset over things that can’t be changed. I’m sorry we got into it. All that was a long time ago. Tell me how things are going now that you’re back. Are you settling in okay over there? Is there anything you need?”
    Zelda drew in a deep breath and finally sat back. “I’m fine,” she said. “Sooner or later I’m going to need to do something about the sorry state of the house, but for now I’m making do.”
    Zelda saw the speculative look in Elsie’s eyes. She could guess what was really on the woman’s mind and since it would head the conversation in the direction she wanted, she just waited for curiosity to get the better of Elsie.
    “You and Taylor getting along okay?” she asked eventually.
    “He’s a good boss,” Zelda said.
    Elsie rolled her eyes at the bland remark. “I wasn’t referring to his dictating skills.”
    “We see each other at the office. That’s it.” She hesitated, then added in what she hoped was a casual tone, “But I was wondering something.”
    “Oh?”
    “Did Taylor come straight back to Port William after law school?”
    Judging from Elsie’s expression, she wasn’t fooled by Zelda’s casual air.
    “No, indeed,” she said. “He went into practice over in Charleston, just like he always talked about doing.”
    “Then how