Free Emmett by Diana Palmer Page A

golf and baseball games? Things like that?” he said slowly, hardly able to believe that his father actually might want to spend any time with them. That wasn’t the impression he’d been giving since their mother had left.
    â€œYes,” Emmett said. “And if you had problems that you needed to talk to me about, I’d be there.”
    â€œWhat about Mrs. Ray?”
    â€œShe’s resigning,” Emmett said sadly. “She says she’s reached the age where she needs peace and quiet and flowers to grow. So we’d have to replace her even if we stay here.”
    Guy and Amy and Polk exchanged resigned glances. They didn’t want the risk of a housekeeper they couldn’t control. There was always that one chance in a million that their father might come up with someone they couldn’t frighten or intimidate.
    â€œMelody could stay with us, couldn’t she?” Amy asked suddenly.
    â€œSure!” Polk agreed, beaming.
    Guy’s complexion went pale. He muttered something under his breath and got up and went to the window to stare out it. He knew for certain that Melody wouldn’t want him around, even if she did like the other two. She’d never forgive him for what he’d done to her cat. Besides, he reminded himself forcibly, he didn’t like her. It was her fault that he didn’t have a mother anymore.
    Emmett found the suggestion warming, if impractical. He’d done a lot of thinking about Melody himself. “Melody has a job,” Emmett said. It surprised him that the kids found it so easy to picture Melody as part of their lives. It surprised him even more that he did, too.
    â€œJacobsville isn’t very big, is it?” Guy asked without looking at his father. “There’s not much to do there, I guess.”
    â€œYou’re old enough to start learning how to manage a ranch,” Emmett told him. “You can come around with me and learn the ropes.”
    Guy’s usually taciturn face brightened. He turned. “I could?”
    â€œYes.” Emmett’s eyes narrowed. “I’ll have to turn things over to you one day,” he added. “You might as well know one end of a rope from the other when the time comes.”
    Guy felt as if he’d been offered a new start with his father. It was a good feeling. Guy looked at his siblings. “I’ll go,” he said, his expression warning them that they’d better agree.
    Amy and Polk stood close together. “I guess it would be nice to have you at home all the time, Emmett,” Amy said softly. “It would be ’specially nice if you didn’t have to ride any more mean horses.”
    â€œWe don’t want you to die, Dad,” Polk agreed solemnly. “You’re sort of all we’ve got.”
    Emmett’s lean face hardened. “Maybe you’re sort of all I’ve got, too. Ever think of it like that?”
    Guy looked uncomfortable and Polk just smiled. But Amy slid onto his lap and hugged him. She looked up with soft, loving eyes. “I’m glad you’re our daddy, Emmett,” she said.
    At that moment, so was he. Very, very glad.
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    It couldn’t last, of course, all that peace and affection. They moved to Jacobsville and they hadn’t been in the big sprawling ranch house two hours when the cook started screaming bloody murder and ran out of the house with her apron over her head.
    â€œWhat’s the matter?” Emmett called.
    â€œThere’s a snake in the sink! There’s a snake in the sink!”
    â€œOh, for God’s sake, woman, what kind of snake is it?” Emmett grumbled absently, more concerned about the books he’d been going over than this gray-haired woman’s hysterics over some small reptile.
    â€œIt’s twenty feet long!”
    â€œThis is Texas,” Emmett explained patiently. “There aren’t any twenty-foot-long snakes here. You’re