Free Linda Ford by Once Upon a Thanksgiving

pressed his hands over hers.
    “Once you hear my story you will agree I can’t stay. You won’t want me to.”
    “Can anything be that terrible?”
    He nodded.
    “My father—” His gaze shifted past her.
    She waited. A cold trickle snaked across her shoulders. What could possibly make him so tense?
    “My father was a good man.” His snort of laughter was mocking. “At one time. He worked in a mill. Liked his work until a new owner bought the place. The new man expected his employees to work unreasonable hours. He took shortcuts that were dangerous. My father—” Word by word, Buck’s voice grew moreand more harsh. “He was injured at the mill. Broke his leg and was laid up for months. His leg never healed right. When he tried to go back to work, the mill owner said they had no room for cripples.”
    “Oh, Buck. How dreadful.”
    He grimaced. “It gets worse.” Again his gaze sought distant places where she could not follow. “My mother got ill and needed medicine that Pa couldn’t afford. He begged for his job or any job. Again and again he got turned away. One night Ma was suffering so. It was awful to watch. Pa walked about, angry and cursing God and the mill owner. Then he dashed from the house.” The breath Buck sucked in seemed to go on forever. “He didn’t come home that night. We didn’t know until morning what happened. Our pa—” Buck’s words were whispered agony. “Took an axe and killed the mill owner.”
    “Buck.” It was a mere breath of a word. “Oh, Buck.” Kathleen’s heart had stopped beating. Her lungs had stopped drawing in air. The horror of Buck’s experience filtered through a red and purple haze of shock.
    “He hanged for it. Ma died. And Rosie and I—her only thirteen, me a year younger—were run out of town.”
    She sobbed once. Wave after wave of shock coursed through her body.
    “The first town of many we were chased from. Rosie and her children deserve a chance to be accepted here. I could ruin that for them. That’s why I have to leave before anyone finds out.”
    His words brought an abrupt end to her anguished shock. “Why must you leave? You’re a good man. Let people learn that.”
    He grabbed her shoulders. “Am I? Or am I my father’s son? Perhaps people have a reason to be afraid of me.”
    She caught his face between her palms and searched his gaze until she found an entrance into his thoughts. “Sins are not inherited. You are a fine, decent man whom I am honored to know.”
    His hungry look showed he wanted to believe her.
    “Buck, you are a good man. I know it, and I think you do, too.” She smiled at his look of hope. She must convince him and she leaned closer, pressed her lips to his. Startled a reaction from him. He wrapped his arms about her and pulled her close, clinging to her kiss.
    Just as quickly he withdrew, but not before she’d done her best to prove her opinion of his worth. “You’re a good man, Buck.”
    He shook his head. “Even if I believe it…even if you do, others will not. And they can make life unbearable. Believe me.”
    “Maybe you’ve never met a Sanderson before. If my father decrees you should be accepted, do you really think anyone in town will argue?” Not that she was naive enough to think everyone agreed with her father. Only that they were careful about how they expressed their differences. Nor did she think she could convince her father to change his opinion about Buckwithout some very convincing arguments that she would do her best to formulate.
    Buck chuckled. “I see there are advantages to having a rich, powerful father. However—”
    “I’d like for you to stay. Give it some thought.” She was certain his feelings for her were growing as quickly as hers for him. God willing, it would be enough to persuade him to confront his past and put it to rest.
    Buck edged the wagon forward and turned them about. “I better get you home before your father comes looking for you.”
    In a few minutes