Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100853 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
“She did learn from a master,” I said, and Miss Martha smiled.
We reached the library, and Miss Martha took the seat opposite the armchair I usually sat in. I grabbed the remote and started the fireplace, grateful yet again that my father had switched some of the wood-burning fireplaces over to gas. There was nothing like the smell of a wood-burning fire, but in my mind, it still didn’t beat the convenience of clicking a button and having dancing flames warm the room immediately.
“Now, Ford, what is this about?” She looked at me and then Paige in question, and I stalled, not sure exactly what to say.
Paige saved me the trouble. “There’s something I didn’t tell anyone when I came here,” she said. Miss Martha went stiff, her eyes narrowing. Paige shook her head. “Griffen and Hope know everything now. I, um, well, my mother died not long before I took the job here, and when I was packing up her house to sell it…”
Paige explained what she’d found and why she’d come to Heartstone. While she was talking, Savannah rolled in the tea cart, a plate of shortbread beside the teapot, cups, and saucers. She might have been curious about the conversation, but she didn’t linger, serving the tea and withdrawing before Paige was finished explaining how she’d found the letters and picture of Sarah.
“So, you think your father, this Paul Williams, is the man our Sarah ran off with?” Miss Martha asked, leveling a concerned look at me.
“That’s what we’d like to find out,” I said.
“I’m not sure how much help I can be,” Miss Martha said. “Sarah and I were close.” She looked to me with soft eyes. “She and your father were a terrible fit. Though, to be honest, I’m not sure who would have been a good fit for your father. Maybe that viper you married.”
“Probably,” I agreed. “She could have saved us all a lot of heartache if she’d just gone after him in the first place.”
Miss Martha shook her head. “Normally, I hate to speak ill of the dead, but not when it comes to Prentice. The problem there is that he always liked the gentle. I always thought he enjoyed dominating them, using up all that soft and leaving them broken.” Miss Martha let out a sigh, heavy with sorrow. “Your mother struggled in this house. She loved you boys so much. But Prentice was all hard edges and cruelty. Sarah needed love.” She picked up her cup of tea and sipped. Finally, she said, “I knew she found someone, but not who she was seeing.”
“But there was another man?” I pressed.
Miss Martha nodded slowly. “There was a lightness to her. It started not long after you were born. I didn’t know a Paul Williams,” she said, looking to Paige. “I’m sorry. Back then, Prentice did a lot of business from the house. There were people coming and going all the time. If they stayed, I knew who they were. But those who didn’t spend the night in the house, the ones who stayed in town or visited for a meeting and left again, I didn’t always know. Sarah was home more often than not in those years. She didn’t have a nanny or work outside the home, so she spent most of her time with her boys. If she met someone, it was probably a business associate of Prentice’s. But like I said, I never had a name, just a suspicion. She didn’t confide in me about that. I’d say we trusted each other, but…that’s a secret she would have done everything to keep.”
“Were you surprised when she left?” I asked.
Miss Martha let out a long sigh, and for the first time, I saw her years on her face. “Oh, Ford, surprise doesn’t cover it. When I say she loved you and your brother, I mean she loved you so fiercely. I never understood how she could have left. But then there was your father. He made her life a misery. And Sawyers Bend wasn’t like it is now, with West in charge. There was nowhere for her to go. You understand? No one to help her.”
“You’re saying he hurt her?” Paige asked quietly, and Miss Martha nodded.
“He did. Not so that she went to the hospital, not so that any bruises showed. Your father was a clever man, if not a good one.”
“Did he ever hurt the children?” Paige asked carefully, shooting a sidelong look at me.
“No, no. Not with his hands. With his words… Well, he hurt everyone with his words—children were no exception. But he never— Unless—” Horror washed over her face as her eyes flashed to me.
I shook my head. “Not when I was little. When we were older and could take it.” I shrugged, remembering the occasional slap or hit, once a fist to the face. I summed it up with the plain truth. “All of us learned early how to stay on the right side of Prentice’s fists.”