A McKaslin Homecoming (The McKaslin Clan) Read Free Page B

back.”
    His boots knelled against the wood steps and the wraparound porch. A screen door squeaked open somewhere at the side of the house.
    The pressure in her chest increased. Was she upset by this stranger’s kindness? Or from memories, unseen and without shape, remembered in her heart? And why? Why had it always remained a blank? Mom refused to talk about the past. Refused to say if there were any siblings, a father, cousins,aunts and uncles, grandparents left behind. People that might have mattered to her.
    Caleb’s steps approached her from behind with an easygoing cadence. She heard ice tinkling in a glass. “Here.”
    She stared at the tall glass of lemonade he offered. The scent was bright and sour-sweet as he lowered the glass into her hand.
    “You’re still not looking too well. Did you drive straight through?”
    She shook her head. Took the glass. Stared at the lemony goodness. Here was the edge of that memory. She tasted the lemonade and already knew the flavorful and sweet-tart taste before it hit her tongue. Frustrated, she wished there was more to her recollection.
    “You rest here. Rehydrate.” Caleb rose. He remained behind her, out of her sight, but his presence was substantial all the same. “I’ll take your bags out to the carriage house.”
    It had been a long time since anyone had helped her. “Thanks, Caleb.”
    “Sure thing.” Then he was gone, leaving her alone with the glass of lemonade.
    Maybe her lack of memory was a sign.Her mind had buried something so deep on purpose—to protect her or because it hadn’t mattered. She wanted answers, but what if she didn’t like what she found out?
    I could get hurt.
    Uncertainty and regret swirled into a black mass in the middle of her stomach. Her hands began to tremble, sloshing the lemonade around in the tall cool glass.
    What would her grandmother think of her? Would there be disappointment on her face? Would she, like her daughter, Lauren’s mother, find so much to criticize?
    So many worries. She would give them to the Lord. She took a shaky breath, trying to pull herself together. Hot wind breezed against her face like a touch, reminding her of where she was. The drum of a man’s sure and leisurely gait knelled on the porch boards behind her. She could feel the vibration of his steps roll through her.
    Lauren couldn’t exactly say why she was so aware of Caleb’s Stone presence.
    He sat next to her and shaded his eyes with one broad, sun-browned hand. He gazed down the long stretch of gravel driveway. “You feel a little nervous about all this?”
    “Something like that.” Although nervous didn’t begin to describe it. As nice as Caleb seemed, he was a stranger to her, and she didn’t feel comfortable talking about something so private. Time to change the subject. “The horses are all right?”
    “I’ve got to get back and give them a rub down and a little water, but I had to see to you first. It can’t be easy coming back after all these years.”
    “Coming back? I don’t remember this place at all. Nothing.”
    “You were pretty young when you left.”
    “When my mother took me.” There was a difference. All she could remember was crying and then choking on her own sobs, bouncing around on the vinyl backseat of her mom’s 1962 Ford as they drove away forever. She’d been two. She could still hear her mom’s voice, trembling with that high, nervous tone she had when everything was going wrong. “We’re meant for better things, you and me. You’ll see, sweetness.”
    Better things had been a long string of shabby apartments—and sometimes worse—until Lauren had struck out on her own. Ina way, she’d always been alone. She didn’t mind it. She’d never known anything else.
    He broke into her thoughts. “I’m a good friend with your brother. Spence. I know your sisters real well.”
    “Then you’re not only a neighbor, but a family friend.”
    “You could say that.”
    But what wasn’t he saying, Lauren