Forever in texas.. Create lists, bibliographies and reviews: or Search WorldCat. Find items in libraries near you. Advanced Search Find a. Jodi Thomas is a fifth-generation Texan, whose grandmother was born in Texas in a covered wagon. She has a master's degree in Family Studies. Thomas married Tom Koumalats and spent several years travelling while he served in the United States Army. Forever in Texas - Kindle edition by Thomas, Jodi. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets.
Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.
Jove Books are published by the Berkley Publishing Group. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
The northbound out of Dallas was being delayed for some reason. Two men in wet-darkened yellow slickers stood guard at each end of the walkway leading to the train. Only a ghost could pass them unnoticed.
Absently, she opened the carpetbag at her side and stroked the warm fur of her cat, resting within. The old calico was the only living thing who would miss her when Hannah died. A lone man, draped in a huge greatcoat and wide-brimmed Stetson, jumped from one of the passenger cars and moved in fluid steps away from the train. Lightning flashes made him disappear and reappear every few seconds as he drew closer to Hannah.
He crossed the street with his hat down against the rain and entered the hotel door only inches from where Hannah stood hidden between buildings. An idea washed through her mind, helping her forget the cold. Do whatever you have to do, but survive. Hannah wondered if that might include killing a man before this storm ended. There was no sense getting angry about the delay. But he was tired of waiting with the others in the crowded passenger car.
He needed space and silence, even if he had to brave the storm to get it. Two men stood on the platform in the rain, as though watching for something or someone. Sanford could see rifles beneath their slickers and wondered what kind of trouble would come riding in on a night like this.
It might be snowing farther north, but the freezing downpour in Dallas was enough to keep the devil indoors tonight. Raising the brim of his hat just enough to see the outline of an old hotel across the street, he headed in long strides toward it, needing desperately to be alone.
Being trapped in a car with drunks, loud salesmen, chattery old women, and babies continually crying had proven to be too disagreeable an ending to an already horrible day. Silence was what he needed, Ford thought. Though Ford was his only son, his father had preferred to see him only when necessary.
His sister, Gavrila, however, had warned him Dallas and Fort Worth would be full of wickedness. Not that it mattered, since he was the only one on the floor, yet Ford liked order. Without sparking a light, he removed his gun belt and hung it on the iron bedpost. Guessing the sheets would be less than clean, he took off his coat and stretched his long frame out atop the covers.
The room was as dark as his mood. The whole town of Saints Roost was depending on him. The council had made it seem so simple.
All Ford had to do was hire a new schoolteacher. Ford closed his eyes, not caring about the storm. Your nose is too big and your chin too square. Sanford, just the way you stand, so still and all, makes chills spread up my spine. And you never say anything. Ford let the memories flow in the darkness of this cheap room, as if the walls could no longer hold them out like his foot-thick bricks could at home.
When everyone else would stand around talking, Ford would only watch. Most people were like his sister, who talked at him and never to him. Until he was twenty, his bones looked like they threatened to break the skin. Finally, Ford matured. His body filled out with muscles from hard work, and his hands and feet seemed to fit his tall frame.
His face, however, never adjusted with age. Only two had met the qualifications necessary and were willing to take over in the middle of a school year. Before he could interview one, however, she decided to marry, and the other had refused to go to the Texas panhandle. He wished he could have bent the rules and hired one of the remaining applicants, but the school board was adamant in their requirements…eight years of schooling and one year of higher education, plus unmarried, highly principled, well groomed, and of course, Methodist, since Saints Roost was a Methodist town.
By the time a woman collected all those qualities, she was either planning a wedding or too set in her ways to travel. The muffled sound of a cat meowing whispered through the blackness.
0コメント