Hallie's Destiny (The Donovans of the Delta) by Peggy Webb

breeze, the distant mating call of a meadowlark.
    “I understand your reasons for the initial deceit, Josh. But why did you continue the charade? Especially after . . .” She paused, seeking the right words.
    “. . . after the bluebonnets?”
    His voice was like a caress. She could feel its velvety texture on her skin.
    “Yes, the bluebonnets.” She was glad that he’d intuitively known what she was talking about. If he’d said ‘after the kiss,’ she’d have been disappointed. Certainly their first kiss had been intimate . . . and explosive. But the day he’d brought the bluebonnets to her had been the beginning of something beautiful between them.
    “There were moments when I wanted to tell you the truth, Hallie. Especially after our day in the meadow. But I rationalized to myself that the truth would serve no purpose, since both of us had vowed our intentions of not making any commitments. The blame is entirely mine—and the guilt.”
    “So you let me believe you were a trucker for the sake of freedom?”
    “Not freedom alone.” He turned away from her for a moment and gazed into the deepening evening shadows as if he could find answers there. Slowly, he turned back to her.
    “My mother was a beautiful woman. Vital, full of life. Her name was Margaret.”
    As Josh resumed talking, Hallie realized he was telling her something that was extremely hard for him. She leaned toward him in an attitude of sympathetic understanding.
    “And?” she prompted softly.
    “My father doted on her, almost to the exclusion of his sons—George and me. I was eight and George thirteen, when a new baseball coach, Jim MacHanson, arrived at our school. Coach Mac, we called him. He was big and handsome and personable. Mother became more and more interested in our baseball games. A year later she ran off with Coach Mac. The scandal rocked the town. Dad tried for two years to get her back. I don’t know if he ever would have given up. Mac got another coaching job at a school in North Carolina. He and Mother were killed on the way to the new job.”
    Hallie reached for his hand. “How awful for you.” She couldn’t imagine life without the stability of her own loving parents.
    “Dad simply resigned from life. Until the day she was killed, I think he really believed he could somehow get her back.”
    “Where is your father now?”
    “Living with me. He’s sad and bitter, a completely broken man.”
    “Hearing me brag about the Donovan clan must have been hard for you. I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t be. Although your family sounds like the invention of Walt Disney, it was refreshing to hear that not all families conduct themselves in the way of the Butlers.”
    “One bad incident doesn’t make the family history black.”
    “How about two? George married a social climber. Janice was never satisfied with the comfortable middle-class lifestyle provided by a high school biology teacher. All George ever wanted to do was impart his love of science to children. Driven by greed and lust for social position, Janice hounded him until he gave up his job and borrowed money for a high-risk business venture. The fact that she was pregnant spurred him on. Janice persuaded him that his child needed a better life than he could provide on a teacher’s salary. He borrowed a hundred thousand dollars to invest in a small coffeehouse, which she said would be the South’s answer to the Hard Rock Café. The coffeehouse didn’t succeed. Janice filed for divorce and left town, taking the baby.”
    “Does George see his child now?”
    “He’s never sober long enough.”
    Hallie thought of her own brothers—Paul and Tanner, who were full of fun and laughter, Theo and Charles and Glover, steady and reliable as rocks, and Jacob, the lovable family vagabond. Her heart ached for Josh.
    “I’m so sorry,” she said quietly.
    “They’re my family and I love them,” he said simply. “But I take extreme precautions to avoid involvement.”
    Hallie