Kentucky Rich by Fern Michaels Page B

one eye, and she can’t talk or eat and is fed through her veins. Why doesn’t God take her?”
    Nealy shivered. “I don’t know the answer, Jess. I guess He wants us to keep her a while longer. You aren’t thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you?” Nealy demanded as she grabbed the old man’s arm and swung him around to face her. He slipped in the wet snow, but her young arms held him steady until he was upright.
    â€œIt’s what Maud wants, Nealy.” His voice was so flat, so dead-sounding, Nealy grew light-headed.
    â€œNo!” The single exclamation exploded into the frosty air. “Don’t even think about that, Jess. They’ll lock you up. You can’t . . . Damn it, no! Oh God, you aren’t . . . you weren’t . . . Jess, no!” Nealy cried. “I can’t do this alone. I need you. Emmie needs you. Please. Don’t . . . Maud isn’t of sound mind right now. You aren’t either. I’ll tell. I swear to God I’ll tell.”
    â€œIt’s what Maud wants. I always do what she wants. I can’t stand seeing her like she is. She isn’t my Maud anymore. She doesn’t even look like herself.”
    â€œIf . . . if . . . you do . . . anything, I swear to God, I’ll take Emmie and leave. I will, Jess. I’ve never been alone before. I need you. Emmie needs you. I think Maud looks forward to Emmie’s visits to her room. Promise me.”
    â€œCan’t do that. Don’t you be badgering me now. Shouldn’t you be fetching Emmie from the barns?”
    â€œEmmie knows the way to the house. She’s been coming and going for years, and you know it. If you want to be alone, just say you want to be alone. I’ll go back to the house. The snow is pretty, isn’t it?”
    â€œMaud always loved the first snowfall of the year. Snow don’t make me no never mind. I like warm weather.” He reached out to shake the snow from a yew branch as much as to say, see, I told you I don’t like this white stuff.
    â€œMaybe I’ll make Maud a snowball and take it up on a plate for her to see it. I can ask the nurse to wheel her bed over to the window so she can see the snow falling. What do you think, Jess?” Nealy asked.
    â€œDon’t bother. Here comes Emmie. Take her up to the house. I’m going down to the barns. How’s the filly doing?”
    â€œShe’s doing just fine. She isn’t the one, Jess. I’d know if she was. I thought you didn’t care.”
    â€œDon’t.” He returned Emmie’s exuberant hug before he walked down to the barn. Nealy felt her heart thump in her chest at the way he shuffled and his shoulders slumped. She had to shift into neutral now and take care of her daughter.
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    Nealy looked at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t ever remember looking this bad before. The dark circles under her eyes were almost as dark as her eyes themselves. There were hollows in her cheeks that hadn’t been there prior to Maud’s stroke. Pulling her dark curly hair back into a ponytail seemed to accentuate the hollows. Maybe she should let her hair down, but if she did that, it got in her way. She was more tired than she’d ever been in her life, even when her pa had worked her eighteen hours a day. It was the lack of sleep and eating on the run that was making her look like a ghost of herself, according to Carmela, who clucked her tongue and chased after her with plates of food she only picked at. She simply wasn’t hungry. Sleeping was something she used to do but not now. She spent half the night in Maud’s room watching Jess while the nurse dozed in her chair.
    She walked up behind Jess’s chair and placed her hands on his shoulders. She sniffed. He was wearing the same clothes four days in a row. Carmela had told her all he’d eaten in the past days was half an apple and some saltine crackers. It was