The Baby Race by Elysa Hendricks Page B

drink and listened to her speak with Clarence. The man's
tone and harsh demeanor softened as he spoke to her.
    "So I sold off all the livestock," he
finished his story, "but Blue belonged to my boys. No one but the
glue factory would want the old nag. Couldn't do that. Larry and
Mark both loved the critter. Learned to ride on him."
    Tears glistened in Clarence's milky eyes. His
head nodded and his eyelids dropped. "I'm tired. Time for you to
leave."
    Claire leaned over and pressed her lips to
his dry wrinkled cheek. "Thank you for the lemonade and
conversation. You rest. I'll be back tomorrow and we'll talk
more."
    Clarence lifted his thin age-spotted hand. It
trembled as his touched Claire's face. "You're a sweet girl. Missus
always wanted a girl. Died trying to birth us one. So long ago, but
it seems like yesterday." His eyes fell shut.
    Claire lifted a finger to her lips and led
Race toward the door.
    Once outside, he inhaled deeply of the fresh
clean air.
    "Crazy old coot," Race grumbled.
    "He's just lonesome."
    "It's his own fault. He drives people away
from him. Lashes out at everyone even his son."
    "Pain and fear can make people act in strange
ways. After his older son died, he crawled into his cave to lick
his wounds. He's like one of your horses, frightened and alone. He
needs love and kindness to coax him back into the word.
    The sympathy in her voice touched a cord in
Race's heart. Suddenly, his self-imposed isolation no longer seemed
like a safe retreat from a hostile world, rather a cold and lonely
prison.
     
     
    ~~~~~

CHAPTER EIGHT
     
     
    "I'll bring you by tomorrow." Race didn't
sound pleased by the prospect of returning, but he continued, "I
want to take a closer look at old Blue. While I'm in the barn, I
can see to some of those repairs."
    Claire sighed. "I should have known your
concern would be for the horse rather than the old man."
    "He'll be fine. He's got you."
    At his simple statement, warmth crept into
her heart. Maybe, like Clarence, all Race needed was kindness to
bring him out of his cave.
    "What time?" he asked.
    "Would three o'clock be okay? That way I can
bring him a casserole for his supper." She glanced at her watch.
"Could you drop me at your grandmother's house? I was supposed to
be there thirty minutes ago. Rats. I'm not dressed appropriately.
Well, at least I'm clean."
    Race frowned, but turned the truck toward the
Reed mansion. "What are you going there for?"
    She could hear the suspicion and subdued
anger in his question.
    "Since the fund raiser, we've been meeting
twice a week for tea. Grandmere is a fascinating storyteller. I
love hearing about you as a boy."
    "At sixteen, I was hardly a boy when I came
to live with Jackson. Amelia doesn't know anything about my
childhood."
    "Where did you live with your mother?" Before
she could censor herself, the question slipped out. She braced
herself for his reaction. She'd learned early that he disliked
talking about his past.
    During her conversations with Cindy, Cindy
had let slip the fact that Race's mother had been anything but
maternal. Race's childhood had been at best difficult. Even Jackson
didn't know all of what Race had endured as a child. On the rare
occasion Race spoke of his mother, it was to defend her. But his
loyalty told Claire more about him than it did about the woman who
bore him.
    Instead of telling her to mind her own
business or retreating into silence, Race answered. His voice was
low and filled with angry pain.
    "Seems like we lived everywhere and nowhere.
Like your parents, my mother had the wanderlust. No matter where we
were, someplace else always looked better to her. I'd just get
settled in one dingy apartment with her current boyfriend - Mom was
never without at least one male companion - and she'd be looking to
move on to the next.
    "Unfortunately, other than Jackson, Mom had
lousy taste in men. He was the one man I think she truly loved, at
least as much as she was capable of loving anyone other