Читать книгу Sunrise Crossing - Jodi Thomas - Страница 11

CHAPTER FIVE

Peace

TORI WALKED THE rocky ground behind Parker’s house near Crossroads. The land didn’t look good for much as far as farming. One field near the road was plowed, but the rest seemed like it had always grown wild. Whoever built this house had wanted peace, she decided. The front porch faced the morning sun. Trees had been planted in a circle out back years ago and now offered a small meadow of shade.

She already loved it here. Her mind had settled, and she could feel herself growing stronger. When—or if—her stepfather found her, she wouldn’t be the same person as she had been two weeks ago when she vanished.

She was twenty-four, and it was time she took control of her own life. She should have done it years ago, but her mother kept saying that her new husband, Tori’s stepfather, knew best. He was a businessman, and he would run everything so that all Tori would have to do was paint. When Tori had protested again, at nineteen, her mother had reminded her of how the mixing of business and art had driven Tori’s father mad. He’d loved being the carpenter, working with his hands, but when his carvings began to sell for thousands, he lost the simple joy in creating.

Tori had backed off, letting her mother win, again. And again. And again. Letting her mother and stepfather handle the business side of her career so she could paint. Only lately she’d felt like a factory, always pushed to produce.

She twirled in the meadow. “Freedom,” she yelled, then laughed.

Maybe she’d paint today. Maybe she’d sleep in the sun. Maybe she’d go visit the man at the edge of town who called her Rabbit.

But, no matter what, she’d do what she wanted to do. She’d live her own life.