Magnolia Sky
Chapter One
The freezing February rain beat steadily on the roof of Luke
Boudreau's old Taurus. Through the water-spotted glass, he watched
the winter-stripped trees mimic his own unsettled insides as they
jerked and twisted in the gusty wind. He hunched a little deeper
into his jacket collar and rubbed his chilled fingers against his
thighs. Mississippi was the South, for God's sake, the Magnolia
State. How could it be so damn cold?
He'd been parked here on this levee, watching the storm punish a
broad, sweeping bend in the Tallahatchie River for the past hour.
The rain slanted in silvery sheets. The clouds hung so low and gray
that, despite the fact it was mid-morning, an artificial twilight
encompassed Luke's solitary torment.
The moment he'd been both dreading and anticipating for the past
five months had come. In all that time, he'd debated long and hard
about what he would say, yet had found no words to convey his
regret.
This morning he'd changed his clothes between civilian and army
uniform three times before leaving his motel in black pants, a sport
coat and tie-funeral clothes. He came to Mississippi as a man, not a ... read full excerpt from Magnolia Sky ebook
