Sherryl Woods - About That Man

T he whole town of Trinity Harborprobably the whole state of Virginiawas buzzing like a swarm of bees, and whose fault was it? His daughters. Robert King Spencer slammed down the phone for what had to be the fifteenth time that morning and rued the day hed ever bred such an ungrateful lot of kids.

Daisy, of all people, his beautiful, headstrong, but previously sensible thirty-year-old daughter, was stirring up gossip like a rebellious teenager. It was exasperating. No, King thought, it went beyond that. It was humiliating.

He had half a mind to go charging over to her place and put a stop to things before she tarnished the Spencer name with her shenanigans, but hed learned his lesson on that score. A father interfered in his childrens lives at his own peril. Better to handle things from the sidelines, subtly.

King could all but hear the laughter of his family and friends at that. It was true, subtlety wasnt exactly his style. Never had been, but for once he could see the value in using other people to do his dirty work. His sons, for instance.

Tucker and Bobby ought to be able to straighten out this mess. Tucker was the sheriff, for goodness sakes. Maybe he could wave that badge of his around and get Daisy to see reason.

King sighed. Not likely. Tucker took his duties seriously. He wasnt likely to use his office to carry out his daddys personal wishes. And Bobbywell, Bobby was an enigma to him. No telling what he would doprobably the exact opposite of what King wanted.

That was the way it had been lately. Not one of his children paid a bit of attention to him, or to their Southern heritage. What kind of respect could a man expect in his golden years if his own children went around stirring up the kind of trouble Daisy had gotten herself into?

Respect was important to a man. King had always liked being a mover and shaker in Trinity Harbor. He figured he deserved it, since his very own ancestors had wandered over from Jamestown to start the town. That pretty much gave him the right to have his say about everything that went on, from raising Black Angus cattle or growing soybeans to politics. Most people actually listened. Being a Spencer in this town still meant something. Or it had until a few hours ago.

Nope, it was clear that Daisy didnt give two hoots for tradition or bloodlines or any of the other things that made the South great. She was just hell-bent on getting her own way, no matter what it did to her daddy, her brothers or the family reputation.

It was her mothers fault, of course. Mary Margaret God rest her soulwas the one with the modern ideas. Let her shoulder the blame for Daisys behavior, even if she had been dead for twenty years. She should have done somethingthough he couldnt say whatbefore she went and abandoned them all.

Since Mary Margaret wasnt around to fix things, though, it was up to King to save Daisy from herself. He prided himself on being clever when clever was called for, and today certainly seemed to be one of those days. He had the headache to prove it.

D aisy Spencer had always wanted children. She just hadnt expected to wind up stealing one.

Okay, that was a slight exaggeration. She hadnt exactly stolen Tommy Flanagan. The way she saw it, nobody wanted the boy. His father was long gone and his pitiful, frail mother had had the misfortune to die in the recent flu epidemic. The story was the talk of Trinity Harbor and had been for weeks now.

While they searched for relatives, Social Services had placed Tommy with three different foster families in as many weeks, but Tommy wouldnt stay put. He was scared and angry and about as receptive to love as that vicious old rooster Daisys father insisted on keeping over at Cedar Hill.

Despite all that, Daisys heart just about broke when she thought of all the pain that ten-year-old had gone through. She figured she had more than enough love to spare for the little boy whod been one of her brightest Sunday school students, a boy who was suddenly all alone in the world, a boy whod lost his faith in God on the day his mother died.