Read Nolan for Free Online Page A

were just cubs that it nearly tore into my heart. And that Howie
would be egging you on like he was a ref in a big game. Never saw a man take on
like he did when you…I don’t think he’s changed a bit either, has he?”
    “No. He’s still as ornery as ever. He usually
started the fights by saying this or that about us. Working up things when they
were not suiting him.” Nolan laughed, and she touched her fingers to his cheek.
“This girl, she’s not had an easy time with it. They don’t have any money from
what Shane said, and they’re struggling every week, he said, to have—”
    “Shane Cole? And his aunt is Rylee McClure? They
live down on Jefferson?” Nolan nodded, his cat ready to pounce should he need
it. “Why, my goodness, you sure do know how to pick them. That girl has been
working at my house now about…I guess it’s been about six months. She’s been
helping me out around the house with some of the cleaning. They needed…boy, you
know it when you say she’s having some money problems. They got them a powerful
bunch of them. And a neighbor that might need some dealing with. You should go
on down there and take care of him soon.”
    “I’ll do that today. I’ll explain a few
things to him. How bad is it, Mrs. Jacobs? I mean, I need to help her out. I
have to help them.” He made a mental note to go and talk to the neighbor today,
before he went home. Looking back at Mrs. Jacobs, he could see that she looked
so sad in the moment, and he took her hand into his. “Tell me.”
    “Shelby, her sister, had been married to
this…I’m only calling him a man because he had the equipment to be one, not
that I thought he was one. No man should…well, that’s for later. Or for her to
tell you. Anyway, about the time Shelby found out she was carrying that boy, he
came along and tells her right out that he don’t love her anymore. Never had,
he said to her.” Nolan asked her how she knew that. “Her mother was in my
sewing circle. Nicest woman to come along. Anyway, she tells me about this man
and his demands. Shelby was to never bother him for support or he’d take everything
that she had, which at the time was a little bit. She was not to try and claim
that boy of hers was his, either, or he’d make her life a living hell. And to
say that he did would be a gross misunderstanding of the word hell. That man
did things to them that made me so mad, I wanted to go and find that man and
tear into him. But Cindy, Rylee’s mom, just told me to wait, he’d get his.”
    “So that explains why there is no father’s
name on Shane’s birth certificate. And did he get his? I certainly hope so.”
She shook her head. “Do you know him? Because I’m betting I can get him to get
his.”
    “You do that. His name is David Cole. And
when that boy was born, no more than a minute old, he came charging into the
hospital and made her sign off on all forms of support from him. Even wanted
her to sign off on the fact that she’d had an affair and that it was someone
else’s kid. But she wouldn’t, and that’s what they had to endure his whole
life. David took things…well, I’m sure you’ll find out sooner or later, but
they didn’t have a pot to piss in and no insurance. Not even sure they could
have afforded it should they have had the inkling to have it. The lawyer fees
just about took them under. Every time he had it in his head that something
wasn’t to his liking, he’d take her to court. Not about the boy, no sir, but
about everything else. Took them everything to stay out of jail a couple of
times.”
    “He tried to ruin her and that boy.” It
wasn’t a question, but she nodded her answer anyway. “And for what reason? That
he could? It was fun for him? What a bastard. I’ll have Joey look into it, I
think. And then she got sick. What did he do then?”
    “There wasn’t any money for doctors, so
she…they didn’t catch it until it was too late. When Cindy died a few months
before Shelby