Read Online The Glorious Prodigal by Gilbert Morris - Free Book Online Page B

sobering one for Leah Winslow. Her treasures, she knew full well, were not jewelry or clothes or a house, but a husband, a child, and a family. And now as she began to work up a lather on Raimey’s hair, already as dark as his father’s, she thought of those aspects of her marriage that she could cherish. Since Stuart’s last escapade on their first anniversary, he had made an effort to change his ways, and she was grateful for that. But it seemed as though five months were as long as he could manage to stay sober. Even now he was beginning to be drawn away more and more to his old ways. And so Leah reminisced over the good memories and shoved the bad ones off into a dark corner of her mind. Some memories pleased her—the times Stuart was kind and thoughtful and loving. Indeed, there had been many moments like that which had made her happy and joyful after she had recovered from Raimey’s birth. It had been a time of joy for Leah such as she had never dreamed. Her cheeks had glowed, her eyes had sparkled, and everyone in the house and all of Stuart’s family and her friends at church had remarked at how wonderful it was that Stuart Winslow had at last grown up.
    But Leah had known that deep down something was missing in Stuart. True enough he loved her and had been more thoughtful, but for the last two months she had sensed a drawing away, and she dreaded the thought that he was falling back into his old life-style.
    Annie interrupted her thoughts. “You let me take care of that young’un. You go get yourself ready.”
    “All right, Annie. Be sure you powder him good.”
    “You teach your grandmaw to suck eggs?” Annie said with sprightly disdain. “I reckon I knows how to take care of a young’un, since I got four of my own.”
    “I know. I was just teasing, Annie.” Leah hugged Annie and then left the room, saying, “Put on his blue suit. He looks so good in that.”
    Going into the bathroom, she quickly bathed her face andfixed her hair. Then going to her bedroom, she took off the worn brown dress that was so comfortable and slipped into the new one she had worn only twice. It was an expensive dress, a gift from her mother-in-law, made of fine dotted voile. It had a deep collar and cuffs of sheer organdy, and the colors were a light delicate green with gold checks within. She was admiring herself in the mirror when the door opened and Stuart came in.
    He grunted, “I got Merle hitchin’ up the team.” He stopped suddenly and said, “I don’t feel up to going to eat with the folks. You take Raimey and go on.”
    Leah’s heart sank and she turned to him, studying his face. His eyes were bloodshot, for he hadn’t returned until three in the morning after a late-night engagement with a band in Fort Smith.
    “Stuart, you’ve got to go,” she said. “Everyone’s expecting you.”
    Stuart rubbed his stubby cheeks and shook his head, saying with irritation, “I wouldn’t be good company.”
    “You’ll feel better. You go shave, and I’ll fix you a snack to eat.”
    Stuart’s jaw set stubbornly. “I don’t feel like having Dad preach at me. That’s all I ever hear out of him. ‘Why don’t you straighten up?’ What does he want out of me, anyway?”
    “Things have been going better lately. He’s proud of the way you’ve taken hold here at the farm.”
    “He’s always at me to come into the business. I can’t stand there selling beans and horse collars to a bunch of farmers all day long every day. That may be all right for Jeff, but I’m not cut out for it.”
    It was an old argument, for Richard Winslow could not give up his dream of having both of his sons in the business with him. Already Jeff had taken over as manager of the store in Fort Smith, which was growing rapidly. He boarded there now but came home on the weekends and as often as he could. This left Richard to run the store in Lewisville, andhe was struggling to open another one over at Twin Oaks. He was having trouble finding