Hope by Barbara Goss (best novels for beginners .txt) 📕

and she runs this house like a well-oiled clock.” Joseph pushed his plate away. “I just don’t have the appetite I once had.”

“You need to eat, Father.”

Joseph pulled his plate back and ate a bit more. “So, when do I get to meet your wife?”

Daniel wasn’t sure how much he should tell his father, knowing how much he worried.

“I told her I’d be back for her when I had a place for her to live.”

“You can bring her here. The house is plenty big enough,” Joseph said. “When I die, it will all be yours, anyway.”

Daniel kept eating. He wondered how he should answer. Should he tell his father that the marriage was in name only? He probably should, but his father’s next words stopped him.

“I can’t wait to meet her. I know I don’t have long to live, and I hoped to see you happily married before I passed on. God willing, of course.”

“I’m not sure… you see, our marriage wasn’t your average man and woman fall in love and marry story. We married for convenience on the trail and we’re not really—”

“Does the marriage have problems? Is that what’s wrong?”

“Well, not exactly.”

“Daniel, I’m your father, and I can read you like a book. You’re in love with this woman and don’t even know it. I want you to bring her here and get to know her better.”

“I’m not sure it’s love, but I am fond of her.”

“Does she love you?”

Daniel shrugged. “She seems to like me.”

“Daniel, are you telling me she doesn’t love you?”

“She seems to care for me, but I don’t think it’s love.”

“Daniel, I’m so confused.”

“Father, I’m not sure how I feel, but I do miss her. She was my right hand for months and she’s such a sweet, honest, wholesome person. You’d love her. But don’t forget, I’m still mourning for Nancy.”

“What’s your plan?”

Daniel toyed with the peas in his stew. “In order to convince her to marry me so I could get to you faster, I promised her twenty acres of your land and a small cottage.”

“If you don’t eat all your stew, Esther will think you didn’t like it.”

Daniel continued to eat. “It’s delicious.”

“Bring your wife here and tell her the deal is still on, but she can stay here, in my house, in the meantime.”

Daniel shook his head. “I don’t think she’ll come. It wasn’t part of the deal.”

“Rest here for a few days, and then I want you to go to get her. I’ll handle things. Trust me.”

“What should I tell her to convince her to come?”

“The truth. Your father is dying, and he wants to meet her before he does.”

“Is there no hope for your recovery, then?”

His father sighed. “None. I’m afraid my lung disease has progressed too far.”

Joseph started coughing again, and when he removed the handkerchief from his mouth, Daniel saw blood on it. He cringed.

“What’s your wife’s name?”

“Hope.”

“How appropriate.” He coughed again, only this time it didn’t stop. He coughed again and again, each time harder than the last.

Daniel didn’t know what to do for him. He stood and patted his back. “What can I do for you?”

His father pointed to the brown bottle. “It soothes.”

Daniel spooned out the medicine to give it to his father.

“Thank you, son.”

“I’ll bring Hope here.”

Daniel met Sam, who he discovered did all the work around the farm, along with four men who assisted him. They grew all their own vegetables, and Joseph had planted fruit trees, so in a few years, they’d have fruit as well. He'd purchased a few heads of cattle, a cow for milk, and chickens for eggs. Daniel could see that, before his father had gotten sick, he'd made the place into a self-sustaining farm. Esther kept the house clean, cooked, and did laundry. He found out the money from what food they sold was enough to pay for the salaries.

It felt good to rest after months of traveling. He couldn’t get enough of Esther’s cooking, and when she’d noticed his enthusiastic appetite, she went overboard to make more outstanding dishes.

During the day, he visited with his father to play cards or checkers with him. He hated the coughing spells, but he wanted to spend as much time with him as he could. Joseph tired easily, so Daniel explored the house and farm while his father slept.

While he rested, he thought of ways to approach Hope with the idea of coming home with him. What would she say? How disappointed would his father be if things didn’t work out for them and they had the marriage annulled?

After three days of rest and his father’s prodding, he left for Oregon City. He hated that his father kept reminding him of his impending death.

Chapter Twelve

Picking vegetables from the garden was the chore Hope disliked the most on the farm. She hated getting her fingernails dirty, but she had to dig out the carrots. While she worked, she thought about her time on the wagon train. Though it was a tough journey, she wouldn’t want to repeat, there had been some enjoyable moments.

She thought about how much she'd disliked Daniel at first, and how he’d redeemed himself long before the end of the trip. And now, here she was, married to him—at least for the time being. Anna kept hinting that her melancholy was due to missing Daniel. She did miss him, but she wasn’t in love with him. That she missed Daniel wouldn’t last, she was sure of it. What was causing her gloominess was living with strangers so far from home; that had to be the cause.

One reason she knew she could never let herself fall in love with Daniel