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

When she’d gone, Joseph motioned Daniel closer. “How did you ever rope that gal in? You sure have good taste in women, I’ll give you that.”

When Hope returned with their dinners and the dessert, she insisted on feeding the pudding to Joseph.

Daniel sat at the table and waited for her to eat. He watched Joseph enjoying his pudding. The poor man was so weak and pale, his shoulders were nothing but bone covered in skin. Still, he looked to be enjoying his dessert. When Hope gave him the last of the pudding, his violent coughing started. She quickly gave him some medicine, and he calmed and managed to sleep.

She sat down and they said grace before they ate their dinner.

“He enjoyed the dessert,” Daniel said.

“That, he did. I’m always relieved when the medicine puts him to sleep. It’s so hard on his frail body to keep hacking and hacking like that. My heart goes out to him.”

“You’d make an excellent nurse.”

Hope stretched before getting out of bed the next morning. She was eager to find out if she remembered everything Sam had taught her. She was ready to tackle the bookkeeping. There was a stack of receipts that needed posting. She dressed and went down to the kitchen to greet Sam and Esther before heading for Joseph’s room.

Daniel was outside of the room, his head against the wall.

“What’s wrong, Daniel?”

Daniel wiped the moisture from his eyes. “He’s gone.”

Hope gasped. “No. Not so soon.”

“I watched him die. I held his hand and prayed with him.”

“Daniel, I’m so glad you were with him.”

“He said you made his last days the best he’d had in years.”

Hope brought her hands to her cheeks. “He really said that?”

Daniel nodded. “I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you for all you did for him.”

Hope wiped the tears from her face. “Can I see him?”

Daniel escorted her into the room.

“Let’s pray over him,” she said. “Even though his spirit is gone, I need to pray that his soul reaches heaven.”

Hope and Daniel held hands, and they each said a prayer.

It stormed the day of Joseph’s funeral. The sky lit up with lightning, and the thunder shook the ground. Hope huddled beneath the umbrella Daniel held over their heads. Esther and Sam were under another umbrella, and the minister’s wife held one over the minister’s head. A good number of neighbors attended despite the weather.

When the service was over, Daniel and Hope watched as they lowered his coffin. “Goodbye, Father,” Daniel said.

Hope blew a kiss toward the coffin. “Goodbye, Joseph.”

Chapter Fifteen

Esther poured tea into Hope’s cup and coffee in Daniel’s before making her way back to the kitchen.

Daniel passed Hope the bacon, and she helped herself to two slices. He held out the scrambled egg platter, and she took some of that. She hadn’t much of an appetite because she felt sick over what she had to do next. After tossing and turning most of the night, she realized Daniel would never get over losing Nancy, and there really was no point to her staying at the farm any longer. She needed to return to Oregon City. When he’d hugged her for Joseph’s benefit that night, she’d felt the locket in his breast pocket. When would he stop carrying it?

“Daniel, I’m leaving today.”

Daniel’s head swung quickly in her direction “What? Why?”

“I came for Joseph’s benefit, and now I need to go back to Oregon City until the annulment comes through or you have the cabin built.  Whichever comes first, I guess.”

“Surely, you could stay here while all that is being done.”

“I think it’s best for both of us if I leave.”

Daniel’s startled and hurt look almost weakened her. He had expected her to stay, but she couldn’t because each day she only grew more attracted to him.

“If you insist, I’ll take you tomorrow or the next day.”

“I’d prefer to go alone.”

Daniel stood. “No. I brought you here and I plan to return you back to Oregon City safely.”

“I don’t want you to. You’re needed here, and you're still mourning Joseph. I’ll take a stagecoach. I will, however, allow you to pay for my ticket since my coming here was your idea.”

“Of course, I will.”

“There’s a stagecoach line between here and Oregon City, isn’t there?”

“Yes, but I would feel better if you'd allow me to take you.”

“And I'd prefer to take the stagecoach and as soon as possible.” Daniel looked hurt even though Hope had spoken the words softly, and she hated it, but until he got over Nancy, there was no sense in her staying or telling him how she felt. She looked at his shirt and saw the outline of the locket in his pocket; he still carried it with him.

Daniel sighed loudly. “Can I at least drive you to the stagecoach line?”

“That, you may do.”

“I’d hoped you’d stay for the reading of my father’s will this afternoon.”

“I don’t really see how that affects me, Daniel.”

Daniel shrugged. “I’ll ride into town to see what time the next stage to Oregon City leaves and buy you a ticket, then.”

Daniel’s heart felt heavy as he bought the ticket to Oregon City. The next stage would leave in two hours. He had only two hours to spend with Hope. The thought made him feel empty. In just a few months' time he’d have grieved long enough and be able to stop carrying the locket. He kept it in his pocket as a reminder that he was still mourning her, but his heart and his pocket didn’t seem to have synchronized.

When Daniel returned home, he found that he wouldn’t even