Rocky Mountain Dreams & Family on the Range by Danica Favorite (summer beach reads txt) 📕

where she’d come from. But it didn’t mean he had to forgive his father.

The older woman, Gertie, stood. “I should go to her and apologize. I’m sure Annabelle could use—”

“No.” Joseph looked at Frank, hoping he’d give some assistance. “Annabelle is doing fine, and she...”

Was extremely uncomfortable around Gertie and her family. A person would have to be a fool or blind not to see it. But perhaps it would be indelicate of him to expose her in front of her pa.

Frank nodded. “She’s still grieving, Gert.”

“You know?” Joseph was grateful he hadn’t yet taken a bite of the mouthwatering food in front of him. He’d have choked otherwise.

“Of course I know. I’d be a bad preacher, and an even worse father, if I didn’t see how she tries to shut out everyone who loves her. I keep thinking that given enough time, and around the people she used to love, that she’d get over it, but...”

Frank stared down at his feet, and for the first time, Joseph saw him, not as the faith-filled preacher, but as a man who was trying his best for a daughter he couldn’t reach.

“How is it that I can’t reach my own daughter?”

Annabelle’s shameful secret was shared by her father. She feared him knowing, yet he knew. Worse, he blamed himself.

“You can’t blame yourself, Frank.” Gertie sat beside him and put her arm around him. “She’ll heal when the time is right. You just gotta keep praying.”

Though Frank didn’t seem heartened by Gertie’s words, Joseph realized that in all of this, he hadn’t kept his promise to pray for Annabelle. True, it had only been a few hours since he’d decided that he needed to pray for healing in her relationship with God and her pa, but clearly, with Frank’s pain so plainly displayed, he needed to be more diligent.

“Sir? If I may...” Joseph took a seat across from Frank. “Perhaps you should talk to her about this. When she held Nugget and let her cry, she said that sometimes a person needs to cry until it’s all out. I couldn’t help but wonder if Annabelle has had that opportunity.”

“Annabelle never cries.” Hard eyes stared back at him. Now he knew where Annabelle got it.

“Has anyone ever let her? Have you given her an opening to pour out her heart and share these things rather than let them fester?”

In his own words, he finally saw the truth in Annabelle’s actions and words. She was trying so hard to shove down the grief and pain that she couldn’t express that it was festering.

Joseph took a deep breath and met Frank’s gaze. “Maybe if you talked to her as a father, instead of as a preacher, and just loved her for who she is, instead of her role in your ministry, maybe she could finally heal.”

He expected an Annabelle-like outburst to tell him he’d overstepped his bounds. Instead, those eyes softened as Frank said, “Her mother was always so good at that. I’m just as lost as Annabelle without her.”

“Then tell her that. I think it would help you both.” With that, Joseph turned his attention to his cooling breakfast, knowing that he was dangerously close to interfering more than he ought.

Because as much as he was working toward the reconciliation between Annabelle and her father, he had a feeling that his own homecoming wouldn’t be as smooth. Their pa’s death would be hard enough to take, but the transition to accepting Nugget as their sister was going to be hard on the rest of his family.

One more thing he needed to be diligent about praying for. As selfish as it sounded, finding his pa’s silver would make that acceptance a whole lot easier. But if they had to face poverty with another mouth to feed, he wasn’t sure Mary, or anyone else, would be that generous with accepting Nugget.

Chapter Eleven

Annabelle felt stronger as she returned to Gertie’s cabin. It wasn’t so much that anything had changed, other than the fact that she knew if Nugget was going to be comfortable, she had to be brave. Which meant pretending that it didn’t hurt to see Gertie and her children running and laughing like the world was just fine when Annabelle’s had ended.

“There they are!” Gertie’s cheerful voice rang out, and Annabelle forced herself not to cringe.

“Sorry it took so long.” She avoided Joseph’s gaze. Joseph, who knew her too well for their short acquaintance, would see right through her.

“You just sit right on down and eat.” Gertie handed her a plate while Nugget clung to the back of Annabelle’s skirts. But Gertie was wise to that trick. “And you, too, little one. You’ve got to come out so’s I can give you a plate.”

Annabelle relaxed slightly as Nugget peeked out. “You’re not gonna say mean things to me?”

“No.” To Gertie’s credit, she squatted down to Nugget’s level. “And I shouldn’t have said those things about your parents, either. I’m sorry. You must’ve loved them very much, and I’m sure they must’ve loved you, too.”

Her words brought Nugget out of hiding but didn’t remove the suspicious look from her face. “I am mighty hungry.”

“Then I have a mighty big helping of breakfast for you.”

As Gertie handed Nugget a plate and they all got settled, Annabelle couldn’t help but notice Gertie’s kindness. Gertie had always been a kind woman. It truly wasn’t fair that Annabelle couldn’t bear to be around her mother’s best friend. She didn’t know why it hurt so much, but it did.

Loath to spend any more time here than they had to, Annabelle gobbled up her food as quickly as was polite. At least the first few bites. But she could feel the weight of Joseph’s stare on her and she knew.

He knew exactly what she was doing and why. No matter that she hadn’t told him the full story. He knew.

Why couldn’t he be as oblivious as her father, who sat there, making a whistle out of a twig for the children? He